North Island invasion of the South?

[Crim]

a bit of vid from Friday

thanks for that - first time I have seen a full grown man thrown off a bike by a mushroom - no wonder you all shot back over the ditch - our fungi too hard for you lot??

[Big Col]

Fungi not to hard at all, just showing you south island fellas another way to dismount, Its not as easy as it looks but with practice you can perfect this maneuver

[JATZ]

Nice work Shewolf And that would be one of the scrufyist dismount's I ever saw BigCol funny though

Waiting patiently for Hans's effort

[ADVGD]

a bit of vid from Friday

5:53... priceless

[XF650]

Rogson & I decided to meet Eddies lot at Reefton, but first I wanted to show the Jafa some West Coast tracks.
Sat morn we rode in through Marsden, with the objective of Moana for lunch via Noname Rd & bush / forestry tracks. Had left my Topo maps & GPS at home but figured as long as we kept the sun on our left, what could possibly go wrong? Yip, you guessed it, we went round in bloody circles. Three times we went in from different start points & each time came out at the same bloody gold mine. Got flagged down by some 4WD's who even though had GPS, they were just as lost as us. Roads & tracks closed for logging & mining confused the issue. The riding was still great, especially one track that followed a ridgeline above the bush. Finding the WW2 air strip was a bonus but lost it's novelty the 2nd time we rode past it. Flagged Moana & you can see in the pics where we ended up for a Miners Dark Ale.


Sat afternoon we attempted to ride into Napolean Hill from the bottom but continued the "lost" theme & ended up on a snotty track in the wrong valley. No pics but assume narrow, loose & steep. Turned back but in hindsight I think this might be the track that eventually drops in between the tunnels.
Sat night we stayed @ Ikamatua Pub and the place was rocking with celebrating rugby team, motox groups staying for 2 day event & woofer girls as staff - a cunning policy by the publican to bring the guys in!

[_Shrek_]

so how were the mushrooms

[XF650]

Sunday morning we had another go at Napolean Hill but this time rode in from the top. The landowner who unlocks the gate took time to show us his (big) waterwheel, that he built to turn a washing machine motor, that powers his caravan and eventually a house.
This ride down the Hill & out through the Tunnels is a must - the 2nd time I'v done it & still a buzz. However I then made the dumb decision (Aye MarkS) to once again ride out the River to Waipuna Rd, instead of the more sensible route out through the Fergusons Farm. Although Roger was enjoying the slimey boulders, the DT kept deflecting off them & often dumping me. My dodgy knee & crook wrists were taking a pounding & this unfit old git was tiring fast. If i'd had a gun I would have shot the bike but later discovered 30PSI in the tyres (bloody faulty Bunnings guage) & suspension set way too hard, so no wonder I was knackered. The bike & I survived and it was a relief to reach the road bridge.


We caught up with the Invaders for lunch in Reefton & what a great bunch of guys. Ya could tell Eddie had their trip very well organised too.
I then showed the way up a walking track to the lookout. Big River followed, where we came accross Eddie a bit wet & stuck against a rock ledge in one of the crossings - he had heaps of excuses of how he got it wrong so Woodman & Underground showed him the right line.

[Shewolf]

he was certainly having a Gordon Ramsey moment soon after

so how were the mushrooms

[Woodman]

Few pics

[NordieBoy]

Big River followed, where we came accross Eddie a bit wet & stuck against a rock ledge in one of the crossings - he had heaps of excuses of how he got it wrong so Woodman & Underground showed him the right line.

That's the lowest water level I've seen there.

[XF650]

Over a few beers on Sunday night it was easy to decide to have a look at the Mackley on Monday, especially with the rivers being low & a good weather forcast. This ride was always on my 'bucket list' & work could wait another day.
The ride through New Creek was much nicer on my wrists with the tyres dropped to 20psi & the clickers wound out a bit. I found crossing the Mackley was actually quite easy too, if a bit tentative after the previous mornings river drama's. We yelled our goodbyes to the Invaders accross the River & headed into the unkown. And what an amazing track it is - the best yet I reckon with a mix of a steep loose ascent, bush tracks & open trails accross the tops that reminded me of a knarlier version of the Dunstan Trail. The views off Mt Rochfort (1038 meters) were stunning too - the pics say it all..
I would recconmend anyone wanting to ride this route not to delay too long, as evident by many mining company vehicles on the Denniston Plateau.

As we crossed the Alps for home, between Arthers & Porters Passes we saw the meteorite heading to the West Coast - a fitting way to end 3 days great riding & a big thanks to Eddie's Invasion for giving us the excuse!

[XF650]

That's the lowest water level I've seen there.

I think it's the same everywhere on the Coast at the moment - the farmers could do with a rain!

[Shewolf]

a bit of vid from Saturday - you don't have long to wait for Hans' cameo

[rogson]

Thanks for a great weekend Struan.

Also, it was a pleasure to meet and ride with Eddie's group.

It was certainly ideal conditions to be riding the West Coast region. I can imagine some of those tracks, especially the river routes/crossings would be "interesting" in more normal West Coast conditions.

My trip was prompted by having to repair my WR450 which had been housed at Struan's place after blowing a head gasket on the Dusty Butt. This was the second blown head gasket in about 10 hours of use. After some investigation/research I decided it was due to the head studs yeilding. It appears they are tension limited - i.e. are designed to yeild if you tighten them following the (convoluted) procedure in the manual. This effectively makes them one time use, since once yeilded they will not hold the same tension on a retorque. Of course, there is is no mention of the need to replace them in the manual - @#$*!!

I was intending to do the job myself but Kevin at Mckay and Donaldson Yamaha offered to do it for a very reasonable price when we were in there buying a couple of last minute items for the job. I took him up on the offer since it enabled me to do what us jafas do best - drink coffee and goof-off all day.

Thanks Kevin, the bike went/is going well.

[.chris]

As we crossed the Alps for home, between Arthers & Porters Passes we saw the meteorite heading to the West Coast - a fitting way to end 3 days great riding & a big thanks to Eddie's Invasion for giving us the excuse!

Where is that/those pictures taken from?
(I tried to work it out from post but was not clear for me).

Thanks