Escaping the sandflies and trying to find cell phone reception were our main motivators to get out of Haast. Sure, nice town, good people, wouldn't want to stay there too long. So we found the petrol station, filled up, and jumped back on the road.

Now, being an army officer, I pride myself in my ability to gauge direction and bearings. Navigation is drilled into any soldier, and is a core competency that any military person must become fluent with if he is to go anywhere in his career.

So it was that two officers were absolutely stumped when they emerged from the dense jungle lane to find the road continuing .... south. Somehow we had taken the wrong road. To be perfectly honest, we hadn't actually realised there WAS a wrong road to take. So the bikes were turned around, the map consulted, and Haast was reentered after a 1 hour, 97 km detour. After filling up again, we relocated SH6, and cruised.

Our plan for the day was to get to Greymouth, as this would give us a good day to explore around the Nelson area, something that had be recommended to both of us. Our detour south had cost us an hour, so we pushed through the normal photostops, trying to make up for lost time. Ultimatley we ended up in Fox around lunchtime. Here a chain adjustment was made to the GN, and we made our way out to Fox Glacier.

We walked right up to the glacier, braving the numerous warning signs, fording the rivers, and dodging the falling rocks (seriously, there would be a sizable fall every 5-10 seconds).

On the way back, it was decided that our bikes needed to see the glacier too, and that the shingle track would be fine for even the road faring GN.

This plan lasted about 30 seconds into the track, when we were told to turn around by a courteous DoC officer. Being rebellious youths, we did what came natural. We obliged, and instead took photos of our bikes in a rock field next to the car park. As the day was already hitting around 25 degrees celcius, we had a quick shower in a glacial waterfall, much to the excitement of the Japanese tourists who chose that moment in time to walk past.

We carried on up the highway to Franz Joseph. Here I must explain; almost everyday of the trip we had managed to cheat ourselves of a decent breakfast, usually due to late starts and quick exits from backpackers. So we had become accustomed to having oversized lunches. The downside of this is that we would have oversized mid afternoon slumps.

Our pub lunch along with a cheeky pint at Fox managed to hit the spot just as we got to Franz Joseph. We felt f*@ked. It was unanimously decided that we would spend the night in Franz Joseph, so accomodation was found, and we were about to enter our assigned dorm when Danger stopped me, and reprimanded me for not having a dozen beer under my arm. So we acquired the liquid bread, and promptly found we were sharing a room with 2 aussie girls, an irishman, and a guy from sweden. It really sounded like the start of a bad joke. They were all game for a big night, so we hit the bar/s of Franz Joseph, returning for a quick sleep the wee hours.

 

Aussie brothers die as NZ's Fox Glacier collapses
January 08, 2009 11:25pm
THE Australian man killed and his brother, believed dead, in an ice fall on a New Zealand glacier have been named.

News agency NZPA said the dead man was Ashish Miranda, a 24-year-old aerospace engineer for Boeing.

His brother is Akshay Miranda, a 22-year-old student.

NZPA reports the brothers crossed safety barriers to take photos and were crushed by falling ice.

n 2007, the Department of Conservation said that almost a third of the 600,000 visitors to the west coast glaciers ignore warning signs and enter danger zones.

In February that year, a tourist standing beside an ice cave at the terminal face of the Franz Josef Glacier was injured when the roof collapsed. He had walked past signs warning of the danger of falling ice.

Enjoying your trip thanks for posting

 

Mate, this is an absolute masterpiece! Loving it.
All the more so, as I've travelled most of the roads you've been on. Shame we couldn't have caught up when you were in Nelson.
What caused the oil leak - any idea?

 

The oil leak was through the seals on the rocker cover, where those two half circles of rubber are... easy and cheap to fix anyway.

And Maverick. Yes, we were stupid and reckless youths, those people died 2 days before we got there (the german girls had done a glacier trek on the morning of the 8th). We know the facts about glaciers, and thus didnt do anything toooo stupid like standing under the glacier mouth (where most ice collapses occur).
And in any case, we had just endured blistering deserts, rainstorms, climbed to the highest room of the tallest tower etc. etc. had to get the pic.

 

Great Report and Pics....Keep it comming!!

Post this report on the advrider site too...you got to share.

Man I got to get out New Zealand one of these days.

 

EPIC ride fo sho!!!!

 

Wow...all I can say is WOW! I've gotta to get out there when I finish my time in the Marine Corps...I've never once heard anything bad about Fosters!

(yay...first post!)

 

Sorry for the patchy transmision guys, can only upload the images at work now, my internet at home sucks so badly!



Due to our failure to do our planned kms the day before, we faced a long day ahead of us. Farewelling our new friends, we hit the road at a reasonable 0900. The KLX only needed a quarter of a litre that morning, and the GN had managed to keep it's tension in its chain over night. The day was set to be a stunner. Unfortunately the sheer length of the day ahead of us set a grey cloud, dampening our sightseeing moods, and sapping our photographic fervour.

About the biggest highlight of the day included a quick peek at Mt Cook's summit, however it's fleeting showing was too quick to get a shot of it. So you'll have to take my word that we saw it.

The second biggest highlight was observing a rather humorous creek sign. It was too good to pass up a photo, even for our travel-weary minds.

The third highlight struck just before Greymouth, when my bike turned a very significant number, for which we had to pull over and celebrate. I apologised to the KLX for not having a cake for it. Instead I rewarded it with a quick top up of oil and a triumphant wheelie.

We reached Greymouth by lunchtime, and realised we weren't close to half way. This cast an even larger cloud over us. However, one bright point came to surface, in that this was the first time I had ever seen Greymouth without overcast skies.

After a quick visit to the Monteiths brewery (it would have been an insult to the entire trip had we missed it) we pushed on through to Nelson, gritting our teeth and sucking up the soreness from our undersized motorbikes, arriving in Nelson at a very respectable 1900.

For the first time on the whole trip, there was no dormitory accommodation available to us, so we settled for a two bed room in the YHA, stinging us nearly double what we would pay for a dorm, and attractive European girls weren't even provided!

Keeping true to the tradition and heritage of the tour thus far, we finished the day with a hearty steak and a couple of quiet ones at the local bar.

For the first time, we actually looked forwards in time and realised we would need a decent sleep, for the next day, the last day, was to be our longest day by nearly 200kms, and we would need all our wits about us to keep on the road.

 

We awoke to the sound of my cellphone's alarm at 0500. A quick packing and coffee from the dispensing machine in the kitchen and we were out the door. We had consulted the map book the night before and had worked out we had a cool 100 kms between Nelson and Picton, where we had a 0700 date with Bluebridge ferries. However, our plans were quickly put under pressure by a sign that proclaimed Picton actually lay 150kms distant.

Needless to say throttle was twisted, and our 250cc engines screamed through the twisting passes, with only well behaved trucks sharing the roads with us. By this stage my rear tyre was liberally doused with oil, so it was all I could do to keep up with the GN through the corners, making up any ground lost on the occasional straights.

I have to say, incredible adventure riding country around that region. Just from the highway, I could count many trails leading off over saddles and peaks, beconing to be explored, and I cursed our short day to Franz Joseph, that had crippled us so much for time now. We hit Picton at 0710, and promptly found out we were actually booked for the same ferry one day later. After quick negotiations, we got a spot on the ferry about to depart. Aboard, strapped in, and with breakfast in hand, we were able to rest and relax. We waved goodbye to the South Island, and settled in to watch Hoodwinked and some teenage chick movie.

Arriving in Wellington, we made our way to the Lower Hutt Hospital to have lunch with an old army friend, which took us onto SH2.

Little did we know, this lunch that lasted 20 minutes would cost us close to 3 hours later on. We struck out going up SH2, planning on meeting up with SH1 at Palmy. Just short of Palmerston North however, I spyed a sign pointing down a road claiming Taihape was 122kms away.
Thinking if this were true, it would be an epic shortcut, we turned up it. The sign warning us that is was not an alternative to SH1 should have stopped us, but we being reckless youths, we plugged on, and promptly hit gravel.
About 50kms and nearly 3 hours of fickle, coarse gravel later, Danger got impatient, and asked a farmer how to get back to SH1.
Armed with directions, we successfully rejoined SH1 at Mangaweka, and blasted to Waiouru, having dinner at the cafe on the base with our highly jealous army collegues, sharing stories and declining polite invitations for a beer. We were on a mission.

The ride to Taupo in twilight was nothing short of breathtaking, mainly because we were both still in wife beaters (singlets) and shorts under our gear, and the temperature dropped to about 5 degrees celcius in the space of about 5 minutes. Too proud to admit we were cold (the first person to admit it clearly had the smallest male appendage) we shivered to Taupo, where a hot McD's coffee and fries warmed us up.

From there, it was standard SH1 fare. As proof that I can do it with my eyes closed, I slept for half of it, as I cannot remember Putaruru, or many of the other smaller towns we must have passed through.

Supper in Hamilton at 0100 was a welcome relief, and with caffeine again surging through the veins, we strode on to Auckland.

A tear nearly left my eye as we descended the Bombay hills with Auckland stretched out in front, and a lighting storm giving a demonstration off in the East. Then I realised I had left my visor open, and once closed my eyes were fine again.

The relief I had as I dismounted at home was rivalled only by the drive to get my photos uploaded to the computer. Unfortunately I only got to plugging in my camera before I collapsed on my bed and crashed out.

 

Hahaha - Fosters! You've made the classic mistake of confusing us kiwis with our aussie friends. Fosters is an aussie beer.
Steinlager is the famous kiwi beer. Welcome to the forum though!
Yeah - come on over you guys. You'd love it (especially with the exchange rate!).
We could have a KLXer get-together.......................