G
glitch_oz
Guest
Previous part6
https://wilddogtours.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?p=34997#34997
It was quiet in the morning...hearts were heavy as we realized that we'd be losing Jimbo today...he had to split off to return home. Then again...NZ's most scenic road was waiting for us, Mt. Cook Rd. along Lake Pukaki.
The views are absolutely STUMPING!!!
The road itself is dangerous due to the views; it's oh-so-easy to just run off the edge while still gawking into the distance. Needless to say that the Digicams started to smoke?
Ultimately we had to double back and enjoy more-of-the-same while passing Lake Tekapo
before getting into Fairlie,
then Geraldine for lunch. Route 72 is a Christchurch Bypass and cuts through the Canterbury Plains, straight and boring?.but heads and hearts were still in overdrive from the morning's intake. The waters at Rakaia Gorge were murky instead of the usual deep-emerald
...Sheffield Bakery was the end of the line for Jimbo and it was real hard to suppress emotions when we saw his yellow jacket disappear towards Christchurch?
Some other time, some other place we'll ride together again!!! It's a promise!! MATE!!
Nobody wanted another break on the way past Oxford and Ashley Gorge to Amberley. The Holiday Park at Waipara had some unique Railway-Carriages as cabins ...and an old station as Camp-kitchen.
Dinner at the pub was a quite affair.
More sun the next morning through the twisties north to Culverden and Waiau, followed by some magic 80km of tight-twisty stuff mixed with sweepers, single-lane bridges with tricky approaches...this one had the lot, glad to have given the coastal hwy a miss.
Kaikoura on the coast showed it's best side,
blue skies over nice beaches, a great seafood-chowder at a caf�© on the Promenade, yeeha, spirits had lifted somewhat.
It's up the coast past the seal-rocks to "The Store" for a drink, the rolling hills on the left windswept and ugly-brown, the road along the coast surprisingly traffic-free. Sunshine all the way brought us to Blenheim? the place is bustling.
Off to Picton then for the night, it's an EARLY rise to catch the ferry at 5.30 am.
Having grown from grubby-little-ferry-town into a wannabe-resort-town over the past 10 years or so, the hills of the narrow valley are plastered with new houses, many precariously glued to the hillside. A disappointing dinner at some bistro is made up for by a leisurely stroll through town , aye?
Off to the North Island tomorrow?. and what's in store for us there?
To keep the other campers happy, we pushed the bikes out of the front gate just before 5am.
Thoughts of Jimbo and Nigel crept up again...boy, they would've liked this.
A calm crossing finished with a wall of low, blacks clouds over Wellington harbour. Again 2 weather fronts were fighting for territory, a street caf�© in Upper Hutt served a decent breakfast.
Hwy 2 north-east across the Rimutaka-Ranges is?whowww !!!
GREAT fun, no surprise that this is where the locals go ballistic on the weekends.
Too busy to stop and take pics of?
Turning off the main Hwy in Masterton, it was east for a few km, then north via the backroads to Alfredton?.and I missed a turnoff somewhere which landed us on a gravel road a bit too far east. We decided to not backtrack, but take "those few" kms of gravel, which turned out 28km of single-lane stuff crossing 2 ridges. Steep, slippery and deep, coarse gravel everywhere. On the last downhill section Sasha had 2 VERY close shaves within 10meters.
Being behind, I saw the whole thing and how she kept from dumping the bike each time is still a puzzle?
Back on the sealed road the going got quicker, past a myriad of road-slips/ land slips where either the banks had buried the road or half of the road had vanished. Tim upfront got a bruised wrist out of a major tankslapper, hitting deeep gravel, again, being behind at the time, I was already counting the pain and $$ of that spill as the rear-end of the GSXR1000 gyrated wildly.
He'd ploughed a path for me, but Sasha behind me went in a bit lower and buried the front end of the Guzzi. Third time unlucky...no big damage to either rider or bike.
Weber turned out to be 3 buildings and a church, we turned towards the coast again before the tack north at Wimbledon, past NZ's Longest Place name
(you should see the postcode ;D ;D ;D)
to Waipukurau. Great countryside, great road, but no easy riding. North through Hastings to Clive, halfway to Napier.
A few days earlier we'd met a couple in Middlemarch who owns a Holiday Park in Clive, they'd given us their business card and a hand-written note for their son. Moving into 2 brandnew cabins was a pleasant change from the usual abode we were used to by now.
The Chinese Take-away we got from Hastings was pretty good too.
When can one stop to be stumped when again and again the next stretch of road turns out to be yet another mega-version of the Black/ Reefton Spurs? When does one stop gawking at the incredible scenery/ backdrops?
SH 2 from Napier to Wairoa was another one of those, followed by the same again via the back-country Tiniroto Road from Wairoa to Gisborne... once more, HIGHLY recommendable (but not a relaxed ride).
Next: part 8
North Island East Cape Magic, hot springs and foul smells
https://wilddogtours.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?p=34999#34999
https://wilddogtours.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?p=34997#34997
It was quiet in the morning...hearts were heavy as we realized that we'd be losing Jimbo today...he had to split off to return home. Then again...NZ's most scenic road was waiting for us, Mt. Cook Rd. along Lake Pukaki.
The views are absolutely STUMPING!!!
The road itself is dangerous due to the views; it's oh-so-easy to just run off the edge while still gawking into the distance. Needless to say that the Digicams started to smoke?
Ultimately we had to double back and enjoy more-of-the-same while passing Lake Tekapo
before getting into Fairlie,
then Geraldine for lunch. Route 72 is a Christchurch Bypass and cuts through the Canterbury Plains, straight and boring?.but heads and hearts were still in overdrive from the morning's intake. The waters at Rakaia Gorge were murky instead of the usual deep-emerald
...Sheffield Bakery was the end of the line for Jimbo and it was real hard to suppress emotions when we saw his yellow jacket disappear towards Christchurch?
Some other time, some other place we'll ride together again!!! It's a promise!! MATE!!
Nobody wanted another break on the way past Oxford and Ashley Gorge to Amberley. The Holiday Park at Waipara had some unique Railway-Carriages as cabins ...and an old station as Camp-kitchen.
Dinner at the pub was a quite affair.
More sun the next morning through the twisties north to Culverden and Waiau, followed by some magic 80km of tight-twisty stuff mixed with sweepers, single-lane bridges with tricky approaches...this one had the lot, glad to have given the coastal hwy a miss.
Kaikoura on the coast showed it's best side,
blue skies over nice beaches, a great seafood-chowder at a caf�© on the Promenade, yeeha, spirits had lifted somewhat.
It's up the coast past the seal-rocks to "The Store" for a drink, the rolling hills on the left windswept and ugly-brown, the road along the coast surprisingly traffic-free. Sunshine all the way brought us to Blenheim? the place is bustling.
Off to Picton then for the night, it's an EARLY rise to catch the ferry at 5.30 am.
Having grown from grubby-little-ferry-town into a wannabe-resort-town over the past 10 years or so, the hills of the narrow valley are plastered with new houses, many precariously glued to the hillside. A disappointing dinner at some bistro is made up for by a leisurely stroll through town , aye?
Off to the North Island tomorrow?. and what's in store for us there?
To keep the other campers happy, we pushed the bikes out of the front gate just before 5am.
Thoughts of Jimbo and Nigel crept up again...boy, they would've liked this.
A calm crossing finished with a wall of low, blacks clouds over Wellington harbour. Again 2 weather fronts were fighting for territory, a street caf�© in Upper Hutt served a decent breakfast.
Hwy 2 north-east across the Rimutaka-Ranges is?whowww !!!
GREAT fun, no surprise that this is where the locals go ballistic on the weekends.
Too busy to stop and take pics of?
Turning off the main Hwy in Masterton, it was east for a few km, then north via the backroads to Alfredton?.and I missed a turnoff somewhere which landed us on a gravel road a bit too far east. We decided to not backtrack, but take "those few" kms of gravel, which turned out 28km of single-lane stuff crossing 2 ridges. Steep, slippery and deep, coarse gravel everywhere. On the last downhill section Sasha had 2 VERY close shaves within 10meters.
Being behind, I saw the whole thing and how she kept from dumping the bike each time is still a puzzle?
Back on the sealed road the going got quicker, past a myriad of road-slips/ land slips where either the banks had buried the road or half of the road had vanished. Tim upfront got a bruised wrist out of a major tankslapper, hitting deeep gravel, again, being behind at the time, I was already counting the pain and $$ of that spill as the rear-end of the GSXR1000 gyrated wildly.
He'd ploughed a path for me, but Sasha behind me went in a bit lower and buried the front end of the Guzzi. Third time unlucky...no big damage to either rider or bike.
Weber turned out to be 3 buildings and a church, we turned towards the coast again before the tack north at Wimbledon, past NZ's Longest Place name
(you should see the postcode ;D ;D ;D)
to Waipukurau. Great countryside, great road, but no easy riding. North through Hastings to Clive, halfway to Napier.
A few days earlier we'd met a couple in Middlemarch who owns a Holiday Park in Clive, they'd given us their business card and a hand-written note for their son. Moving into 2 brandnew cabins was a pleasant change from the usual abode we were used to by now.
The Chinese Take-away we got from Hastings was pretty good too.
When can one stop to be stumped when again and again the next stretch of road turns out to be yet another mega-version of the Black/ Reefton Spurs? When does one stop gawking at the incredible scenery/ backdrops?
SH 2 from Napier to Wairoa was another one of those, followed by the same again via the back-country Tiniroto Road from Wairoa to Gisborne... once more, HIGHLY recommendable (but not a relaxed ride).
Next: part 8
North Island East Cape Magic, hot springs and foul smells
https://wilddogtours.co.za/forum/viewtopic.php?p=34999#34999
