sun's second annual South Island trip

[sunhuntin]

part one!

filled up at my work on sunday, the 18th. odo reading was 49646. 250 took $10.81/6.40lt.

first part of the ride was boring... typical roads that ive ridden a thousand times and hate. stopped at the sanson markets when i spotted a 1920s indian on the footpath. took 2 pics, which will be posted at a later date. bought a doll, which i left for good ol mum to come and pick up.
rode on to otaki, and stopped at their markets... scored a 1970 ontario license plate... been after one of those for the longest time. crossed on the ferry [paid $5 to see a crappy film and literally slept the whole way.] and spent the night in picton. met brent_b, but only for like 5 seconds. would have liked to have talked longer.

monday... got up and hit the roads for chch. now... i LOVE savemarts. and, as of monday, ive been inside every single on in the south island. last year, i missed nelson. so i went to blenheim, and then to nelson.
took the lewis pass... what an AWESOME road! would be awesome to ride as a pillion *hint hint* not many bikes on the road, but tons of tail gators. was an awesome day, with some sweet scenery. i am, however, disappointed with the amount of gorse! forget new zealand, land of the long white cloud... should be new zealand, land of the large yellow gorse bush. even the southern scenic route is more gorse than scenery.

spent 2 days in chch... the first getting horribly lost and frustrated all to hell, the second i jumped on a bus. lol.

headed for daffyd's place today... again, got horribly lost trying to leave chch [like hotel california!]
heading south, i saw a shite load of lights in my mirror... course, it vibrates like hell, so that shitload turned out to be 2... a vinty trumpy and a harley. managed to keep up with them... and then saw another two lights... another vinty and a yellow daytona. managed to keep pace with them till just shy of timaru when they got away from me. caught em up again at shell. chatted with the guy on the daytona for a bit, and then left. hit the savemart there and took a couple of hayfever pills. by the time i got out of timaru, i was surrounded by the same guys.
again, kept pace with them [hit 135k... new high speed!] we stopped at a pub somewhere along the way [between timaru and the turn off to waimate.] and talked some more with them... every single one asked me twice where i was from... once from being polite, then twice out of shock, lol. bloody nice guys... hoping to catch up with them at the camp grounds tomorrow. they had come from chch, and were already complaining about sore backsides.
i got 210k out of that tank [timaru to dunedin]

stopped at palmerston, and got talking to two guys on old nortons... got invited to join them, but declined as i didnt know the road they would be taking.

got breath tested somewhere along the way. cop says to me... you know what the speed sign back there says? yep, i say. 70k he says. yep. what speed where you going? 70k, by my speedo [and it was, cos i checked it when i saw him] probably a bit off, he says, cos you looked like you were going faster. toss pot. accuses me of going over the speed, but has no proof. ruined my ride for a while...

arrived at daffyd's place about 6.40... later than expected. looking forward to hitting the rally tomorrow... ill be wearing my denim vest with my name on it... so come up and say howdy.

odo reading at dunedin bp [last fill] 50932. $13.18/7.58lt.

[crashe]

Great write up........

Looking forward to part 2.


Hey how is the butt this time round.... not as sore as your last trip down to the deep south.

Have a fantastic time at the Burt Munro rally.

[Kinje]

Good write up, looking forward to hearing more.

Awesome roads down that way...mmm Lewis Pass aahhh

Enjoy the rest of the trip

[tri boy]

sunhuntin rocks

[sunhuntin]

love you too, tri!

butts ok... bit better than last year, lol. lil bikes holding up well! only had to lube the chain, and will check oil in the morning.

weekend was AWEEEESOMMMMMEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!! those who missed it should be kicking themselves. i saw a bike from the naki, and heard of crews from auckland, and even one american! saw bikes that were world tourers and had stickers from all over the place stuck on the cases. [beemers like ewan mcgregor uses]

met timg and garry [sp?] and briefly saw OAB. cheers, timg, for keeping me company at the races... you rock. saw HEAPS of nice classics... indians, nortons, triumphs... you name it, it was there somewhere. i was amazed at the number of valuable vintage bikes parked on the sand at the beach racing. cheers heaps to daffyd's family for the loan of tent and sleeping bag!

at the wyndham races, there was one guy racing who was 74... he even kick started his own bike! beyond inpressed.

crashe.... saw LOTS of viragos! last year i only saw one, but this year was a different story. people must be realising what great bikes they are!

saw the new b-king... for someone who isnt fond of sprotsbikes, i think im in love with that one. [or maybe its the thought of having some power between my legs?]

have got a few pics which, as above, will be posted once i get home. heading back to invercargill tomorrow to see a friends mum. havent heard from my friend for a while, and im getting worried. also have an xmas pressie for the mum. after that, ill be hauling ass north... either dunedin or chch, depending on time and energy.

more next time i get online

[chanceyy]

Great write up sun .. looking forward to seeing those pics ..

ride safe coming home

[crashe]

butts ok... bit better than last year, lol. lil bikes holding up well! only had to lube the chain, and will check oil in the morning.

crashe.... saw LOTS of viragos! last year i only saw one, but this year was a different story. people must be realising what great bikes they are!

Of course VIRAGO's are great bikes...... and good on more people finally seeing sense and buying them.

Good on you for checking and maintaining your bike while on tour.... well done.
Glad your tush is holding up better this time round......


Looking forward to your next installment (part 3) of your trip and all your pictures of lots of Virago's..... and of course all the other bikes.

[sunhuntin]

well. i finally staggered in the door at about 9.10 last night... fark was i stuffed! meant to be going to taupo tomorrow, but will have to flag it... unless i wanted to risk taking the 500... which im not ready to do just yet.

left invers on tuesday after spending the night at my friends place [she is fine, which is awesome. just very busy] headed out to bluff to visit the sign post. saw 4 stretches of cheesecutter on that 22k stretch.
from bluff, i headed up towards queenstown.
got pissed on the whole ride until just north of lumsden... even had a little hail.
got tailgated and then overtaken by a 4wd... who then got waved over by the breath testing cop just around the corner. i carried on my merry way laughing and flashed the sole bike that came my way just up the road.
skirted queenstown and went up into the hills by frankton. awesome, awesome road! saw the kingston flyer... got there just in time to get a video of her pulling away. amazing train that... just beautiful
stopped for the night in wanaka. got accomodation at this POSH place for $149. HUGE rooms, spa bath, full sky, personal locking garage, coffee machine... perfect. basically it was an apartment. had full laundry as well. well worth the price i feel, though mum tells me im crazy.
while out getting tea, i spotted a guy on a bike. he came into the burger place i was at. we got talking as we walked out... turned out he was _intense_! totally awesome... a total fluke.
we rode together from wanaka right up to franz joseph, where i left him. the ride was amazing... i fully recommend riding with him... great fun! we stopped along the way quite often... looking at bridges and rocks and stuff. i was occupying myself checking out different barriers on the sides of the road. we took turns leading... i lead on the straights, and he left me behind on the twisties.
just north of franz, at whataroa, they are putting in a cutter on the outside by the lake. it was only holes and posts, so i stopped to have a nosey. i picked up one post, with the idea of bringing it home and whacking transhit over the head with it. it weighed a good 5kg or so... too heavy to bring home. the posts can be physically lifted from the holes. there was no sign of the wire anywhere.
being too lazy to walk too far from the bike, i decided to turn around for better photos... lost my footing to the left [one hell of a ditch!] and managed to step off texas jane as she toppled over. flagged a couple of trucks down, and got rescued by a pair of hunky young guys in fluro vests. [i had the bike partly lifted, but wouldnt have been able to get her up due to being on an uphill slope.] both boys complained about how heavy she was, lol. no damaged, just a mirror that had come unscrewed a bit. easy to fix.
i spent that night at hokitika... yet another spa bath [perfect for sore muscles] must have been in there for hours, lol. got kept awake by a frog croaking in the small water fountain outside. lil bugger.
hit the road at a reasonable time in the morning. got petrol and headed out for kumara junction, which is 22min away. took a right there heading towards arthurs pass.
saw a bruce creek, a harley creek and a wanganui river.
stopped at a look out a few k shy of arthurs pass... and got bombarded by 5 kea! they climbed all over everything, tried to rip stuff off my backpack, pecked my mirrors and nibbled my cables. one tried to get at my petrol cap. he took a step onto the tank... and slipped off. it seems claws and metal do not mix very well. surprisingly, he did not scratch it.
got gas at arthurs pass... woman said to me "$38 thanks" "err... how much was the gas?" "$33" "im on a motorbike... it wouldnt hold that much!" dopey bitch... does she think i wear 2 jackets and leggings for fun?
bought a sticker for the bike and a patch for myself and continued on to christchurch. arrived there at about 3 i guess. enough time to make a run out to see another friend before her shop closed.
had a headache, so was asleep early... as a result, i was awake at 6.15 the next morning. on the road by 7.
got rained on again from chch to just north of kaikoura... damn shit weather.

stopped at kaikoura for gas and a comfort stop [that i should have stopped for earlier!] and then got sidetracked just north, watching seals. i aint never seen seals in real life before, so was there for quite a while. checked my time and figured id better haul ass. got to kaikoura at 10.10, which isnt bad considering i was between 70 and 90k the whole time. had to be at the ferry by 1.15pm.
stopped at ward to rest and see if they had any of my chocolate bars... which they didnt. bought a carved wooden horse instead.

rode hard the rest of the way to picton... mainly cos i was running late, and i was also trying to dry my gloves and jackets out. got there with 5min to spare. another bike pulled up a while after me... dude on a new beemer... hed flown down from auckland to chch to pick it up. and then, right before boarding another 2 came rolling in... zapf and [insert name here... sorry dude!!] theyd come over from motueka... but i will let them tell their own story. was good, though, to have people to chat with on the sailing... i wasnt looking forward the prosect of being alone the whole time.

arrived in wellywood about 5.30. went and got gas and then got slightly lost getting out of town again. zapf had mentioned my front tyre looked a little soft. i figured itd be ok to get me home again. stopped a few k north of the cheesecutters at a bp and did the tyre after it worried me getting hooked in road ripples.
the cheese cutters have been extended along centennial highway... the older posts look as though they are starting to corrode... must be the salt. they have resealed part of the road, with one section being a half lane seal. the join meets in the middle of the lane. we all know what happens when tyres get hooked into a ripple in the road. this one flicked me towards the cutters. just north of there, where the roadworks were [by the train tracks] there is another, very recent, stretch of cutter. must be a good couple of k in length and NOT A SINGLE REFLECTOR ANYWHERE. that cutter was not there when i went down on the 18th.

had a decent ride home... felt like just going to sleep by the time i got to sanson. kept on going and finally staggered in the door.

now, ive read on here in the past that the south island has no cheese cutters. in fact, my host for a few nights, daffyd, said there wasnt any at all. i gave up counting the stretches of it by nelson. and it is all on the outside of the lanes, protecting nothing. one lot i saw, it was cutter, grass verge, deer fence. wtf if the point of that? most of it must be very recent i dare say, but the amount of it shocked me. if we are gonna get this removed or altered, we're gonna have to work hard and fast... they are putting it up as fast as they can.
where barriers are truly needed [ie, on the outside of corners up the passes or similar spots] they have used armco. i saw one section of armco that was both a mix of wood and steel supports... so whether they are replacing the wood supports? i dont know.

photos... theres 10 pages worth. i havent fixed them all yet, so they will change over time as i can be bothered, lol.

http://www.dotphoto.com/Go.asp?l=sun...ID=4982320&T=1

my milage reading is now 53201k.

[janno]

Great write up! Looks like you had fun!!

[MSTRS:Me]

Brilliant report, young lady. Adventures that only motorcyclists can appreciate. Will we see you at Taupo? Those cheesecutters have got to go.

[Daffyd]

I can see I'll have to get out more...I really wasn't aware of all those cheesecutters!

[Swampdonkey]

awesome sun huntin....cant wait to get down south myself....any day now....

[sunhuntin]

swampy... put it off till the 08 burt munro challenge dates get posted... then come down for that. [plus interislander does cheap rates for bikes and their riders]

daffy... there arent any that i know of in your area... none that stand out in my memory, but they are a constant everywhere else. next year, i plan on doing a longer ride again, criss crossing the island via the passes, and will attempt to make a note of where and roughly how long each stretch goes for.

mstrs... im not sure yet. i may come up on monday. bit bloody stuffed, and the 250 really needs a service soon. im not confident to bring the 500 up the paraparas either. i will txt you monday morning. where are your lot staying up there?

cheers janno... was an abolute blast! im hoping to drag a friend along next year... solo riding is nice, but it gets very very lonely after a while... talking only to shop assitants and guys who think you are also a guy admiring the bike, lmfao.

btw... any word on the sealing of the road to cape reinga?

[necrolyte]

Awesome photos, if i knew you were down this way i could have saved you a bit of money by staying with me! That goes for anyone, if you need a place to camp just send me a message and i would be glad to oblige!

[sunhuntin]

cheers dude... i may call in next year, but its really not long enough of a ride from invers to arrowtown, unless i tiki tour around and go up milford sound and back... thatd likely fill in a day.

dumbass me got as far as nelson when i realised id left any one of my many south island maps behind. had to buy one... damn idiot! not like im lacking maps or anything... sheesh!