My Motorcycle Diary

[Biff]

Great write up so far mate, please keep it coming.

[vifferman]

Yeah, well done, CSL!

[Lias]

Nice writeup, sounds like yer having a blast

[Blakamin]

I wanna go now!!!!!

excellent write up!!!

[Hitcher]

More. Please. Soon.

[Motu]

Great stuff CSL! This is what I like to see,people telling the story of their ride,photos and all the little details that make it memorable (like spiders!) You'll remember this holiday for the rest of your life....in later years the bike will be bigger and faster,the days sunnier...and the spiders HUGE.

[Blakamin]

...and the spiders HUGE.

I was waiting for it to be a weta in the boot!!!!

[Ms Piggy]

Nice writeup, sounds like yer having a blast

No I'm not now b/c I'm back at work - I did (past tense) have (past tense) a blast. Sheesh these people who don't read posts proper like.

Oh yeah - I will be posting more, I'm typing it up at work and posting it at home where I have the pics. Thanks for all your positive comments.

[Paul in NZ]

I was waiting for it to be a weta in the boot!!!!

If you buy decent waterproof boots it won't get weta in your boot...

[Motu]

Ifa you haveah the Italian boot,no?

[sels1]

Ifa you haveah the Italian boot,no?

What is it with Italians and boots anyway - is it cause their country is shaped like one?

Keep the story coming CSL

[Ms Piggy]

http://www.west-coast.co.nz/140f.html Brilliant website that I only discovered today!

Going as far as Greymouth today. I started riding back out of Motueka but all the signs were pointing to Nelson and I knew I didn’t want to go back to Nelson, so I pulled over to look at the map I had (which wasn’t incredibly detailed) and I realised I didn’t have my cell phone! I’d left it back at the backpackers so went back picked it up and got some further direction from the woman there but, she initially tried to direct me back through Nelson as well! I’m glad I’d looked at my map and knew there was a much more interesting route. So the route I took was out of Motueka on SHW 61 and then turn off onto SHW 6 to go down the Buller Gorge. Beautiful! This would have been 1 of my favourite parts of the journey.

Ajturbo had reminded me to fuel up in Murchison (thanks mate!) where I encountered a campervan driver who had obviously put his sandals on too tight that morning. I had fuelled up and gone into the Service Station to use the loo, I came back out and was faffing around and noticed he was waiting.
“Oh sorry, are you waiting?”
Tight sandals man replied in an agitated, slightly squeaky voice, “Yes and I’ve been waiting for 5 to 10 minutes!”
“Oh ok.” So I moved thinking…5 to 10 minutes huh, yeah whatever.
Still agitated he said “Yes I can only fill up on this side!”
I thought he must have been in a major hurry to speed off at a maximum speed of 90kms in a cloud of diesel fumes but, nooooooooooo after having painfully waiting the 5 to 10 minutes I had delayed him he pulled over to the side of the forecourt! WTF!!! I must say I was muttering to myself as I rode along for a while and then realised that he obviously needed a holiday. Oh and by the way, he was a middle aged kiwi guy, not a tourist from another country.

Ajtrubo had also recommended a lunch stop at the Berlin café & bar (see pic), I think it must have been remodelled b/c it was pretty average, although it was nice to stop and get a cold beer. Actually I always used to say I’d “never” drink when I was riding but sometimes on those hot days a cold beer with my feed was definitely what I needed!

More beautiful, gorgeous, stunning scenery, sweeping roads and the occasional driver that slammed on their brakes coming into the corners, I managed to pass these types pretty promptly. Phew! Paul in NZ had recommended to me to ride down the coast road (SHW 6) and I was rewarded! Wow!! Gorgeous rock formations and lovely ocean and beaches. Obviously other people admired it also, especially the couple that had stopped in the middle of the road just over the brow of a hill when you get the 1st view you get of the beach! I gave them a horn blast from Betty and actually gave them a fright. Lucky for me the road turns into a double lane at that stage so I could safely pass instead of having to take any evasive action or becoming another road victim.

I arrived in Punakaiki and stopped for an OJ and thought that maybe I should have fuelled up when I turned off before Westport….hmmmmmm. I saw 3 other riders who stopped just before I left, I had a quick word and then carried on. Just out of Greymouth the tripmeter had flicked over to 173kms and Betty made her usual coughing & spluttering and I had to find the cock (which I am an expert at) and flick it onto reserve. Arrrrgggghhhh, eeeeeeeeeep! Having not checked how many litres my reserve tanks holds (me bad I know) I was a little worried (now I know it’s 3 litres) but I discovered that there is a petrol station in a little town called Runanga and I made it there. Although it turns out that I definitely could have made it to Greymouth anyway. DOH! Lesson learnt…well maybe, see later instalments!

I met my mate Craig in Greymouth (not a KBer or a rider) and we stayed in a place called Hams in Paroa, south of Greymouth. Nice place and good tucker!!! Best nights sleep I had, had yet or could that have been all the beer and gin? Oooooo, got to have a delicious whitebait pattie in white bread at Tramways Pub. Excellent!

[Ms Piggy]

No riding today! All driving! Well being driven around actually by Craig. We decided to drive to Karamea and do some sight seeing along the way. Another hot, hot day! We dropped Betty & Craig’s dogs off at a friend of Craig’s (Ken) and were on our way! 1st stop (no not the pub) the seal colony at Cape Foulwind, a nice little walk to see seals frolicking down below. Back down to sit in the shade and eat an ice cream and then off again. Blimin’ campervans!!! We got stuck behind some ignorant git that wouldn’t pull over. I’m sure everyone has had the same experiences but I found campervans to be the some of them to be the most ignorant drivers on the road!!!

Oh yeah! We also went to have a look at Pancake Rocks, they are so cool!!! While we were there we also spotted some Hectors Dolphins playing in the surf.

Then we drove up to Denniston (man I WISH I had ridden up that road! Deliciously twisty!!) We had a look around all the old coal workings and I took a couple of photos of the view, cool (see pics, not very good sorry)!

We then went on toward Karamea, it was getting onto 3 by this stage and we were both getting pretty hungry!! We stopped at a really gorgeous café in Granity called ‘Drifters’ and tried to find a breeze. Very yummy food & good cold beer! The roads into Karamea are really cool and definitely worth riding too, so I’ll go back again and ride them, lots of sweeping bits, some twisties and lined with beautiful native bush. By the time we got to Karamea we were sweltering, so straight to the river for a swim, swim, swim and then to the pub for a beer. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Very nice pub and nice and shady under the trees with our jugs of beer – I love the South Island!

The back to Westport to stay at a camping ground and have a fairly average meal at the Irish Pub there. The drive back took a lot less time than we both thought it would, that was of course b/c we weren’t tiki touring.

[Ms Piggy]

Driven back to Greymouth to pick up Betty, fuelled up and then headed to Reefton to meet Kickaha and Diesel Pig (see pic), they had been waiting a while b/c I took a bit of a diversion to Blackball. That took all of 10 minutes. On the map I had it had looked like I could ride right through Blackball but I discovered I couldn’t when I just about got squished by a truck coming out of the quarry! Ooooopppsss – a wrong turn somewhere. I drove past the Blackball Hilton and I really did wish I’d had time to stay there. It looks all class!!

Finally onto Reefton where I fuelled up and was told by the guy at the service station that it had just hit 31 degrees! Ouch! No wonder I was hot. I met up with Kickaha & Diesel Pig who had been waiting in the shade. The after a cold OJ we headed down SHW 7, it was really quite pretty and still a lot of native bush & shade. We made a stop at Springs Junction and that’s when the temperature really started cranking up and the wind too! It wasn’t overly windy but, I think that combined with the heat made it a really difficult days riding! We stopped again at Culverden, which is when Kickaha noticed that my side cover was missing (buggery bollocks!!). Then we went onto Hurunui and just about threw ourselves in the river. OMG! Bliss! Lots of dunking ensued – that Kickaha is a bully!! Diesel Pig headed back home from there and Kickaha and I went to Hurunui pub, I had Whitebait fritters but they were nowhere near as good as the ones at Tramways on the West Coast. Kickaha then took me round to Diesel Pigs place and showed me his Black Betty. Not nearly as cool as the real thing.

That was the most challenging day of riding on the whole trip and for a seasoned rider like Kickaha to say it was too hot to ride, is really saying something!

[Ms Piggy]

Today we rode over to Akaroa. There is another write up and some great pics courtesy
of Warren http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ghlight=akaroa It was good to meet some of the Christchurch Kbers – Dangerous, Manu Boy, Gav, Tony_B, R1AaronKDX, Biff Baff, Warren, Kickaha, 2 non-Kbers (I think) and myself. Stevo turned up later when everyone else had buggered off but that was ok cos it meant we all got steak for dinner & then steak for breakfast! YUM! A fantastic ride & fabulous road but lots of traffic (boo hissssssss), we stopped at there summit for a gander at the amazing view (see pics) then stopped on the waterfront for a drink & a chat. Kickaha, Warren & I all stayed in Akaroa with Stevo (as I said) turned up later. It’s a real pity that the Christchurch roads get so clogged up with cars b/c they are so niiiiice!