Buzz and I dropped the bike at the Brisbane depot this morning and then next month Buzz & Sue will pick it up and ride it to Auckland over 2 weeks, where Sam & I will then meet them, then ride the bike back to Christchurch taking 3 weeks.
Sam & I are really looking forward to this trip. We are planning on spending about 8 days on the Nth Island then the remainder on the South Island. We are going to try and couchsurf our way around as much as possible. Not so much to save money (though that is a bonus) but we are hoping to hook up with as many locals as possible and try and get inot the KIWI culture [If there is such a thing:-) }
The jandals and velcro gloves are pecked in the Chully Bun and we are set to go. Ewe kin check out our blog et www.seqtrailrider.typepad.com
We will try en epdete it es mech es we ken, but et well dipend on if they heve free wireliss internits in unzud. Semmy says no nuddy pics till after sex..............pm, so the kiddys dont git scerred but ewe never know bro.
Well the flight over was pretty uneventful,apart from a couple of screaming kids. We did our best to drown out the noise and before we knew it we were flying over a very pretty at night Auckland city. We made our way to the motel Buzz had booked for us. It was a hot and balmy night in Auckland and the room had no aircon which was a bit rough bro. Got to sleep around 2am.
Met with Buzz and after a bit of mucking around with the bike and a breifing from Buzz & Sue we headed off into the city to play rubber necks for the day. We took a look a the massive marina with the most amazing yachts and boats, then took a harbour cruise around the harbour and some of the close by islands. The weather was awesome, so we decided a scuba dive was in order, so we booked in and soon were checking out huge sharks, manta & sting ray, lion fish, and some massive crayfish. It was bloody brilliant. We also saw some penguins and even an orca whale eating a seal.!!!!!!!!
OK so the diving bit was bullshit, we actually went to Kelly Tarltins aqarium which is a huge underwater aqarium built from the city's old sewrage network. It was really quite good and I am usually not a huge fan of this types of places. Money well spent.
Then it was a hot walk to check out the skytower....the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. The view was brilliant, but my vertigo wouldn't allow me walk on the glass walkway. Sam had no problem and neither did the loonies bungy jumping from it.
A quick spin up to one tree hill was next then we dcidied that we had seen enouugh of the city and headed north to find somewhere to stay. This proved harder than we thought it would be and after trying about 20 different places, have ended up in a little place called.Kaiwaka. Straight out of 1960 it is but the rooms are clean and cheap and the beer at the pub was cold. More tomorrow. (internits allowing)
We got a reasonably early start and headed for the coast. The roads were brilliant and we haven't even got to the good stuff yet. We rode past heaps of pretty bays and beaches, stopping along the way to take in the views and rest our sore bums.
We stopped in a placed called Wharangeri and this is where we had our first runin with the NZ language. Apparently “WH' is pronounced “F” similar to how we use “PH”. But not all the time. Its got me whucked why and even Karen the chick in the gps had no whucken idea.
We had a quick look at Wharangeri falls (or whatever their called) then up the road again through some pretty country side to our destination for the day which was Russell.
(SORRY NO PICS DUE TO OPERATOR ERROR)
Russell is a very nice little seaside village
We were able to book a seat on the Max Attack which is 1600hp speed jetboat that takes people out to Cathedral Cove and the Hole in the Rock. This was a great time and the views spectacular.
With that over we had the driver drop us back to our houseboat where we would be staying for the night. Here's a pic of it.
Nah actually that's bullshit heres a pic of our houseboat.
Nah actually that's bullshit too. We are really couchsurfing at Douglas & Williams fantastic house which has a great deck with views out over the Sth pacific ocean.
The boys met us after the max attack ride and we headed for a couple of local bars to continue our search for NZ finest beer. I have taken quite a liking to Macs gold Sam is still trying to find one she likes. Then a nice dinner at the pub overlooking the bay before a night time fullers tour of of Russel. .
We had a great time in Russell. Huge thanks to Douglas & William for showing us around and letting us couchsurf the night.
Footnote: The max attack boat tour we wnt on was closed down by the NZ govt for beaching safety requirements the week after we were on it. Fantastic :-)
The day started with brekky at a little cafe in Russell with Douglas before we set off across the ferry to check out the famous public toilets at Kawakawa.
These colouful public toilets were desined and built by some loony with obviously far too much time on his hands.
I thought they were crap, so we headed off to check out some nearby waterfalls, just outside Paihia.
We were quite surprised to find about 6 German backpackers cavorting naked in the pool. Heres a pic I took.
Hmm not sure what happened to the pic.
Actually that bit was bullshit, but heres a pic of Sammy instead.
From there we headed north checking out some pretty little towns along the way. Manganou reminded us of Strahan in tassie....just without the japanese toolists.
It was then up the road to Cape Reinga, New Zealands most northern point. Its also not far from home.
The cape is where the Tasman sea meets the Sth pacific and while it was quite calm today, apparently it can dish up some of the biggest waves in the world. I'm not sure if thats bullshit or not, but it sounded good eh bro?
We celebrated our getting to the cape by demolishig a pack or Oreo's and a bottle of coke then began our 30klm walk back to the car park before the sugar rush wore off. Actually thats bullshit, it's only about a kilometere, but it felt like 30.
After recovering from the uphill slog we began our journey south making a diversion to 90 mile beach.
Managed to make it onto the beach without crashing, but came close a couple of times, much to Sam's amusement.
We ended up in Ahipara, we we have checked into the backpackers and had an awesome meal at a nearby resturant, with an awesome veiw. We are both exhausted but having a great time.
Was an early start this morning and I took just a liitle delight in warming the bike just a bit tooo long just to annoy the prick in the cabin next door that snored all night.
We made our way to Hokianga where we boarded the ferry for the short ride to Rawene, where we had breakfast at the mudflats cafe. If you ever wondered why Aussie's pay out on Kiwi's then you need to come here. Can you believe that these guys forgot our order.....not uncommon in a busy cafe I here you think, difference is WE were the only ones there...talk about dumbass Kiwi's, but at least we got free coffee, while they worked out how to cook scrambled eggs, which was apparently their speciality.
There is more to come on dumbass Kiwi's later in ths post.
After our marathon brekky, we were peaking on coffee, 40 cups will do that to you, so it was a high speeed blast on some brilliant roads to the oldest and biggest tree in the world. (this could be bullshit...not sure)
We then told Karen to find us some fun roads and nice places not on the highway and she happily obliged by taking us to the back off nowhere. It was great fun but.
We ended up at Bayleys beach, where the bright coloured beach bachs (as they are known) overlook the beach....very cool. This one must be owned by a KTM owner eh bro?
It was also here that we met a guy who's job it is to drive around in the google mobile taking all the pics for google maps street veiw. It was cool talking to him and hearing some of the stories of some of the things he has seen. (too many to list here).
From here our destination was supposed to be to Waihi, where we had arranged to couchsurf at Stuarts place. This is where we had our 2nd run in with Kiwi dickheads, as despite several weeks notice and him actually confirming when we made contact by phone, we discovered that he had forgotton all about us and taken in some other couchsurfers. This lead to us having to hastily trying to source some alternative accomadation which wasnt easy at such short notice.Thanks for that Stuart, I sincerly hope you read this. You don't work at this palce by any chance do ya, cause you are defineatly a Knob !!!!
Karen was on the job though and she led us on some fun roads out to the Coromandel penisular. Fortunatly we were able to score a room at the historic Junction hotel at thames. Not the most luxourious, but definatly full of character. The managers are awesome and let us lock up the bike in an old bar that is being renovated.
We had dinner at the worlds worst pizza and pasta bar then back to the pub for a few beers with the staff. Was a great night.
Was abit of a dodgy start today due to far too many beers and wine last night. Had to wake Brent & Jenny the pub managers so we could get the bike out of the lock up. They looked much worse than us. :-)
Punched into Karen that we wanted the full coromandel experience to day and she didnt let us down, directing us up the very scenic coastline.
Had a nice brekky in Coromandel town while Sam did some washing then off again up some brilliant roads to the tip of the penisular
As always the pictures don't do the scenery justice.
We had a bit of a break at the top,, then headed back down to Coromandel town, then across an awesome mountain range to Whitianga....(fattyanger????????)
We found a cabin to stay in then booked in for the high speed boat ride to see the sights.
The limestone cliffs and formations are bloody fantastic!!!
Some of them brought back memories of the Phantom and his skull cave.
Catherderal cove was very cool.
They even have their own version of a hole in the rock, but a little smaller than the one up north .
Kiwi's seem to like their rocks with holes.
Steve the boat skipper was very cool and reckoned that If I could make a horn sound by blowing into the shell, I would be surrounded by several naked mermaids for the rest of my holiday.
Despite me having the best sounding blow on the boat it seems that either the shell was faulty or steve was spinning some bullshit. I did end up with Miss Mercury Bay though.
Todays plan was to get away early, but this of course didnt happen due to us losing the keys to the bike. A room wide search was undertaken all to no avail. We looked everywhere and had nearly decided that we needed to call a locksmith, when upon taking the tank bag off the bike, the keys were discovered stuck the the magnets on the underside of the tankbag. Doh!!!!
We had a brekky had a cafe in town. Can someone tell our moms we are eating ok...ta.
WE then headed to Hot Water beach which is where a hot spring bubbles to the surface on the beach. People hire spades at the local shop and dig holes in the sand , so making their own personal hot thermal bath to boil their asses in.
I didnt fancy having boiling hot sand inside my shorts, so later on whipped this little beauty up. heres some pics of us soaking up the hot thermal springs.
Ok so the bit about me whipping it up is bullshit. This was actaully in Rotorua at the polynesian hot springs at bit later on today.
From hot water beach we told Karen to take us the most direct route to Rotorua and while she did ok, we did have a bit of an argument after she took us the non scenic route, through the suburbs of Optere, but she soon sorted herself out and we set off via some great roads and scenery.
We had a bit of rain on the way but nothing too seriuos and it soon cleared.
We got to Rotorua soon after and after our relaxing soak headed to one of the local thermal parks to check out the thermal activity and boiling mud pits.
I think the name of the place we went to was wherethephuckarewe or something like that anyway.
The geyser in the pic above was pretty cool . It basically goes off every 45 minutes and shoots boiling water about 20 meters into the sky. Much better than the Kiama blowhole.
The boiling mud was pretty amazing as well.
From here it was back to our room at the hostel a quck change and into the bus for our authentic mauri village tour. This was actaually a pretty good laugh, with the kiwi bus driver taking the piss out of the aussies most of the time.
I was made cheif of our tribe (actaully the bus) and had to face up to the angry village cheif and his warriors, before being accepted and welcomed into the village for a tour and a hungi.
The show was much better than I thought it woukld be and Sam & I ended up having a great night. The food was fantastic as well. Certainly better than what you get at the outback spectacular.
Our original thinking was to head out around East Cape and then back up to Taupo, but a Karen had a bit of a think about it and after working out that it was over 700klms, she decided that the East cape would be saved for another time.
We packed up quickly and headed off for breakfast in Taupo along the way stopping in at some more boiling mud pools.
The roads were virtually empty and we were just cruising along, when all of a sudden there was a blur of flashing lights and sirens and we pulled up to meet Sgt. Sheepshagger, who had very kindly taken time out of his busy schedule of catching murderers, rapists and bank robbers to let us know that in this country everything works on a user pays system, so if you want to have fun on the roads here you have to pay. The price was quite reasonable considering how much fun we had been having and Sgt sheepshagger even gave us a 30 day acct which was nice of him..........the prick.
Stoped at Huka falls for a quick look.
Had a crap brekky on the lake foreshore then off to wards Tamarunui, which is the start of the Forgotten highway....150klms of bike riding bliss and since we had already paid our fun tax, we were free to go as fast as we liked.....so we did.
The film Lord of the rings was filmed in this area and while I am ashamed to say I haven't seen it, I can see why they chose this region. The scenery is unbelievable.
It was beautiful day and everyman and his dogs was out for a ride.
There was even a big cat.
We soon came to what is known as Hobbits tunnel,
Then into the republic of Whangamomona, which is a self declared independent state. (bit like hutt river province in WA).We got issued our passports and had a great aussie lunch at the beautiful pub. Cept here its called Pie Pea Pud.
From there it was some more great riding into Stratford, which fancies itself as some sort of Old English town, but fails miserably. Got out first glimpse of MT Egmont on out way into New Plymoth, which is where we couchsurfed with the great guy called Allan, whose house has an awesome veiw out over the ocean...seems everyone lives in a house with a veiw in NZ.
Allan owns a Can Am Spyder which Sam has taken quite a liking to. She is even talking of selling the postie!!!
We were soon off on our personal tour of the town. We were lucky enough to arrive on the weekend that hosts the annual Americana festival, which celebrates everything American. The whole town gets right into it. Thy had a parade of a heap of American cars of all shapes and sizes. I reckon there was about 200 cars, maybe more.
The local scenery wasn't bad either and I am not talkng about the walking scenery although it was pretty good as well.
We really enjoyed our night out in the town with Allen. Thanks mate for taking us in and showing us a round.
It was a beautiful day today, this is the veiw from Allans deck.
Allan decided he would ride with us part of the way around the coastline. We set off with Allan leading the way on the Spyder. MT Egmont was shrouded in cloud.
Apparently this mountain generates its own weather systems, but down on the coast it was bright and sunny.
We stopped for an awesome brekky in the mural town Opunake.
Then on the Hawea where we said goodbye to Allan. Quite glad to see the back of him really as he was stealing our limelight. Instead of waving to us all the kiddies wave to him and yell and look at the man on his funny yellow tricycle. Now that hes gone we can get back to normal and the kiddies will start to wave to us again......... Just kidding Allan, thanks for putting us up for the night mate.
Yesterday while we were in Taupo we briefly spoke to this nice couple called Marj & Ted and this morning had a message from them to meet them in Whanganui for a drink. We met the in a bar in town and had a couple of cold drinks, which was really nice. We are Sorry we couldnt spend more time with them as they were really cool. Will have to catch up with them when we come back. (thats if I am allowed back in the country due to unpaid fines that is :-) We said goodbye to the pretty town of Whanganui....home of the whallic symbol.
We also found out this morning that a round of the New Zealand superbike championships, was being held this weekend at manfield park, so Karen set a course avoiding the highway as much as possible.
Rode through some spectacular scenery including the very pretty manawatu gorge.
We arrived at Manfield park just in time to see the last race, but we did see some superbike qualifyingwhich was great. Manfield park is situated right in the centre of the town of Fielding...how cool is that? Nearly as cool as our icecreams.
BTW can someone update me with whats going on at Phillip Island. Our email is not working so post the results here via comments. Buzz I'm looking at you.
It was getting late, so Karen pointed us towards Wellington, but not before we had an awesome sunset blast over the Rimatuka range. This range is where the Hiscock brothers & Richard honed their roadracing skills when they were younger.
At one point I was remindded of home when we passed through some typical western NSW scenery
Then into Wellington where we are staying at a Tony's rustic log cabin that he and his brother Richard built with timber thaey cut but hand from the surrounding hills.....Isnt that right Richard??????
What its bullshit you say????
Oh BTW Richard, Tony has paid for our ferry ticket and bought us breakfast using some money from your secret NZ bank account. Thanks mate. :-)
Awoke today to the news that all of the NZ East Coast including Wellington was on CODE RED Tsunami alert. All the roads signs and radio stations were warning to move to higher ground and take refuge. The emergency services were out in force as well. Tony being the responsible citizen that he is promptly decided that we were going to the beach to check it out. Luckily he had the stretch limo and we didnt have to ride.
As you can see the Tsunami turned out to be a bit of a fizzer,the wave was only 30cm tall, so we had breakfast then continued on Tony's wicked Wellington whirlwind tour.
Wellington was a big surprise for me. Very pretty city and some very unusual Architecture. How about a house with its own Gondola from the garage.
Or a stone house perhaps.
What about a light house.
A house made from shipping containers
Truck house perhaps
Or just a house perched precariously on a cliff.
What about a house where a certain KIWI friend of ours mum lives?
There were some lovely pics on the wall.
And this brilliant oil painting.
Look familiar Richard? Your mum is a lovely lady and she is doing well. She was happy to chat to us and wanted to pull out some nude baby pics of you, despite the fact that her house was seriously going to go under if the Tsunami did eventuate as it is right on the beach.
It was then time for us to say goodbye Nth Island. Our chariot of the sea was waiting to take across to the sth Island.
Tied the bike down as best I could using some very shitty tie downs. Wasnt sure if they would hold for the trip
The crossing was surprisigly smooth despite a feroucious wind which was creating havoc with my hair..
The crossing takes 3 hours and the First glimpse of the sth island is spectacular as is the trip down the Tory channel.
Pretty Picton soon came into veiw and when the shipped had birthed I thought I had lost Sam, but she had just tried to hitch a lift in a beautiful restored cadilac.
Then it was onto the equally spectacular and hugely fun Queen Charlotte drive. One of the best rides so far.
Checked into the brilliant Nelson YHA, whch is far better than some hotels I have stayed in and only costs 60 bucks. We then coninued our search for NZ's best beer had dinner then hit the sack.
Tomorrow we explore the Northwest and as a special treat for Sam, I have booked into the Hilton hotel. I am sure she will be impressed. You cant say I dont know how to spoil a girl eh?
We were kept up all night by the couple in the room next door doing whatever it is that young backpackers do all night.
Woke up at 7, but unfortunately Nelson doesn't wake up till tentried to check out th museum but it was closed, so we headed for for Farewell spit which is far north as we would go on the Sth Island.
You will remember yesterday that I said that Queen charlotte drive was the best road we had ridden on....that's bullshit Takaka Hill is. 25 klms of 35k corners and 15k hairpins. Very much like some of the mountain pass roads you see in Europe, an the best bit is you get to do it twice as the road only goes to the top and then you have to come back again.....just brilliant.
We stopped in a little place called Collingwood and had brekky. Sam also found a little traditional chocolate shop.
The views at farewell spit fantastic and we sat for a while enjoying our morning tea.
Then it was back over that brilliant Takaka hill....My arms and hands were trashed at the end of it and the rear tyre was feeling a bit stressed as well.
The Kiwis have a strange fence fetish, we have seen everything from hubcaps to tyres, farm implements bicycles and shoes. Its amazing what you see on the roads.
We called in at the very unfortunately named PUPU springs. These these springs are the largest in Australasia and supposedly the cleaned in world......Well they were till I went Pee Pee in them...just kidding :-)))))
This water was over 5 mteres deep but you coulde see the bottom clear as bro.
The Motueka valley and Buller Gorge were very scenic as we headed for the west coast even with the light showers.
Before long we arrived at Westport and headed out the Cape Foulwind to check out the seals, but they were nowhere to be seen today.
It was getting late and the sky was becoming very bleak, so it was time to move on down the amazing West coast highway.
We broke the world record for the 15 minute walk around the spectacular Pancake Rocks.
And then it started to rain. Pissed down actually and we arrived at the Famous Blackball Hilton saturated.
You didn't really think I would stay at a real Hilton did ya? This place has a very interesting history with Paris the skanks grandfather trying to stop it from using the Hilton name. Paris should come and stay sometime. I'm she would have a great time trying out all the variously themed bedrooms. Its a great place and very similar to the Cracow pub in Queensland. You even get bathrobes tat match the bedspreads, but I am sure you don't want to see me in that.
More West coast tomorrow including Monteiths Brewery....woohoooo :-)
Kiwi's suck at building straight roads, which is brilliant news for us. It was a foggy start to the day, but it soon burned off to a nice sunny day, if a little cool. You can tell we are getting further south.
Our brekky stop for the day was the world famous Monteith brewery. This little boutique brewhouse employs only 6 full time staff and several thousand Oompaloompa's and makes some excellent beers as well as a brilliant apple cider. We did the tour which included a tasting session at the end. The perfect brekky and in fact I may have just found my favorite NZ beer. Monteith Celtic Red....just fantastic. The premium lager was also very nice. In fact they were all great.
Heres one of the Oompaloompa's at work
Sam was missing work......
More ooompaloompah's
From there it was south to a place called shanty town,which I thought was a real shanty town, but turned out to be just another tourist trap, so we gave that a miss.
Came across another weird fence. This is where all the old postie bikes come to die.
We then got caught in a fierce cross wind..probably about 332klm/h I reckon. Just look at the tree, if you think I'm shitting ya.
The hunted also became the hunter with us stalking and tracking a colleague of Sgt Sheepshagger from up north. This is Cunstable Ewewhucker and I think he was out looking for a date. He pulled up soon after we passed this harem.
We pulled into the big sandfly to taste some of the local delicacies including whitebait which is immature river smelt fish (ininga) caught in the local rivers by the locals and fetches up to $150 per kilo. It is considered a real delicacy and the sammich (as Dan would say) tasted fantastic.
This poor bugger had no idea he is on tomorrows menu.
You can also have a possum pie if your so inclined. The letters of complaint hanging on the walls from the greenie set and the replies from Possum Pete are hilarious...totally politically incorrect...I loved it.
Then it was into Franz Joseph, where we are staying in a luxurious tree house, compete with grotto style glacier pool on the deck...very nice indeed. It was also here that I discovered a rivet pin in the back tyre, so have made a tempory repair. Hope it holds till Wanaka, which is the closest town, where we might get it fixed properly.
Weather permitting In the morning we are going on a Helicopter flight over the Franz Joseph and Fox glaciers as well as MT Cook. All the flights were on wind hold this afternoon, so hopefully it will be a nice day tomorrow.
Well no helicopter ride today. It bucketed down overnight and despite it being sunny in the village the clouds wer thick in the mountains, so no flying was possible. We hung around the village for a few hours hoping it would clear, but it was'nt to be. We decided to head to Fox Glacier hoping it might clear by the time we got there, but it remained the same. Very dissapointed as this was one of the things we had been hanging out to do. We might still get an opportunity when we get to Mt Cook next week.
This is as close as we got to fox glacier and we didnt even see Frannz Joseph.
There was a tyre place in Fox and they were able to patch the tyre properly. As you can see I was closely supervising the whole operation. Was just like beeing at work.
We headed off along the stunning coast. Some stone Cairns erected by tourists along the road at Bruce Bay
We could see Dan & Rosannes place from here....Rosie you really should put a robe on when doing your morning stretch at from your Balcony. ;-)
From there we headed for Hasst river then onto Jackson bay to sample the crayfish at the famous Craypot. Bloody place should be called the empty Cray pot, havnt had any for some weeks. We settled for some fish and chips which were pretty good, but it just wasnt the same. At least the veiw was nice.
From there it was over the amazing Haast pass with Sam making me stop at every water fall and pretty spot along the way to take pics. She took over 300 today alone , but I cant blame her the scenery was spectacular.
The road was also brilliant except for steel grates crossing the road (sometimes mid corner)and the crazy german tourits driving campervans on the wrong side of the road and failing to give way on the single lane bridges. I was shitting bricks at one stage.
The walk down to the Blue pools was like walking through an enchanted forest, complete with witchy poo.We stopped at the pools for a while where the water is crystal clear. You can even see the huge trout swimming around in some of the holes.
Sam decided a swim was in order, but she had forgotten her cossie. Heres a pic.
Then through some more postcard scenery on the way into Wanaka.
In the beautiful lakeside Wanaka, Karen found us a hotel, we had a huge dinner ( i'm gonna need draino run through my ateries to clean them when I get home) and a few beers at the beerhouse then bedtime after a huge day.
Wanaka was beautiful this morning, the lake was shimmering.
Puzzling world is an interesting place, lots of illusions, hollograms, and special effects etc. Was good fun.
Sam wasn't so sure about the commiunal toilets
Our brekky stop for the morning was the historic Cardrona hotel. The local lager was very good.
And then it was on to the brilliant Crown range. This road was so much fun I had a couple of runs on it, leaving Sam at the top to take pics of the scenery.
It was fantastic fun.
We called into the pretty village of arrowtown for a coffee, then took a back road to Queenstown, but made a slight diversion up the newly reasealed Coronet Peak Ski field road. I have previously been up this road when it has been covered in snow and that was a spincter tightening experience but probably not as frightening as the ride these guys got.. The veiws from the top were brilliant.
Look cloely in the pic below, this car rolled down about 100ft
We came across a pair of german couples sunning themselves in the brilliant sunshine, The dear old biddy in the pink top actually was topless, but soon covered up when she saw us coming. She laughed when I asked if she would take it off again for a piccy.
We also had a bit of a look around the skifields scrapyard. I reckon I could get this thing going again.
Queenstown is full of beautiful young things all prancing about the place looking good.
Sam thought I was taking this pic of her. She has no sense of humour sometimes and I got a clip across the ears for my trouble.
I felt like a right dodo
To make up for it I bought her a ticket for the shotover canyon swing. She thought this was it.
What it actually is a 70ft freefall followed by a huge arcing swing across the Skippers canyon reaching 150klm/h.
The toilets were a popular place with the girls all needing nervouos wee's
Then strapped into a harness before dropping off the ledge. The video of sam's jump is hilarious, her scream could be heard for miles. Will post the vid when we get home.
Several different optiona are available for your jump. This position is called gimp boy goes to hollywood.
Sam backed up for a second go on the chair of death.
The vids are pretty funny.
And these girls let me take a pic of their undies.
Then it was back into town to check out some of the sights.
The TSS Eearnshaw a beautiful old steam ship that does cruises on the lake.
Tomorrow is shaping up as being action packed as well....stay tuned ya'll
We had a few hours to kill this morning so decided to head out to Glenorchy, which is a little village at the head of the lake. We had no idea that the trip would throw up some of the most dramatic and spectacular scenery of the trip.
Had brekky and the best coffee of the trip at the cafe.
And the rain came........and it pissed down. We got saturated on the way back to Queenstown.
Also had a bit of trouble with the parking ticket machine, which was hilarious. Errr I am only staying one night thanks, ;-)
We had booked a action combo that included jetboating, helicoptor tour, and mountain luge, but it looked as though theweather was once again going to can the helicopter ride, but as quickly as the weather had arrived, it then disspapeared and the trip was on.
I was expecting the jet boat ride to be quite lame, but it turned out to be awesome. Man those guys can drive. They literally miss the cliff walls by millimeters. Very impressive stuff and really good fun.
From there we got a helicopter transfer to the top of Skyline which overlooks Queenstown. I loves helicopters, best RV vehicle ever invented.
Sam loves to play helicopters too
Skyline features two 800m luge tracks. Sam and I had a great time racing each other and taking out the Asians, elderly women, children and anyone else that got in our way, although Sam looked a right nanny with her shopping hung over her arm.
The paragliders looked great soaring over the town and lake.
We then took the gondola down to town, where we had an awesome pasta & pizza dinner at Winnies. The house beer Winnies ale was great as well, but still not quite up there with the Monteith's celtic red.
Tomorrow we head out on what has been described as New Zealands...perhaps the worlds best motorcycle road for our overnight cruise on Milford sound.
Was a chilly, but spectacular start to the morning as we headed out of Queenstown.
We called in to Kingston to check out the rattler then into the very pretty Te Anau.
We had plenty of time, so we took it easy and checked out all the sites along the way.
The road into Milford is so spectacuar, with new scenes appearing around every orner, It really is like riding into a postcard.
Places like mirror lakes where the mountains are reflected perfectly in the water.
Sam is becoming the real tree hugger.
My limited vocabulary can't do the scenery justice, so I'll just put some pics in.
I dug out this snow cave just is case the weater turned nasty.
Close to the end of the road is the Homer tunnell. 380 Metres long and drilled through solid granite, It took over 3 years to complete, and was built purely to allow tourist traffic into Milford Sound.
Milford sound is actally a fjiord not a sound as it was formed by the movement of a Glacier 15000 years ago. It,s an amazing place.
The Milford Mariner would be our floating aged care home for the night. Sam & I were the only guests under 135 years of age.The other blue boat n some os the oics was packed with nubile and naked swedish backpackers.....choice.
Some of the peaks in the fjord are 3 million feet high and the water is 5milloin kilometetres deep in places.....and there are 467 waterfalls something like that anyway.
There are 62 billion sand flies and they are the big nasty bastards. Actually thats not right, it should be bitches as only the females bite.....typical eh bro?
Heaps of other wildlife as well, like dolphins seals & penguins. At one point i thought we had a stowaway duck onboard, bit it was just Mavis suffering from a bit of flatulence.
The scenary was sweet as, and we went for a bit of a paddle around one of the beautiful bays.
Found another hole in a rock
Then it was back onto the mariner, where we entered the belly flop competion.
Sam tried the vertical belly flop.
One of the crew girls tried the knees first belly flop and didnt surface for a while, so I jumped into save her.
The water was a very very cool 16 degress, so that game didnt last for long.
Then as the sun set over the Tasman sea, we made pigs of ourselves at the buffet.
A bit of stargazing, Then off to bed in our massive luxury suite where we drifted off to sleep to the sounds of Mavis passing wind.
The day started with a triop to the local hardware to ceck out the original world's fastest Indian. The owner fo the store was afriend of Burt Monroe and has an excellant collection of all his bikes as well as many others. It was brilliant.
Allways interesting to see what previous visitors have written in the guest book hey Buzz?????
We then visited Bluff which is the southern most point you can drive to on the Sth Island. Yes buzz I know you can walk another 50 meters.
At Bluff there is a massive chain anchoring the island to the sea, so the sandfly's dont carry it away.
Ever heard od the Caitlans? nah me neither, but if I had of known how nice this area is, we would have spent more time here. We visited Curio Bay, where people were swimming with dolphins.
We came across this couple one of the loose gravel roads. he had enough and didnt want to go any further . Can't say I blame her, it was crap road.
And then this massive fog rolled in, it was an eery feeling rding through the thick fog.
The fog lifted by the time we got to papertowel, but there were heaps of Turkeys on the road. so we took it easy.
We headed inland from there and the change is scenery was amazing. At miller flat we coud'nt decidee what beer to have so took the lot.
It was oveer 30 degrees so we stopped for a swim in the Clutha river.
Came across some more paddock art. Then over the beautiful Lindis pass to our overnight stop at Twizel and n I dont know how to prounouce it. Weather is looking good for a helicopter flight tomorrow....wooohooooo
Didn't do a lot of kays today, but it was a huge day just the same. Woke to a slightly foggy morning and thought the helicopter would be out again, but the closer we got to MT Cook, the clearer it became.
By the time we got to the heliport, most of it had lifted to reveal a beautiful day.
Our Chariot arrived soon after.
A Squirrell 500 twin turbine for those that care
This has got to rate as one of the all time best things we have done. We were lucky enough to score an extended ride as one of the other passengers was a DOC's officer who had been sent to try and find a camera some scientists had left on one of the peaks last winter to photograph the movement of the Tasman glacier. We didn't find the camera, but instead of a 45 minute ride, we were in the air for over an hour and a half. We tried to lodge a complaint about the extra time, but it fell on deaf ears.
The views of the glaciers was unbelievable. We could see right down into the crevasses. Some are hundreds of fee deep and the formations from the glacier movement are spectacular.
Small icebergs in Tasman lake
We flew over Fox glacier and Franz Joseph township which was still covered in cloud as it was last week.
The pass between Franz Joseph and Fox township
We landed on Franz Joseph glacier and had the mandatory snow fight, which didn't amuse the other passengers, when Sam smacked in the back of the head, but we didn't care.
Then after searching for the missing camera made our way back to the heliport. A fantastic morning and I would have gladly paid to go up again if they weren't booked out.
We headed up the the very exclusive Hermitage hotel for a very expensive beer, but got our money back tenfold by sneaking into the Edmund Hillary Museum and spent a great couple of hours checking out the presentations including a couple of brilliant 3d movies.
The toilets here are very flash
We then boarded our snow plane which took us up to a landing field where we made the final ascent to MT Cook.
Actually that last bit was bullshit, the pics are from the 3d movies.
We went for a ride out through the Tasman Valley, but time was running out, so only did a small walk to Blue Lake, which was actually a brown muddy pool.
Came across this rental..Guess who's not getting their bond back.
Sam got all arty on the way.
We called into the MT Cook salmon farm and selected tonights dinner, which we had on the shores of Lake Tekapo along with a couple of bottles of Montieths apple cider...One of the best meals of the trip.
Tomorrow is the last day on the bike, which is a bit sad, but we will hire a car and continue looking around for a few days
The pretty little Japanese girl in the room next door, learnt a few new Aussie adjectives when she woke up this morning as the tyre repair we had done last week decided enough was enough and had let all the air rush to the top. With only a couple of hundred kays left to go for the bike, I decided that a can of tyre repair was the best option. We had a few nervous minutes as we waited to see if it would take or not, in scenes reminiscent of Tassie last year.
Took a blast up to the Mount John Observatory to get the gel to set and take in the awesome 360 degree views.
The church of the good shepherd was the next stop. This little church is set right on the shore of Lake Tekapo and is probably the most photographed church in the southern hemisphere.
The repair seemed to be holding so we set of Fairlie, stopping along the way to check the tyre and chat with the friendly locals.
In Geraldine we met 2 couples from New Plymouth, who had spent the last week or so, checking out some of the back roads and less travelled areas of the South Island. Good to see big adventure bikes being used as they should. Sounded like they had a fantastic time and stories of creek crossings at 10.30 PM sounded just like some of our rides back home. Next time I come I am bringing the 640. Sorry I didn't get your names guys, as I had ear plugs in, but it was real nice talking to youse. If you ever come to Brisbane, make sure to look us up and we can arrange a ride.
The fog was thick as on the road, so we took it pretty easy on the way to Methven.
This is Mt Hutt ski field. Hard to believe it will be covered in a meter or so of snow in just a month or so, considering we were sweating like pigs at sea level.
We stopped at the very pretty Rakia gorge and decided to haggle a deal on the jet boat. In the end the one with the pretty blonde won.
The track in was interesting
The boat ride wasn't as thrilling as the shotover jetboat, but the scenery was spectacular and running the boat up the rapids was great fun. Its amazing how these jet boats can travel in only 70mm of water.
Sam had another crack at driving, while I took in the views.
Then it was on to Christchurch. Over here the beer is delivered to pubs in these beer trucks. The hose at the back is so you can pull up beside them and grab a drink as you go.
We headed into the city centre and while it was all very nice the absolute highlight of the trip for me was the visit to the Britten Motorcycle company. This will mean nothing to many of you, but ever since I saw these hand made bikes racing at Bathurst in the mid ninety's, I have been very interested in the amazing life of John Britten. Google John Britten if yo want to know more. It is a very sad story of a absolute legend . Email me if you would like a link to the a video series about him.
The sound those things made going up mountain straight will live with me forever, I was wrapped to be able to see them again and so pleased that the legend lives on.
We then picked up our rent a racer from the airport and then set off in search of a car wash to clean the bike as it has to be spotless for customs clearance. Came across this car wash who offered to do the job for 30 bucks. A team of Ooompaloopahs was soon on the job, while we sat back and ate Muffins....Mmmmm muffins just like donuts only taller.(q. homer simpson 1998)
Of course the Ooompaloopahs were freaking hopeless and I had to step in to supervise. (typical Kiwis at work spent more time talking and singing than working) :-)
Hopefully we got it clean enough, it was quite a job to do.
We retired to our luxurious $65 cabin and had kebabs for dinner.
PS you whuckers better appreciate the trouble I go to bringing this dribble to you. It is way past my bed time and I am sitting in the car freezing my ass off, listening to gold fm hits from the sixties, stealing free wireless which keeps dropping out, getting shittier by the minute cause we are nearly at the end of the trip. So I hope your thankful you Nigel nolives (your reading this crap arent you?) :-)
Luv
Guy x
pps to those of you sending emails we still can't send for some reason. Will reply as soon as we can
Sadly the bike got loaded into the container for the long trip home this morning. We have had a great time cruising around on it and huge thanks to Buzz for letting us use it. There was a bit of confusion when they attempted to load into the container bound for Melbourne, despite me telling them several times it had to go to Brisbane,(and I thought all the dumbass Kiwi's got shipped to Asutralia) but eventually it was all worked out and we set off to continue our tour in our rent a pus box.
This would have to be the most boring car ever built. 6 speed gearbox...all slow definitely a nannies car. I am surprised they don't supply a cardigan and long socks and sandals in the glove box. And its shithouse in the bush. But at least it was cheap.
Headed up the wild and woolly east coast. Can't believe we had virtually perfect weather the whole trip and the day we get off the bike it starts pussing down rain. Brilliant bro.!!!
I think this guy was hunting for possums or maybe wabbits.
The road up the coast is pretty spectacular with several rocky headlands that they have just drilled straight thru. Pretty impressive hey cuz?
In Kaikoura we went out checked where they get the seals for the tar seal they use on the roads.
And this is the trailer and tractor they use to squash them. i think not sure.
They have some big shups here.
Then as I had declared it National Cray Fish day we set off in search of the elusive delicacy. Got totally ripped off. There should be a law about passing prawns off as Crays ....This was wouldnt feed a child kea. Lots of rabbit food with it though. Not as good as the big fella we got off captain Frank in Tassie last year.
After sucking the the shell inside out to extract the last morsel of cray flesh, we went for a look at the beach. Was freezing cold...no skunny dupping here.
We then decided a visit to a winery was in store, so called in at this one, but they wanted $5 per tasting, so we told them to get whucked and set off for Hanmer Springs.
The road to Hanmer is apparently quite scenic, but due to the weather we didn't see much. Did come across these guys failing to keep left around a blind corner while we were doing about 160. They were on their way to McDonalds I believe.
The rain added to the atmosphere at this pretty little thermal resort town.
Went for a skunny dup in the thermal springs which shocked the other bathers.
If you want to se the other pics send 1 million dollars to us in a plain brown paper bag.
Mark it attention Samanatha Bingle/Guy Fervola
Had a very ordinary meal at the pub to retire to our cosy little room at Rosies B&B which is brilliant. Karen finally found us a decent B&B at a reasonable price.
Might go Quad bike riding in the morning if it keeps raining.
This country is freaking amazing. Just when we think our holiday is winding down Aretoa throws up a few new amazing surprises for us.
It rained all night and was a sunny but chully 2 degrees when we woke this morning. Had breakfast and decided that this was perfect weather for quad bike riding.
Got an exclusive booking with backtrax (as noone else was stupid enough to do it) for their 2 hour tour....... a 2 hour tour.The van was riding pretty rough the tiny bus was tossed, but soon we arrived at their top secret staging area where soon we would be lost. They fitted us out with Wellies and raincoats, which made me a bit nervous...No velcro gloves but
Sam scored a Polaris 300, while I went the Suzuki 400, renowned for its torque apparently.
We had a great time ....heaps of crossing of the Hanmer river and through the swamps. Our guide Arnie from Holland was brilliant. Vids will be posted when we get home.
Sam did surprisingly well and has finally learnt to gas it when it doubt, but has maintained her 100% record of breaking a quad everytime she rides one.
Then it was back into Nana's car for the high speed run up Jacks pass rally circuit.
Oh what an underwhelming feeling, but I have learnt that if you sit the tacho needle on 8 grand and just race change it goes reasonable well.
We then headed for the very scenic Lewis pass. The drive through the pine forests in the rain and fog was surreal. (Damn I hate that word, but I couldnt think of anything else.)
This is where yesterdays seals ended up.
Saw heaps of carnage on the road, including a car crash and also another car that hit a train at a crossing. Didnt stop for pics as we thought that would be a bit crass. (And I didnt want to drop the revs in nanas car)
The weather was looking very ominous as we headed for Authurs Pass. The temps dropped dramatically and the rain became heavier.
Was sorta glad not to be on the bike, but these guys were having fun.
Had a cookie for lunch that would feed an Etheopin family for a year
Came across this huge sluppery dup. The landing looked a bit rough though.
This massive viaduct (fancy NZ word for bridge) was very impressive and while stopped at the lookout, the famous gay boyband the ladyboys pulled in next to us for a piccie. Remember it was about 2 degrees at this stage....wankers.
We stopped at Aurthurs pass to grab a coffee and unbelievably it started to snow lightly. The higher peaks got quite good falls though. The first snow of the season and we get to see it. How lucky are we?
The road looked amazing and would have been great on the bike but I must admit I was quite enjoying the heater in nanas car.
Especillay as you can see I was dressed for the conditions. (only had shorts due to being a dickhead on the quads this morning and getting my jeans wet)
Sam reckoned I should audition for a spot with the ladyboys.
The scenery though was absolutly amazing. Cant believe we have been so lucky with the weather. Dropped bike off yesterday....snows today...incredable.
It rained heavily all the way into Christchurch where we have booked into a very funky hotel. Its all very Shagadellic baby. The room features different coloured moood lighting and a fully automated entertainment system. The wake up alarm is the lights softly glow different colours and the sound of oceanwaves comes gently through the speakers. I will probably smash it to smithereens in the morning.
It even comes with its own boogie board
The bathroom is also pretty funky. ou can change the colour of the lighting to suit your moooooood
We have received several emails enquiring as to why Sammy is always nuddy, but not me, (massive shrinkage is usually the problem) but to please those that are so interested, heres a couple for you. Wierdo's
Was ging to to take the hotels courtesy cay but instead Went for a walk around town mixing with the locals and had dinner at a brilliant Mexican resurant, before staggering back to the room for desert in bed.
Last day tomorrow, but we intend to make the most of it.
The high tech wake up system was a huge dissapointment. Mavis's system on the boat the other day was far more effective and entertaining.
Checked out and then did he historic tram tour, which would have been much more fun with a bit of speed on.
Also called into the dry docks to check out Dan & Rosies new boat. ;-)
Karen then took us on a very scenic drive out to the Banks penisular and the pretty seaside town of Akaroa. Discovered that Nana's car actually goes pretty well on the narrow winding mountain roads if you push it a bit. The VVT thingy actually works.
Sam has this amazing ability to suss out chocolate shops.
Not the same as the bike which would have been awesome,but good fun all the same.
Obviously been a postie bike through here doing burnouts.
Had some very nice fish& chips, then back into town, to check out the Antartic centre, which we had been told was a must see, but was actually a huge waste of time and money.
Kelly Tarltins had a much better penguin display and while the simulated antartic storm and Hagguland ride was slightly amusing, on the whole, very dissapointing.
A quiet dinner then an early night as we fly out at 6.15 am tomorrow.
And sadly so ends our tour of New Zealand. We have both had a fantastic time, met some brilliant people that we hope we will stay in touch with and seen some unbelievable sights. Huge thanks again to Buzz & Sue for letting us use their bike. We did over 6000klms on some of the best riding roads in the world, took over 4000 pictures (who wants to come to a slide night at our place) and the website has had over 3000 views in the past 3 weeks, which just spins me out.
We are already planning a big one for next year, but won't say much, just yet, but if you know what the letters IOM TT mean, you might have an idea what we would like to do. But in the mean time, I have a couple of other smaller rides coming up including the Postie Bike Outback Pub Crawl in May and Krombit tops on the 640 at Easter. Also trying to organise a trans continental to Perth for the Oz Safari, bit its not 100% yet.
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Sam & I both hope you have enjoyed following our travels. We certainly enjoy bringing it to you.
