31 January 2012

New Zealand Ride

Its the Chinese New Year holidays , so me and my wife decided to go for a ride.
Actually we planned this trip/ride  almost a year ago.
Finally the day has arrived.


Before we ride we have to get there.


Looking down on the mountains with the snow covered peaks.
Welcome to New Zealand .



We got everything done by the guys at South Pacific Motorcycle Tours.
From the bike rentals to the hotel bookings etc ..
After picking us up at the airport they took us to their premises.


The roads on the way to their office.




Where i finally set eyes on Isabel  : )
BMW 1200RT . Great for long distance 2up touring


While we were getting ready some other riders pulled up.


Paperwork done.
Time to RIDE .!!


Mike escorted us out of town . 


Our first view of the country side.





Historic marker on Tram road.


Once he was sure we were not going to crash his bike ; )  he waved us on .


On our own, onwards



All we did was take in the views.



Mountains.


And more in the distance.


Nice houses


Making hay while the sun shines : )



All we do is ride .....


Great roads .


We kept riding till we saw this interesting rock formations on our left.


Its like the cliff had been scraped away


We stopped to check it out.



Awesome blue


Rakaia Gorge. Just awesome.



bunnyrider thrilled  ; )


After some time in this awesome place we continued riding.


Back to Isabel


Back on the road. Our last view of Rakaia gorge




Hilly country now


No matter what i'd rather be riding


Our eyes were drawn to the great scenery




See this hedges, these are actually pine trees cut in this shape.Why ?
cause its frickin windy..


Day one was planned to be a short ride as we just got off the plane.


We reached our destination of Geraldine. 


After a late lunch we rode to our B&B.



The view from our room.



A lovely home run by a lovely couple 





We spent the evening chit chatting with them while enjoying the view.
Great end to the first day.



DAY  2

Bright and early.....wait... not so bright. Infact it was dark , gloomy and raining.


And cold


We're here to ride so ride we did. The weather forecast predicts dry conditions after an hour plus riding.
Besides our gear is weather proof. 


The temp when we left Geraldine was 8.5C ,  my new record.
The lowest before this was 10C in Laos.


Short break ,its warmer now ~ 10C  yay
Screen fully up  : )



Soon the skies cleared up


And the views got awesome again


After a while we saw this amazing turquoise water.


Lake Tekapo.


We rode along the lake and when the sun came out it was amazing. 


Fantastic color



seriously , look at that. ( click to enlarge)


We came from there.

Memories .


Many other riders out.


I'm going to be using the words amazing and awesome a lot  : )


A short break at the lake side.



Pulling ourselves away we headed on our way.


Great roads.


I kept comparing the RT to my FJR as i rode.


Reached our destination of Queenstown


View from our room

Remarkable  : )

Nice hotel




After freshening up we took a gondola ride up


View of Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu from the top




We went for a Maori cultural show



Haka


This guy was awesome.


After a great dinner at the peak, we headed back and zzzzzzzz.


DAY 3


About a month ago i was riding in the Laos highlands. I was cold, sore ,tired , & thirsty but i was having the time of my life.  While traversing the Laos roads i was thinking about this ride. Today we were supposed to ride from Queenstown to Milford sound . A 10 hour round trip .  While in Laos i decided to give my wife a break. So i emailed the guys at SPMT and booked a fly-cruise-fly package. 



Great weather 


Remarkable  : )


Up grading from an RT


our pilot, cool chap.


Flying over Queenstown.



When we crossed the mountains the sky cleared up.


First view of Milford sound.


10 seater.


Glorious !


We hopped onto our second ride of the day


For a cruise around the sound



Seals basking



There were many waterfalls




And blue all around



More seals on another rock


We sailed to the open sea 



And then back into the sound




More waterfalls



To one side we saw this view



Yet more waterfalls


Good bye Milford sound, you were amazing .


Our ride around the sound.


A quick flight back to Queenstown and we decided to explore.



The main commercial area is small enough for us to walk around.




After a nice dinner we sat on our balcony and took in the sights.
Remarkable : )


9pm


The sun finally set at 10pm





DAY  4


Good morning



Time to ride.
Leaving Queenstown.


Soon the roads opened up



Twisties : )



Soon the roads winds upwards


And the views get better


Ever upwards 



Motorcycling heaven


We took a short break at the peak, at a viewing point.


We could see for miles.



The roads calls again 


Awesome roads.


Giant wind barriers 



That a-way 



Till over a hill we saw this.



Lake Wanaka.



Reached our hotel early. The rooms was not ready yet so we decided to chill at the restaurant.




Team Griffin


Not tooooooo bad 



Wow



our lunch terrace



Once settled in we went to explore the town



I could live here.  


Contemplation is always best with ice cream : )





Back at the hotel .
We parked right next to the lobby




Today was spent exploring the town and surroundings , and when i say exploring i mean eating  : )




DAY  5

Today we ride




Heading west


Big sky country 



Passing an arm of Lake Wanaka




Every where you look.



Its just gorgeous.



 here we rode along the lake , and the views like every where else was superb




A Petrol stop and R&R 




Soon we were back on the road





Where to look ? the roads or everywhere else.



After an hour we stopped to stretch our legs.


The views around us.




the occasional biker, as this region was a bit quiet .


Team Griffin again  : )



Back on the road








We finally reached the west coast of the South Island




Desolate







It started to drizzle a bit so we rode to our destination of Franz Josef Glacier sans photos .
Huge room in our hotel.





Isabel resting




the main Lodge makes you think of an Alpine ski Lodge.







Cloudy so the views esp of the Glacier was obstructed.


We went in to town .




Small but nice. 



What to do ?   Eat  ; )




DAY  6


Its our last day in NZ


Before heading to Christchurch we decided to pop by the glacier.



Zoom




We were not going to walk all the way there in gear so after a look from the distance , time to ride.



Away from glacier country it got brighter fast.




Riding by the sea





Through forest







And hills.




The next few shots are some of the views along the way




To reach a marked R&R site we had to ride 1.5 km on gravel


still not there yet.



Old bridge site


Beautiful water.


Back on the road again




After an hour again we stopped this time at a town.



Most of the towns we passed were small




Still heading north




Again the views were varied and amazing




Here we turned of the west coast and started our journey east



We are headed towards Arthurs pass.
Its started to rain and get cold so we rode past the pass till it cleared up . 
No pics though
 After the pass it was great.





our final plains before Christchurch.



The chicken pie and chocolate fudge here were excellent.




From the last stop above we rode back to South pacific Motorcycle Tours.



After clearing all the paperwork & packing our gear we headed to our hotel in Christchurch.
Riding in New Zealand was great. The natural views and amazing scenery had us enthralled.I don't know what's in the water there but every one is so nice and happy .
Great people and the team we got the bike from were really good and very easy to work with .Mike & Carole ..let me know when you get the K16, i still   need to ride the north island     :  )       .
Awesome.

Cheers.