I have put all the content from the tour into a section by itself in chronological order.
If you are looking for details about our roadtrip around New Zealand, please click the NZ Tour 07/08 menu item, it is alot easier to step through it in there.
We woke up to our 21st day on the road with bright sunshine streaming in the hotel door and decided to make an early start. Both of us were happy to be heading home, I could tell I was becoming ill with a throaty cough and a dull ache behind my eyes, and Myra was just looking forward to a couple of days relaxing at home before she heads back to work.
We loaded up the panniers for the last time and clipped them to the bike, before wheeling it out of the courtyard I had hidden it in. Kawhia is a lovely place and its unfortunate we came upon it so late in our journey, I am sure if had gone there earlier we would have enjoyed the remote bay immensely. As it was though, as I pressed the starter and the engine caught, we were already half way home in our minds.
The ride was uneventful, a nice relaxing route we spent in near silence, both reflecting on what had been a fantastic three weeks in places we never thought we’d be. There would be plenty of time for sharing our own favourite personal memories later, but at the time we just enjoyed the road and the weather.
Once we hit State Highway One and started passing the familiar motorway exits it started to sink in that we were back in civilization. The Bombays passed under our wheels and then it was into Auckland proper, and home to our abode. It was a very quiet return, everyone being at work and the cats were hiding. As soon as we stopped in the driveway Myra dismounted the Sprint and lay sprawled on the ground, such was her joy! These are the only photos we took of this final leg, and I think you will be able to see how happy she was.
Myra’s done a fantastic job on the back of an unfamiliar bike, in unfamiliar surroundings, in sometimes extremely hostile weather, all without the normal comforts she takes on holiday and with no previous pillion experience. I really think her experience was probably a lot tougher than mine, and she really did guts it out through the tough days with minimal complaint. There were some very difficult rides on the trip, and I was really proud of how she handled them.
So that’s a wrap, 21 days of traveling around New Zealand’s coastline, 17 of riding and 4 of resting. It’s been fantastic, it’s been an achievement and it’s been something we’ve had to work for and plan for a large part of the year. We met some really great people, and some really rude ones. We were very lucky with other traffic, and didn’t encounter too many dangerous drivers. The weather was a mixed bag, but we expected that and were pretty well prepared for everything. We had a couple of close encounters, but we always traveled within the safe parameters of the bike and the weather, so survived those in tact. If anyone that is reading this is thinking about doing something similar, please by all means contact us, we’re happy to give you any advice we can.
For me, well I think I’ll sit on this for a month or two then decide what the next one will be. It’s tough to balance work commitments with the time these things take to do properly, but I already have the map of Australia up on the wall and we may start sticking a few pins in it soon 
Thanks so much for reading, I doubt I will post much more here in the near future unless we do some more motorcycle adventure type things, but keep an eye on it. I hope to tidy it up, and maybe edit some of the content now I have time to think before I write. I’ll also keep it up to date in terms of planning the next road trip, but I doubt there will be much to come in the next few months. I’m really just looking forward to enjoying the summer and having a couple of camping trips with friends.
Having people read this site though really gave us some motivation to experience things and really remember them, and to not take shortcuts when the riding got hard, so thanks again to every one of you who gave us some encouragement or just browsed through.
Roadtrip 2007/08 completed, over and out.
Mike & Myra
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Yesterday was the last of the scheduled five hour plus legs, planned up through Taranaki into the Waikato district, via the Surf Highway which passes to the west of Mt Taranaki and runs through New Plymouth. I woke up with a throat that felt as if I had swallowed barb wire and coughing up lovely batches of green phlegm, some type of infection it seems. This was just the start of what will probably remain in our memory as one of the more trying days of our trip!
We had a brilliant breakfast of muesli, then packed up the bike and said good bye to Hawera. The weather really was fantastic, hardly a cloud in the sky and temperatures to roast a stationary motorcyclist. Everything began innocuously enough, with a very pleasant journey around the coast, snow tipped Mt Taranaki keeping it’s watchful eye on us. We went through New Plymouth which was the first time for me. My estranged Grandfather lives here and I can see why, it’s very picturesque and on this sunny day looked very inviting.
Once you pass through the Taranaki region you move into the Waikato, home of Hamilton and several thousand cowbells. A very memorable incident was a massive two trailer truck fully locking up in front of us and partially jackknifing, we were metres from the rear of it and covered in a cloud of its tyre smoke when everything came to a stand still. The driver had failed to notice a car turning right in front of it, parked in the road waiting for oncoming traffic. It was a very close incident for the poor car, which would have had a terrifying scene playing out in the rear view mirror. Everyone unscathed though and a sheepish wave out of the truck cab, and onwards we went.
Our main goal for the road trip was to circumnavigate New Zealand, which has meant keeping as close to the coast as we could if there were roads available. Today this meant we would go to great lengths, through poor trip planning and some very bad luck. After you pass through Awakino the main highway heads inland towards Te Kuiti and Waitomo, but we took a left turn to try and take the more direct route to Kawhia. What followed was roughly 100km of the most remote farmland I have ever seen, most of it over gravel roads. Many parts of the road which were tarmac had been baked by the sun and had a top layer of black liquid, so the going was dusty, sticky and slow. This wasn’t really too much of an issue however, with the speeds down so much Myra found some new entertainment on the rear of the bike by taking moving snapshots, some of which will make it to this site. Even I enjoyed getting to grips with a Sprint on gravel, something we had not though we would encounter at all.
After a grueling couple of hours of this type of riding, we came to the bridge that leads you to Kawhia feeling very pleased with ourselves, only to find it was closed. It was a horrifying sight which materialized as we rounded the final corner. It was definitely shut, and there was no way we were going to be able to sneak over. After consulting our GPS, the only alternate was to backtrack and go all the way into Waitomo and up past Otorahanga, the very way we had purposely avoided, and then back to the coast, a detour of nearly two hours and another hundred plus kilometers. After over five and a half hours riding time, you can imagine the feeling, we were gutted. This was especially so because Kawhia was only about 10 kilometers over the bridge! We could practically smell it!
So we reluctantly turned around and made our way into Waitomo. Myra declared an emergency stop and we wandered into the café there. Her eyes had gone blood red and her contacts were moving around, she could hardly keep her eyelids open there was too much irritation. Considerable time was spent trying to rectify this but in the end she decided to ride without them, which meant she’d be riding in fuzzy ignorance. We also discussed cancelling our Kawhia plans and staying right there in Waitomo, but it was only another hour to go and we were up for it.
Eventually we did pull into Kawhia, tired, sore and fed up! This place is very off the beaten track, about fifty kilometers south of Raglan. It is a bay with a low tide that reaches right back towards the ocean, and a sandy bottom which exposes itself as the water recedes. Apparently it is similar to Hot Water Beach, and you can dig into the sand and have warm water fill the hole. It’s something we intended on trying but were just too exhausted to do after nearly eight hours riding. We hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast and were starved, so after checking in to our very spartan accommodation, we wandered into the small cluster of shops overlooking the harbour.. All that was available from the various places serving food were fish n chips, something that does occur in many of the smaller towns. Not exactly nutritious, but we did not complain, and the fish we were served in the Kawhia boat club is without a doubt the best deep fried battered fish I have ever eaten. So fresh and cooked to perfection, it just melted away in great chunks. It was absolute perfection, far too good to feel guilty about eating.
We wandered back to our room and stared at the TV for a while, but were so tired we were both asleep by 10:30pm. An end to a very long day, through some of the more beautiful farmland we’ve ever seen. There is hardly a soul in the parts of the Waikato we traveled through today; it was even eerie at times. We spent more time passing lambs and sheep that had made bids for freedom and wandered the roads with us, than we did other vehicles. We saw more four wheeled motorcycles in transit than cars. You can tell not much traffic comes this way by the way the livestock in paddocks are alarmed at the sound of us, something more urban beasts do not flinch at.
So I awake today to begin the final leg. After twenty days of traveling through all sorts of weather and climates, we are less than three hours from home. I have mixed feelings about this, but Myra is over the moon. We were planning on striking north to Raglan before coming inland, but from the looks of it that may be 50km of gravel, so will instead backtrack towards Ngutunui before turning north for the final run home. It will be great to see our friends again, and to give the bike a very deserving wash! Auckland, we’ll see you soon.
We left our hotel in the Wellington CBD this morning, with a photo in front of the Beehive on our mind. First though, we needed to refuel, and after a stop at the nearest BP, I noticed the ram mount bracket that holds the GPS had worked itself loose. We made our way to a local mechanics and borrowed some Allen keys and tightened it all up without any issues. Not too bad for our first problem requiring tools. One of the biggest concerns before setting out was that we would have a mechanical failure that I had no idea how to fix, if I haven’t said it before I will freely admit to not being mechanically minded. The Sprint though, apart from the tyre issue through the Catlins, has been immaculate.
Unfortunately by this time the rain had started up again and we wound our way through the central city in steady drizzle. Once we found an entrance to the Beehive, we pulled in and got as close as we could without arousing suspicion from the posted security. Such a historical building deserved a special photo shoot we thought, and once some snaps were taken we put our heads down and headed north in what had become atrocious weather.
I had planned from an early stage to revisit Foxton Beach as we came up through the West coast. This place has many misty eyed memories I wanted to share with Myra, from the time I spent as a child with my grandparents here. Every school holidays while I was young I would travel here from my mothers to spend time with my beloved Nana and Granddad, who sadly are not with us anymore. It really was a fantastic place to be a kid in those days, long before the gang related violence you seem to read about now. We parked up outside their old house and snuck a photo or two, I pointed out to Myra the driveway I had learned to ride a bicycle and the creek my grandfather took me white baiting. We even rode to the local dairy up the road where I learnt to clock Double Dragon; oh the memories were coming back. It was a very nostalgic detour, and it made me remember just how much I loved my grandparents and I miss them.
After this we carried on through Sanson and then out again toward the coast, after a bite to eat at the Church Café. The weather had fined up by now and while the skies were leaden the rain had abstained and the wind was calm. The roads were a blessing after the torture we encountered on the way to Picton the day before. Great wide sweeping 5th and 6th gear bends to really get stuck into and enjoy the wind in your face.
It was a fairly non eventful trip from that point on, nothing overly spectacular scenery wise but we were very happy with the pace of the roads. A good journey is one where you feel you’re making good progress, something just not possible in some of the wet, winding and windy legs we’d done recently.
Our place in Hawera was on the main route through town, and after checking in we sidled into town to check out the famous water tower and purchase some tea. It was a nice relaxed evening, a better end to the day than Wellington. The forecast is fantastic for our last large trek up to Kawhia, and although the roads do look suspiciously unsuited for Motorcycling, we’re going to stick to the plan and the original route. Hopefully it will be a decent farewell to the West Coast, as after this we move slightly inland for the final trip home. Home life is starting to work its way back into my thoughts, the thought of going back to work, doing groceries, feeding cats, playing the Xbox, all the mundane things you don’t think twice about normally but things I’ve been happy to take a break from. If I could I think I’d just keep riding straight past Auckland, but that may have to wait for the next road trip.
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Yesterday saw us up early for breakfast, and ready to head to Picton for the ferry to Wellington. We saddled up and left in good time, with a heavy and consistent rain falling from the skies, and no sign of any reprieve in the near future. We had just over two hours of riding to do to make the wharf so were not too concerned with the wet conditions.
The traffic was moderate and a lot of time was spent in the spray of cars, but the road initially was lovely as it ran alongside the coast. The smell of the ocean was very strong along this northern part of the South Island. Once we headed inland things became pretty mundane, and then with a final piece of road that was a constant set of first and second gear curves for roughly thirty kilometers we were well over the ride by the time we came to the ferry. The final section to Picton is highly not recommended by us for motorcyclists, and next time I would head back towards Blenheim to hook up with the main road instead of going the shorter distance! There were also oil patches in some of the corners, of which one nearly unseated us as it pitched the front wheel out a bit. There are also some intimidating vertical drops to your left if you happen to go wide. This is definitely not the kind of road for motorcycles with pillions, and an unhappy end to our southern sojourn.
The ferry was a different ship this time, and one I wouldn’t want to travel on again. We were crammed in front of a contractors van which had been parked in the middle of the motorcycle parks, and had very little points to tie down. This in itself was a problem, but then the contractor came back and went ballistic at us for parking there, and did not seem to care that it was not us that decided that would be the place. After quite a lot of arguing he seemed to calm down and he withdrew his threat of cutting aluminum sheets and aiming all the shavings at our chain. It was all a bit much though for Myra, she really is getting near the end of her romance with road trips, and this altercation really upset her, there were even a few tears. The ferry journey was long and boring, riddled with loud snoring or screaming children, depending on where you decided to take seating. We were very happy to find the bike still in one piece when we docked and rode out into the North Island without a backwards glance.
We are staying in central Wellington at the Marksman’s Motor Inn. It is adjacent to the Basin Reserve, Wellington’s home to cricket. Last night we wandered the one kilometer into town and found a lovely Thai restaurant, where we had some wonderful dishes and some wine, before hitting the sack.
Today we are heading up the east coast to Hawera, roughly four hours of riding away. The weather is again quite foreboding, but not as bad as yesterday, and not cold at all. The morale of the troops is a bit low, so we’ve cancelled plans to spend two days in Hawera, and just booked one night’s accommodation. Myra really misses our own bed and home, and our cats. It’s been nearly three weeks on the back of a bike traveling through coastal routes and small towns, constantly on the move for her. We’ve never had a holiday anything like this so I can completely understand where she is coming from. Hopefully the weather clears and we see some lovely things today, and our endpoint is nice. There doesn’t look to be much to see on the way to South Taranaki though, but maybe I will be surprised. We are going to stop in at Foxton Beach and see where I spent a good deal of time growing up with my Grandparents today, and look at the creek where I used to whitebait as a nipper. This will have some fond memories for me, but
I think Myra is focusing on home so we may expedite the last few legs of our trip and have no more rest days. I am sure if the sun shines and we spend the night by a beach she’ll come right though, so fingers crossed for the weather.
