Te Anau-Bluff-Oamaru

[Gixxer 4 ever]

Might I suggest a daily touring action plan:

1. Travel from location A to location B with women on pillion seats, dutifully admire scenery, administer loving pats on knees, etc.

2. Leave women at location B accommodation drinking tea and watching Coro St reruns.

3. Loop out to location A and back again at more 'interesting' velocities.

Hahahahaha just might do that with some of the roads.
You coim then Dan? It will be a great 14 days of fun.
Should have the road plan finished soon. Then sort out accommodation and things to see. Then save for the next 11 months. Then get road fit, yes an excuse to ride a lot and drink some, all in the name of being a better person.
Then hit the road running and have a ball around the little Island.
Mary Mooo and I are doing this trip and we hope to have my cousin and her man join us from OZ.

When we have the plan sorted and dates etc we will let you all know what we are doing and if anyone wants to join us that will be fantastic. Hope to meet with some of the South Island KB team as we go.
For me it is a trip I have wanted to do for a long time so I am making sure I have done all I can do to make it work.

Get saving da bling and come along....... both of you.....

[Clairsky]

If you go into Milford, fill up in Te Anau before you go. No petrol available in there anymore. Worth the trip, but be very aware of tourists.

[Gixxer 4 ever]

If you go into Milford, fill up in Te Anau before you go. No petrol available in there anymore. Worth the trip, but be very aware of tourists.

Thanks for that. I had email from Anita from the Te Anau Lake front Backpackers and she advised the same. We should have a few RF900s with us so they can pickup fuel if we need it for the sports bikes. But with careful riding I think most of us will make it. Yes the tourists................. Then again I will be one.....

I had this in the plan but I think we will add a day cos there is a lot to see on the way down. What do you recon?

3. Fox Glacier – Queenstown. Approx 250kms.
Head through Haast pass down to Wanaka. Spectacular! Take the Crown Range Road past Cardrona. A stop at the pub is a must. It’s the same one used on the Speights ads. Then down into Queenstown Then on to – Te Anau. Approx 174kms.
We will cover 430km.

Its not the 430 ks but what will we miss rushing this part of the trip. We don't want to stay in Queenstown so will pick a place near by. Any ideas?


Thanks Clairsky.

[LBD]

Yes mate lots to see down there and if you dont see it all this time, you will be back.
You ask about accomodation near Queenstown might I suggest finding somewhere in Cromwell and take in one of my favored routes to Te Anau the next day From Cromwell head for Alex the Roxborough then when you get to a small village called Etterick, turn right just before you leave town and head up over Dunrobin to Herriot, Kelso, Crossmans corner, Waikaka, Chaton, Otama, Riverdale then on to Te Anau. All sealed and the ride from Cromwell to Roxborough is nice.

[Jantar]

Thanks for that. I had email from Anita from the Te Anau Lake front Backpackers ....

Jantar is going to have words with his daughter about sending emails to dodgy bikers.

We don't want to stay in Queenstown so will pick a place near by. Any ideas?

Try Arrowtown. First turn right after coming down the Crown Range.

[Gixxer 4 ever]

Jantar is going to have words with his daughter about sending emails to dodgy bikers.
.

What dodgy biker has she been sending email to?

[Gixxer 4 ever]

You ask about accomodation near Queenstown might I suggest finding somewhere in Cromwell and take in one of my favored routes to Te Anau the next day From Cromwell head for Alex the Roxborough then when you get to a small village called Etterick, turn right just before you leave town and head up over Dunrobin to Herriot, Kelso, Crossmans corner, Waikaka, Chaton, Otama, Riverdale then on to Te Anau. All sealed and the ride from Cromwell to Roxborough is nice.

Just had a look on the map. That really looks good. How long at holiday speed? I have added another day to the trip. Just to much to see and do. Thanks for the Info. Really good.

Cromwell sounds like us.

[LBD]

Just had a look on the map. That really looks good. How long at holiday speed? I have added another day to the trip. Just to much to see and do. Thanks for the Info. Really good.

Cromwell sounds like us.

Cromwell to Te Anau non stop 3 hrs legal/safe speeds. At holiday speed, you will want to see the dam at Clyde, cuppa in Roxborough, allow for map study and at least one wrong turn between Etterick and Riversdale, real fruit icecream in Mossburn (First tea room on left, Banana and kiwifruit mix) Photos at the Wapati monument and maybe at the red tussoc reserve if the light is right....5 maybe 6 hours if you are cruising. Add another 3 if you are fishing on the way.

Do not leave any trip west into Te Anau till late in the day as the road is straight into the evening sun.

Drop me a note with the dates you plan to visit.

Cheers

LBD

[Gixxer 4 ever]

Cromwell to Te Anau non stop 3 hrs legal/safe speeds. At holiday speed, you will want to see the dam at Clyde, cuppa in Roxborough, allow for map study and at least one wrong turn between Etterick and Riversdale, real fruit icecream in Mossburn (First tea room on left, Banana and kiwifruit mix) Photos at the Wapati monument and maybe at the red tussoc reserve if the light is right....5 maybe 6 hours if you are cruising. Add another 3 if you are fishing on the way.

Do not leave any trip west into Te Anau till late in the day as the road is straight into the evening sun.

Drop me a note with the dates you plan to visit.

Cheers

LBD

Will not have dates till March as we have an OZ couple coming over in March this year and they are coming with us in 2010. Our trip will be in January 2010. Yep a year away.

We were going to do it this year but due to the OZ connection, they asked us to put it off a year so they could come. We sat around the waterfront in Melbourne after the Phillip Island Moto GP in 07 and made a plan. Mary and I would love to do it this year but better wait for them. I hope with a years notice we can pick up a group from here, Hawkes Bay, and or along the way to ride with. The help we have had from you and others down that way has changed the ride and made it so much more of what I wanted. Thanks to you all. I will send you an Itinerary when it is more developed.

[Gixxer 4 ever]

Jantar is going to have words with his daughter about sending emails to dodgy bikers.
.

Morning Jantar. i see you are online.
We are still grinning about this. Lucky I was nice

[Jantar]

Cromwell to Te Anau non stop 3 hrs legal/safe speeds. At holiday speed, you will want to see the dam at Clyde, cuppa in Roxborough, allow for map study and at least one wrong turn between Etterick and Riversdale, real fruit icecream in Mossburn (First tea room on left, Banana and kiwifruit mix) Photos at the Wapati monument and maybe at the red tussoc reserve if the light is right....5 maybe 6 hours if you are cruising. Add another 3 if you are fishing on the way.

Do not leave any trip west into Te Anau till late in the day as the road is straight into the evening sun.

Drop me a note with the dates you plan to visit.

Cheers

LBD

3 hrs is pushing it by that route. It would be closer to 3.5 - 4 hours from Cromwell. Many of the bends in the Moa Flat area are 45 kmh ones, and there is often loose gravel kicked in from the edges on the surface of the seal.

I allow myself 3.5 hrs from Alexandra, and that's already 20 - 25 minutes closer than Cromwell.

Generally I go to Te Anua from Alexandra via Kingston and home this route (or visa versa). The Kingston route is the more scenic, and the bends are great both routes. No campervans or tourist traffic via Waikaka.

[LBD]

Generally I go to Te Anua from Alexandra via Kingston and home this route (or visa versa). The Kingston route is the more scenic, and the bends are great both routes. .

Hi Jantar, has the road around the lake been resealed in the last year? It used to have that horrible rut on right on my ride line when riding frankton to Kingston, which is why I would ride the other way round.

That bit of road is nice, but my preference for scenery is Cromwell around Dunstun to Alex and I love Alex to Rox with its moonscape rocks, deserted stone cottages, small tarns and history etc, that you dont get the other way round.

And there is a couple of Bike shops in Alex I liked to visit.

Cheers LBD

[Jantar]

Parts of the Frankton - Kingston Rd still have that. Its where the fibre optic cable (or similar) was laid, and they made a piss poor job or resurfacing the road afterwards. I don't find it too bad though, and seldom is it actually in my riding line, although I have been known to cross it a few times.

[Ocean1]

Parts of the Frankton - Kingston Rd still have that. Its where the fibre optic cable (or similar) was laid, and they made a piss poor job or resurfacing the road afterwards. I don't find it too bad though, and seldom is it actually in my riding line, although I have been known to cross it a few times.

Was called the devil's staircase? I remember doing that road, sometime in the 60's, towing a caravan.

It was all gravel, mostly single lane, with a passing "lane" every few miles.

I particularly remember having to back the caravan up over a mile to accomodate a filthy great army truck.

It's a fookin' loooong way down to the lake.

[LBD]

Was called the devil's staircase?

Thats the one. Now when you get to Kingston heading toward Queenstown, start playing AC/DC's extended Jailbreak, all 14 minutes and 42 seconds of it. Then if you are in the right groove, you hit the first tight left/right at the 6 minute and 11 second mark, turn the volume up, grow horns, and the next 8 minutes 31 seconds will be the most unforgettable ride. Does not work as well coming back the other way. (What you reckon Jantar)