5,976km/250cc/12 days

**3L4NS1R** · 15th January 2009, 21:43

This is going to be a long one, so I'll do it all in several installments.

Ever since getting my first bike, a KLX 250, I've been itching to do a mammoth ride. Not just a quick pottle out of Auckland, but a marathon effort that tests me and the bike to breaking point and beyond. So, when my mate got a brand new Ninja, it seemed the perfect excuse to go on a New Zealand tour. Unfortunatly, on a warmup run up north, the Ninja bucked it's rider and the rider was invalidated. So, I found another riding buddy. Being raised on a farm, my fellow rider who shall be known by his middle name: "Danger", has a vast amount of offroad biking, so he was very keen to borrow a road legal bike and accompany me on the epic trip of a lifetime (whilst on a 250 anyway).

Using all of his barganing power and sheer charm, he managed to wrangle up a 2004 GN250 from a fellow army mate. We were set. 2 weeks later, and much Christmas/New Years celebrations, we set off of the 3rd, with Danger nursing a slight Hangover, and me recovering from a moderate amount of sleep depravation. Little did we know how much of a pattern this would become.

To make this easier for me to keep a track of without rambling, I'll post them as seperate days.

**shafty** · 15th January 2009, 22:09

Good stuff - keep it coming - and plenty of pics!

**Ixion** · 15th January 2009, 22:10

Respect. The true biker spirit.

**EJK** · 15th January 2009, 22:11

Whoah thats crazy! Amazing man!

**3L4NS1R** · 15th January 2009, 22:12

The day started at 0600, with a short ride to Danger's lair, where apon we discussed what gear we were clearly missing, took photos, and saddled up. The aim for the day was to get all the way to Cape Reinga, stopping for some sleep in Kaitaia afterwards. We would take the West Coast route, crossing the ferry at Rawene, and rejoining SH1.

It was clear sailing until Dargaville, when the heavens opened. Sitting in a gas station eating a pie, we figured out the rain was set to stay, and it was about time to get wet. After Danger had a near death experience while negotiating a corner with oncoming traffic and a fogged visor, a coffee at Tane Mahuta was a godsend.

Falling quite far behind schedule, we hit Rawene by 1700, and just as we did the rain stopped. Seeing the ferry loading the last cars on, and not knowing if there was another for the day, we raced on board without looking at our petrol state. Kawasaki decided that KLX's clearly don't do long hauls, so they equiped them with a 7.7L tank. Blissfully light when on the trail, they are a bitch to work around when road triping. So it was that we spent the rest of the trip to Kaitaia fretting about when the KLX would cut out. Luckly it turned out it lasted until the edge of town, coughing its last just as the petrol station came into view.

Grateful of the short walk/push, we realised it was approaching 7pm. Too late to carry on to the cape, so we located the backpackers, accquired a pack of beer, and nursed them while chatting to some dutch backpackers.

**Reido** · 15th January 2009, 22:14

bastard... i want to do that.. but i have no $$$

good on ya

**Lucy** · 15th January 2009, 22:25

Originally Posted by 3L4NS1R

Falling quite far behind schedule, we hit Rawene by 1700, and just as we did the rain stopped. Seeing the ferry loading the last cars on, and not knowing if there was another for the day, we raced on board without looking at our petrol state. Kawasaki decided that KLX's clearly don't do long hauls, so they equiped them with a 7.7L tank. Blissfully light when on the trail, they are a bitch to work around when road triping. So it was that we spent the rest of the trip to Kaitaia fretting about when the KLX would cut out. Luckly it turned out it lasted until the edge of town, coughing its last just as the petrol station came into view.

Grateful of the short walk/push, we realised it was approaching 7pm. Too late to carry on to the cape, so we located the backpackers, accquired a pack of beer, and nursed them while chatting to some dutch backpackers.

Keep it up, I am loving this one too! (is there gas at Rawene anyway?)

**3L4NS1R** · 15th January 2009, 22:34

Starting off with a hearty breaky of Egg in a Hole, we were on the road by 0900, blatting north for Cape Reinga. If anyone is planning on doing this trip on a bike with a small gas tank, fill up wherever you can, the station near the end is often out of gas, like it was today.

The morning went without a hitch, and we reached the edge of the metal road that claimed the pride and leg of my previous biking buddy. Naturally I had a slight amount of anxiety when we came to this, if there was a repeat performance, it was going to be a major downer on the rest of the trip, primarily due to the possible loss of one of my best wingmen in social arenas.

A couple of close calls later, and we got the Cape. This place never ceases to amaze me. Something about it makes it seem a significant place for any New Zealander. My hat goes off to the architects and planners of the new buildings at the carpark, the way the sea vista unrolls as you walk through the passageway is an awe inspiring experience.

We take the obligitory tourist photos, pay our respects to the Northern Most point on the trip, and head back to Auckland. Negotiating the returning Holiday Traffic, we hit Auckland around 1930, and went off to our own homes to have one last night in our own beds for a while.

**mark247** · 15th January 2009, 22:43

That's a long way. Keep up the posts.

**3L4NS1R** · 15th January 2009, 22:52

0500 sees me blatting out to Danger's farm house, taking in the pre dawn vista across the Bombay Hills. I've mentally prepared for what will be our second longest day of the trip, theres gas in the tank (for now) and the bike is purring for the attention it's had. After a quick Salami on Toast (new for me) we are on the bikes, and hitting the road. Our progress is quick, with the only stops being Hamilton and Taupo for petrol, and lunch in Waiouru with a fellow army mate. Heading south from Waiouru, we notice the GN's chain is starting to hit the center stand, and by the time we hit Bulls, it was draggin across is more or less constantly. Filling up in Bulls, we were discussing the issue when we spyed a large collection of bikes in an unlabeled warehouse across the road. Going across there, we find its no other than Bulls Motorcycles (or something like that) with the awesome slogan "Ride-a-bull" (every business in Bulls has a similar slogan, quite funny for the first 3 times you see it). Upon inspection, the chain is pronounced dead, and a new one fitted. It was also here that I noted a moderate amount of oil leaking through the seals on the rocker cover of my bike. Didn't seem a major issue, so we shrugged it off and carried on. We reached Wellington by 1900, found my Aunty and Uncle's house, wrestled with the cousins, and crashed out on the lounge floor, amped for the journey to be made tommorow.

**3L4NS1R** · 15th January 2009, 23:32

Another 0500 start, partly due to the 0700 ferry time, mostly due to excitement, as this was, at least for me, when the trip started for real. The last time I had been to the South Island was now 5 years distant, and then it had only been around the Lakes district.

We found the BlueBridge ferry terminal by 630, parked up our bikes, and sat down to wait. Danger suddenly realised Parliament house was one block away, and thus our 30 minute Tour Wellington mission began, consisting of a quick walk to get the obligitory photos outside parliament, and a quick discussion with Gandhi, who turns out to be a bit of a silent type.

The crossing was enthralling for the first 20 minutes. It was then discovered that the scenery doesn't change as fast as it does on a bike, so we settled in front of Get Smart, and chowed down on some breaky.

Getting off the ferry, we got a quick photo of the Picton War Memorial, which on second thought was not a good note to start off the leg with.

The next stop was enroute to Blenheim, where it was discovered the chain change in Bulls had not included replacing one of the chain tensioner bolts. This was quickly remedied by a quick visit to a hardware store to aquire a galvanised bolt. Unorthodox sure, but it seems to have worked.

Carrying on to Christchurch, arriving about 1830, we stayed in the one place that we had booked accomodation on the whole trip, after being recommended it from a friend. Jailhouse Backpackers is a converted Prison, with the Cells now housing 4-8 bed dorms, and it has taken off, with the owners capitalising well on the novalty of the building. I'd recommend it for anyone travelling through ChCh if you're looking for something different from your standard backpackers accomodation.

In an act that would become standard practise, we picked up a doz beer, and spent the evening talking to the other 'inmates'.

**3L4NS1R** · 15th January 2009, 23:54

The next target was for Wanaka, cutting inland to the Southern Alps, a trip of about 450kms. By this stage the oil leak on the KLX had gotten to the level where I was starting to get concerned about oil loss, so I got a spare litre of oil from Superior Motorcycles before leaving Christchurch. This turned out to be possibly the best decision I made on the entire trip (aside from the idea of the trip itself). After a small amount of initial confusion with getting out of Christchurch we bit the bullet and went halves in a map book of the South Island. We quickly managed to get out of the city and onto the plains. I have to say, as exciting as farm machinery is, this was one of the few bits of the trip that I severely wished I had slightly more that 250cc of power under me, especially when a headwind started up, cutting our average speed down even further.

Once out of the plains we made good time, stopping in Fairlie for some lunch, then the lakes started. Despite this not being the first time seeing them, I was still blown away with how blue they appear. We took the next bit leisurely, even getting a bit of dirtbiking in to get to the top of a small rise for a spot of photography.

We got into Wanaka at quite an early 1600, after we decided not to do the side trip up to Mt Cook Village (low clouds would mean Mt Cook wouldn't be seen anyway). After cruising the streets of Wanaka, we settled on Purple Cow Backpackers. By now we had formed a bit of a routine when getting to a backpackers, where we pick up a doz beer, then walk in to the room/dorm offering a drink. This time we were greeted by 4 females, 2 german and 2 brits. Not one turned down a drink, and a few doz turned into 2 doz, a bottle of port, and tequila. Demons played thier game, and morning saw us still drinking, watching the sunrise over the town. It was decided that we would have a Day Off.

**motorbyclist** · 16th January 2009, 00:04

moar!

what's the bet the GN dies a horrible death?

**3L4NS1R** · 16th January 2009, 00:06

I'd like to say we had a day off because we'd ridden hard, that we had to maintain our bikes, or that the weather forced us to stop. But ultimately we had a day off because we were severely hungover and didn't sleep, as our new friends were far too entertaining.

After a morning nap, we got up and accompanied our new german friends on a small hike up Iron Hill, highly recommended for the awesome vistas from the summit. Coming down, we ended up at Puzzling World, a cool little theme park with all sorts of illusions/puzzles and a huge 2 floor maze.

However we quickly realised our mistake when we walked into the 'tilting room', the floor of which is on a 15 degree angle. This would normally be fine, however it was almost the breaking point for those of us still inficted with a severe hangover, especially when a large wall instructed us to look at it and wait to see the colours merge and the wall begins to swim.

Walking back to Wanaka township, we vowed that we would have a quiet one that night. That vow lasted until we got back to the dorm, when Danger asked 'Anyone for a cheeky dozen?'

Alas. Another big night ensued.

**3L4NS1R** · 16th January 2009, 00:31

Originally we had the notion that we'd go to Bluff from Wanaka, and stay there the night. However one of the German girls we'd befriended was having her birthday in Wanaka, so it would have been rude not to make it. Thus, hungover and reasonably sleep deprived, we dumped our cargo and decided to do the 540 km wanaka to bluff to wanaka.

Topping the KLX up with oil, and making sure the GN's chain was still healthy, we set off about 0900. The Crown Range is an excellent piece of road, every bit of it so well laid out for any motorbike, however I must admit that first hour of biking was hell. With Danger coping with a pounding head and me with eyes that threatened to pop out of thier weary sockets, we survived the ride, and beelined to Queenstown to refresh with breaky and coffee.

Feeling more human we set out again, taking SH 6 to Bluff in torrential rain. I'd like to mention a remarkable happening on this leg, but that would be lying. The rain and wind forced us to be sensible road users, and we put our heads down and gritted out teeth, willing Invercargill closer. Due to the stinky weather, we got to Bluff by lunchtime, taking both of us off guard, as this was the first and only time we had beaten our time estimate.

It was at Bluff that I realised the greatest lie New Zealand has ever been told. Cape Reinga claimed that Bluff was 1452 kms distant. Bluff however insisted on it's black and yellow sign that Cape Reinga was only 1401kms away. Which one is it! Have we gained 51 kms or lost it?

Returning to Wanaka, this time with clear skies, we got back about 1730.

We arranged a cake and candles for the German girl's b'day, got dressed decently, and hit the town. Staggering down the street a few hours later, I spyed a Red Camouflage biker with neons on his bike coming into town. Remembering GiJoe when he stopped to help my mate when he came off at Cape Reinga several weeks ago, I proceeded to chase him down the street on foot. He stopped at a Give Way sign, and I approached him, shouting "IT'S YOU!" I was on the verge of hugging him, when he saw me, U-turned, and rode off quickly.

Returning to the backpackers, me and the bday girl decided a late night swim in the lake was in order, so we disappeared, returning a few hours later to, for the first time, a quiet dorm.