Hi all, have been absent from the forums for the last couple of weeks as I have been out and about, doing a cheeky lap of New Zealand.

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

Ever since getting my klx, 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. Unfortunately, on a warmup run up north, the Ninja bucked it's rider and the rider was invalidated (see "A Very Long Weekend" report). 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 experience, 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 bargaining power and sheer charm, he managed to wrangle up a badly maintained 2004 GN250 from a fellow army mate. We were set. 2 weeks later, and after much Christmas/New Years celebrations, we set off of the 3rd of Jan, with Danger nursing a slight hangover, and me recovering from a moderate amount of sleep deprivation. Little did we know how much of a pattern this would become.

 

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 from Auckland 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, a very old large tree sacred to the Maori people, 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. 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, acquired a dozen beer, and nursed them while chatting to some dutch backpackers.

 

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, took careful note of how many kms to Bluff (the southern most end of our trip), 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.

 

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 spied a large collection of bikes in an unlabelled 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, ie. Value-a-bull, Eat-a-bull, Save-a-bull etc. 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 klx. 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 tomorrow.

 

Nice ride report. I wish the weather was good enough to go for a long ride here right now. I have a long rode in mind for the summer. NZ has been on my trip list for a while now.

 

Nice report so far. Anxiously awaiting the next installment.

 

Nice one Sam! Am jealous I couldn't get away for a bit to join you guys for a while! Lookin forward to seeing what you got up to in the South island mate!

 

Thanks for your replies so far! And dave, you probably would have been bored out of your mind; the only offroading we did was to get to close-by vantage points for photos... will have to meet up sometime to do some real adventure riding!

And so the story continues:

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 en route 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 Christchurch 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'.

 

I'm enjoying the ride, thanks for taking us along! BTW I just saw a comercial on tv inviting me to come visit NZ. Looks like beautiful country

 

Cheers Sam, will certainly look forward to doing some proper adv riding with you one day!
Now stop teasin us and get some photos of the awesome South Island scenery on here!