My South Island Journey

**Kinje** · 8th June 2007, 13:26

14 Days- 12 riding days- 3682 kilometers

1- Masterton to Wellington
2- Wellington to Hanmer Springs
3- Hanmer Springs to Timaru
4 & 5- Timaru non riding days
6- Timaru to Papatowai
7- Papatowai to Dunedin
8- Dunedin to Timaru
9- Timaru to Brass Monkey
10- Brass Monkey to Wanaka
11- Wanaka to Timaru
12- Timaru to Greymouth
13- Greymouth to Wellington
14- Wellington to Masterton

**Kinje** · 8th June 2007, 13:29

Pretty uneventful part of the journey.

Spent the day at work, with thoughts pretty much soley on getting home, packing the bike and leaving that night.
The time to leave finally arrived so with nothing else to do but get on and start riding off I went.
Quiet night staying with a mate before catching the Bluebridge in the morning.

**Kinje** · 8th June 2007, 13:40

Woke up early and excited to get down to the ferry for my sailing- then proceded to wait around while they loaded the boat.
Off the boat first so no getting caught up in traffic

Not that it realy mattered as I was only going to Blenheim before stopping for lunch with my Uncle and Aunty.
Off down the Waiau Valley after lunch. Pretty boring from Blenheim to St Arnard with long straights, but after that it got interesting and twisty. Quick gas up at Murchison.
Wee photo stop at Maruia Falls on the way through to Springs Junction. Original thoughts were stop at Maruia Springs, but light was still good so continued on throught the Lewis Pass. What a great piece of road. Dry, clear, no grit, some wonderful corners all the way through to Hanmer Springs.
Pitched my tent, then had a soak in the hot pools...aaahhh.

**Kinje** · 8th June 2007, 13:51

Organised to meet my little brother in Christchurch around lunch time so no need to get away too early so a slow start to the day. Quiet ride through to Christchurch with lots of

around and most of the road boring straights except for a few nice turns through Weka Pass.
After lunch through to Timaru along SH1

Met the folks and stayed at home for a couple of days to catch up with them and a few other rellies in Timaru.

**Kinje** · 8th June 2007, 14:00

Now theres only so much time you can spend in Timaru at once so I was rearing to get going again. Headed off down SH1 to Dunedin for a quick pitstop and photo outside the Uni.
Carried on down to Balcutha then turned off onto the Catlins Coast road. mmm thats a nice road and stunning scenery. Had spent a fair few uni field trips down there so mostly just rode through. Stopped at Papatowai and set up my tent before going for a walk down to the beach at sunset.

**Kinje** · 8th June 2007, 14:25

Awoke to the sounds of raindrops on my tent. Not entirely unexpected but not really what you want to hear on a motorcycle tour. Just over the hil from Papatowai I found my Great Grandads scenic reserve which I had been told to look out for. A nice spot for some quiet time.
Carried on down the Catlins road through more spectacular scenery and challanging roads. Given the damp conditions there was some nana riding going on, but this did give me a chance to take in what was around me much better (well, whenever I wasn't busy negotiating the many series of tight bends)
The road opened up eventually to some straighter sections and sweeping bends through to Invercargill. Although the rain had stopped the roads were still damp and greasy so still had to take it easy, and could feel the bike squirming under me when I didn't!
From Invercargill a trip to Bluff was in order.
After lunch in Invercargill was off to Dunedin. Turned off just past Gore to go up through Tapanui and Raes Junction. Some lovely sweeping bends along there, and great looking countryside. Roads still damp.
Heading through Manuka Gorge between Lawrence and Milton had a real OH SHIT moment. Caught behind traffic, chopped down a couple of gears to pass, twisted, hit the white line/catseye and the bike stepped well out of line. Though oh crap...hey I'm still alive...I'm in the right hand lane...oh yeah, passing the cars, right...that wasn't very much fun!
Thankfully made it back to SH1 without any more mishaps and into Dunedin to catch up with some friends and rellies.

**Lissa** · 8th June 2007, 20:30

Awesome write up brent... wanna hear about the Brass Monkey.. and the ear piercing though. Sounds awesome... next year the rapa crew will try and make it.

**scumdog** · 8th June 2007, 20:32

You stopped in Balclutha and went through the Manuka Gorge and never stopped to see RuralMan or myself? Shame!

Probably DID see you but wouldn't have known who it was.

**dogsnbikes** · 8th June 2007, 20:33

sounds awesome soo far keep it coming

**doc** · 8th June 2007, 20:34

Originally Posted by scumdog

You stopped in Balclutha and went through the Manuka Gorge and never stopped to see RuralMan or myself? Shame!

Probably DID see you but wouldn't have known who it was.

Not able to get a fix. Huh

**Kendog** · 8th June 2007, 21:37

Great write up so far, looking forward to the rest.

**zadok** · 8th June 2007, 21:40

Good stuff

I'd like to do that myself one day.

**merv** · 8th June 2007, 21:51

Great trip mate.

**Ms Piggy** · 9th June 2007, 05:57

Fabulous write up! Makes me jealous! Beautiful roads & country down there aye.

**Kinje** · 9th June 2007, 15:22

Just a short riding day back to Timaru so no rush to get away. Was off from Dunedin in some rain, but that cleared soon into the ride. Pretty uneventful journey. I did feel like I was going the wrong way though as I passed heaps of well loaded bikes coming south.
Arrived back in Timaru and went to meet up with _intense_ to formulate a plan for the Brass Monkey. He had another mate from Timaru also riding along, and another couple of friends driving up as 1 was pregnant.
So with the details sorted we awaited the next morning with great anticipation...