Best Frenemy you could have!
Wow... that hire company needs some perspective adjusting. When a mate and I did the South Island last Christmas, we did about 6500km in 13 daysOriginally Posted by gegvasco
We weren't on the bikes all day either, often leaving after 10am and at the destination by 5-7pm.
It's great to see you enjoying the country, and getting the full experience, including weather
Scooter boy
I guess they get a lot of international tourists who spend a lot of time doing other things than just riding every day. Plus, many probably stop more than I do during the course of a day or don't ride at all when it's wet. Some of my friends back home think I'm mad for just doing so much riding and bugger all else. My response..."I can't help it, I'm a motorcyclist." And for those that don't understand that I say "I understand why dogs love to hang their head out the car window"Wow... that hire company needs some perspective adjusting. When a mate and I did the South Island last Christmas, we did about 6500km in 13 days
It's great to see you enjoying the country, and getting the full experience, including weather
Little ol'Hornet Rides again!
Bonzo read mate! 'Struth, sounds like you had a fair crack at our fair isles and probably seen more of it than most of our unlucky biking population!
Guess some new tyres will have to be thrown on at the end of the ride by the hire company ... good on ya for doing the hard yards and keeping us informed!
Heres hoping you get a fab run of the weather and the rub of the green. You'll probably end up being a southerner saying "mate! you should have been here yesterday/last week!"
"I like to ride anyplace, anywhere, any time, any way!"
Scooter boy
Ta. It has been a phenomenal trip so far (bit over 3/4 done). There is an expat-Kiwi at work and when I went through the route I had planned for some advice from him, he said that I will probably end up seeing more of NZ than many Kiwis have! This is the completed map so far (in Thames at the moment)Bonzo read mate! 'Struth, sounds like you had a fair crack at our fair isles and probably seen more of it than most of our unlucky biking population!
Guess some new tyres will have to be thrown on at the end of the ride by the hire company ... good on ya for doing the hard yards and keeping us informed!
Heres hoping you get a fab run of the weather and the rub of the green. You'll probably end up being a southerner saying "mate! you should have been here yesterday/last week!"
Scooter boy
After a day off on the watefront in Russell (now there's a nice spot), I hit the road again today heading towards Thames. The first 60km through the roads south of Russell was ALL corners. I could almost count the number of straight stretches more than 100m long on one hand! Great start to the day to get into a rhythm. I thought this appropriate to sum up the trip:
The run along the coast was pretty good when the scenery opened up. Only problem being the road condition wasn't that great and there was a lot of crap on the road. Never knew what was going to be on the line around the corner. But when you see a vista like this, you forget about those little problems.
After a couple of hours of fun, there wasn't much for it but to hit the 1 through Auckland. The traffic was more like I had expected (heavy) which wasn't a problem having lived in Sydney but it certainly wasn't welcome. The exit on Hill Rd to Clevedon was very welcome though. The road condition wasn't so good but the riding was still pretty good around the coast into Thames. Annoyingly, at Wherekawa they had just done a new seal but hadn't swept it at all so after spending an hour cleaning the bike of rocks and tar yesterday in Russell, it is now covered in shit again. I'm really starting to hate your roadworks.
Forum whore
NZ road worker: "Sweeep ?What Eeees theees Sweeep you speak of?"After a day off on the watefront in Russell (now there's a nice spot), I hit the road again today heading towards Thames. The first 60km through the roads south of Russell was ALL corners. I could almost count the number of straight stretches more than 100m long on one hand! Great start to the day to get into a rhythm. I thought this appropriate to sum up the trip:
The run along the coast was pretty good when the scenery opened up. Only problem being the road condition wasn't that great and there was a lot of crap on the road. Never knew what was going to be on the line around the corner. But when you see a vista like this, you forget about those little problems.
After a couple of hours of fun, there wasn't much for it but to hit the 1 through Auckland. The traffic was more like I had expected (heavy) which wasn't a problem having lived in Sydney but it certainly wasn't welcome. The exit on Hill Rd to Clevedon was very welcome though. The road condition wasn't so good but the riding was still pretty good around the coast into Thames. Annoyingly, at Wherekawa they had just done a new seal but hadn't swept it at all so after spending an hour cleaning the bike of rocks and tar yesterday in Russell, it is now covered in shit again. I'm really starting to hate your roadworks.
Watch out for the melted tar too .I was on the Coromandel yesterday and it was bad.
http://geoffjames.blogspot.com
Don't suppose it was you I saw early (ish) this morning heading up towards Coromandel from Thames on a VStrom, was it? I was heading to Thames in the 4x4 to do the monthly grocery shop!
Scooter boy
Probably me. I left Thames about 8.45.
Scooter boy
Oh yeah. I reckon about 50% of today's 400kms had glistening tar to varying degrees. On some thankfully isolated sections it was almost the entire width of the lane. The smell of it was really strong as well.
The biggest hassle today was the traffic. I was pretty much battling traffic for 80% of today. Most people were pretty good though in moving over to let you through, eventually. One idiot though almost caused an accident right in front of me by straying into the oncoming lane for no reason as a 4x4 was overtaking them. I had just opened the throttle to follow him past when I saw her drift over so I was at idle before the 4x4 put the anchors on hard. Just as well. (touch wood) Would rather not have an accident on the last stretch of the trip.
Scooter boy
The last two days have just been good riding. Not much more else to say really. But I will. Weather has been great, if not getting a little hot. I'm an ATGATT type because I'd rather sweat than bleed, so the winter jacket, even with all the vents open, is getting a little toasty.
From Thames, it was a run around the Coromandel. Man what a great road. Followed the 25 all the way until it joined the 2 and then continued south. Just skirted through the outskirts of Tauranga and headed south on the 36 to Rotorua. Nice little run through the gorge, although there are heaps of roadworks. I have to say though, the first time a couple of weeks ago that I was directed by the STOP/GO person to proceed through roadworks and then hit opposing traffic in the only lane, I put it down to "Oh, well. No biggie". The second time, when it was a set of automated roadworks traffic lights that sent me through into oncoming traffic I also wrote it off to someone doing their sums wrong. But the third time this occured, which happened in the gorge, I'm really starting to wonder. Seriously, how hard is it?
From Rotorua it was westward along the 30 to Whakatane which was my final stop for the day. Whakatane is a nice little town. I wanted to stay there and see it as it was the sister school to my high school in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney when I was in year 11-12. I remember the name well as the pronunciation brought a lot of mirth to an Australian audience that had no idea about Kiwi place names.
Today was the big loop starting at Opotiki on the 35 all the way around to Gisborne. Clocked up the 8000th km today. The first half into Te Araroa was outstanding. It will be one of the standout sections of road on the trip. I was thinking that it is like one of Australia's best riding roads, the Great Ocean Road, only so much better because it is longer, there is almost no traffic and there aren't ridiculously lowered speed limits to account for the lowest common denominator in driving skills (or lack thereof). What a trifecta! The wharf at Tolaga Bay provided a good photo opportunity. And for those who know this wharf, yes I have doctored the photo to get rid of the bloody great ugly barricade half way down.
Tomorrow it is further down the coast but via Tiniroto Rd inland to Wairoa, then the 2 to Whirinaka then the 5 up to Taupo. That isn't quite a full day's riding so I will probably end up doing a loop of Lake Taupo.
Scooter boy
After a quiet night in Gisborne opposite the docks, it was onto the Tiniroto Rd to bypass the SH2. This is a fantastic road. Lots of bends up and down hills while passing through some gorgeous countryside.
Once back on the main road it was the SH2 down to just before Napier. As I was coming back this way, I bypassed Napier and headed up the hill to Taupo on the 5. This was a great little run, although the wind picked up significantly which made some of the bends a little less certain. The wind monkey on the handlebars really kicked up a fuss in one or two of the corners and I had to wrestle the bike back onto a non-lethal line. Once at Taupo, as I had expected, it was early in the day so I started a clockwise loop of the Lake via Turangi. This was a great little run also, especially on the western side of the lake. At the first available piece of tarmac on the western side, I turned right towards Taupo. On this road approaching Kinloch, another similarity with Australia was made apparent. When within proximity of affluent suburbs, look out for wankers in tarmac-only luxury SUVs (Audis etc) as they seem to think both lanes are their domain and seeing a bike coming the other way is no reason to get back on their side of the road!
It was at about this point that the back brake started squealing. How could I have gone through an entire rear disk pad in 8000km? No way. To make matters worse, it was 3pm on a Saturday which meant it was the worst possible time to try to arrange a new rear brake pad as everywhere had just shut for the weekend. As a result, the next 3 days riding would be without a back brake to avoid having to repair/replace the disc.
Being a Saturday night, the local residents of Taupo were up at all hours in the streets so it wasn’t good night’s sleep. I woke up at about 4am wide-awake. So I thought I’d see a sunrise on the bike and headed south to “Mt Doom” down near Turangi. Man it was cold and there were heaps of rabbits on the road, but no fur-free traffic. Unfortunately, the cloud was down so I didn’t see much of the mountain but it was clear to the east and it was a brilliant sunrise over the hills to the east of Taupo.
After a quick breakfast it was back down the 5 to Napier then along the coast. After running down the 2 to Dannevirke, it was off the beaten track via Weber and then into the back of Ekatuhune. Just before Waipukurau I experienced some serious anti-bike sentiment from a driver, the likes of which would even be surprising in Australia. I was riding at the speed limit on a long straight stretch of the SH2. There was no oncoming traffic and wide open opportunities for overtaking. A white Camry (BBC 766) came up behind me at about 20k’s over the speed limit and I figured he would just overtake as it was wide open for him to do so. When he went past, he missed my right pannier by about 1 foot and when abeam, immediately pulled in front of me. He pulled in so close that from my riding position his rear left quarter-panel was inside my downward line-of-sight from the end of the right handlebar to the road! I instinctively swerved to the left given his proximity and honked and he then gave me a very vigorous middle finger salute. There was absolutely no need for this behaviour as he had plenty of room and I hadn’t held up his speeding at all. It was clearly just a matter of him deciding to try to scare me and piss me off. This got me real angry for a while which detracted from the ride a bit until I got off the 2 and into the back country around Weber.
That back-country south of Weber is fantastic riding country. Rolling pastoral hills, sweeping bends, magnificent vistas. Only downside being the strong wind tearing at my riding line through some of the exposed corners. I made it into Masterton just before a squall arrived.
With Monday morning I tried to arrange a new rear brake pad but no-one had them in stock in Masterton. As I was on the ferry at 2pm that afternoon it was going to be another days’ riding with a back brake for emergencies only. I ended up arranging a place in Blenheim to do the work which would give them time to get the pads in. From Masterton, I headed directly south and took the back road into Martinborough. Glorious riding through there. Then it was south to Lake Ferry with a divert down to the pinnacles. With such glorious weather, it made for some good photo ops.
On the way back towards Featherstone, I took a divert around Lake Wairarapa. While the roads were narrow and not marked with advisory corner speeds, it was a nice run. Then onto the Rimutakas. I had heard a lot about these hills and was looking forward to the run. My timing was bad though as I was surrounded by trucks. They were very considerate and did their best to let me through when they could but there is only so much they can do on that road. The wind was quite severe on some of the corners that were exposed as well. So it was one of those “imagine how good this road could be on a bike” experiences. Then it was a quick run into Wellington and the ferry.
http://geoffjames.blogspot.com
Excellent ride reports. The central north island used to be my playground until we retired to Coromandel in '08. Yep, there are some cool roads all right!
Scooter boy
As far as the ferry trips go, I have been very lucky. Despite the wind, the strait was very calm and the trip over was very pleasant. Especially as the sun was out so we could actually see something this time (it was pissing down when I had gone the other way). The other big difference was that without the Burt Munro hoard, there were only two bikes on the trip. The other rider was a great bloke and we had a good natter the whole way over. Then it was straight off the ferry to a quiet night in downtown Picton.
The following day, it was an early start to get into Blenheim at the opening time of Croads Motorcycles. Sam was assigned to my bike and he did an outstanding job. Had the rear pads replaced, chain serviced and bike checked out in really quick time. He also found a defect with the rear caliper which explained the rapid wear. This would give me the leverage I needed in case the hire company gave me any grief about cleaning etc when I returned the bike. I can't recommend Croad’s in Blenheim more highly.
The run south down the 1 was fantastic. Once I was past the roadworks and the backlog of traffic caused by them, it was plain unmolested sailing all the way down the coast to Kaikora. Man that was a great run. I was going to divert inland to go through Mt Lyford before popping out at Cheviot, but the weather was murky over the hills and clear on the coast. So I stuck with the 1 to Cheviot. I then took a divert through Gore Bay and Port Robinson which was a nice option.
That pretty much wrapped up the trip because from there it was an easy run down the 1 into Kaiapoi for the night. With the bags dumped I headed into Christchurch to clean the bike. The bloody tar from the roadworks took 2 hours to clean off with some WD-40. What a horses ass! Thankfully, when I took the hire bike back the next day, they weren’t too fussed about the state of the bike apart from anything mechanical. They were particularly interested in the rear caliper defect as they prepped the bike like that and to their credit, they offered me a refund for the work on the brakes. They were very insistent about it.
The final tally on the secondary trip meter was 6277.2 miles – 10101 km.
About 1000 more than I thought I would do. The other thing that surprised me is that after that much riding I thought I would have had enough. But I wanted to keep heading south and start the whole trip again! I have really mixed feelings about this stage of the trip. There is a sort of sense of accomplishment that I have done everything that I planned on doing and managed to do 10000km in 4 weeks – the most I have ever done on a trip like this by a long way (6500 in weeks was my previous best). But I’m also sad that it is over. I’m sad that I’m leaving that bike behind as well. It has very faithfully conveyed me through the most magnificent motorcycling trip I have had, a trip that I will look back on fondly. I almost feel like I have been unfaithful to my own V-Strom because of the attachment to the hire bike. The only thing I won’t miss is the constant unpacking and repacking of the panniers/bags. After a month of doing this every day except for 4 days off, that part of the trip was getting VERY old.
After a couple of days off in Christchurch and Auckland, I'm now sitting in a hotel in Auckland all packed and waiting to head to the airport for the return home. I had very high expectations of how good the motorcycling would be on this trip and I haven't been disappointed at all. I've travelled a lot and even outside of motorcycling considerations, you have a very special country here. For motorcyclists it has to be one of the greatest places in the world to ride. It might be a fair while before I'm back as I have other motorcycling conquests already rattling round in the back of my mind, but a quick 2-week jaunt to the south island on a hire bike now seems like a really easy and very rewarding option.
Thanks to all the KB'ers who have provided advice on riding roads, conditions etc and special thanks to those who have offered accommodation and company as I have travelled around. Can't rate you guys more highly and your hospitality is one of the great things about this country. If any KB'ers are coming through Canberra next year, send me an email (glb600@iinet.net.au). If I'm around, you will have a place to stay (if you can handle a house in Australia without aircon) and a local guide.
Scooter boy
Oh, yeah....the final completed map.....
http://geoffjames.blogspot.com
Great that you've enjoyed yourself. As an ex-Pom (albeit 35 years ago), I think NZ is pretty darned fine for riding too. I don't know whether you've heard of the Kiwi rider, Mike Hyde, but he's written 2 wonderful books on touring on a V-Strom. One was circumnavigating your fine country and the other one is his exploits in America. Really funny and brilliantly written. Here's his website if you ever want to get your hands on his books: http://www.twistingthrottle.com/.
Safe travelling!
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