Early in the New Year, my mate John and I spent a week camping and motorcycling around the South Island.
This is not may favourite time of the year to travel as many Kiwis take their annual break over this period and consequently everywhere is usually super busy, but I had 3-weeks off work and time to kill, so it was to good an opportunity to miss. Presumably, due to the ongoing zombie apocalypse, Wanaka aside, things were actually much quieter than we expected, which came as a very pleasant surprise.
The rain gods were in a good mood and, with the exception of a few spots of rain, the entire trip was dry, which is quite something considering the West Coast is one of the wettest places in the world. The first few days however, were roasting hot.
We took the ferry to Picton and then travelled down to Murchison where we stayed the night.
The next day we went white water rafting (great fun) down the Buller Gorge before heading to Greymouth for the night. The riding from Murchison to Greymouth was sublime. A special mention must go to Priya Cafe in Greymouth who do amazing curries.
The next day was a very long one as we rode all the way down the West Coast to Haast before crossing over the Alps and eventually arriving in Wanaka, where we stayed for two nights. Again, the riding and scenery were spectacular although we had to deal with a number idiots not giving-way on one-lane bridges, of which there are many (bridges and idiots).
Whilst in Wanaka we went tandem paragliding and also a cruise out to Stevensons Island. The launch site for the paragliding was up a hill around 800m above Wanaka - all I had to do was run slowly at first and then more quickly as the parachute inflated and the weight and pull disappeared and then gravity and the pilot did the rest. Within seconds we had descended through the cloud and were looking down on Lake Wanaka, which really is a majestic sight. My pilot managed to catch a few thermals so we stayed up longer than most, which was a bonus. The only downside is that the pilot corkscrews the parachute as part of the landing process which had the effect of making me very nauseous (this I am told is a very common reaction and all the pilots have been thrown up on multiple times). All in all, a lovely peaceful and serene experience and not at all scary.
To infinity and beyond...
The temperatures up to this point had been in excess of 30ºC at times and pretty uncomfortable, especially on a motorbike while wearing all manner of protective gear. Just after the boat trip a southerly came through and the temperature plummeted to a not so hot 13ºC the next day, which was just fine by me.
We also found time to watch the new Matrix movie at NZ’s best cinema, Cinema Paradiso. John reckoned the film was just about the worst thing the had ever seen. The Matrix was certainly a bit weird and I had no idea what was going on half the time, but that is sort of the point with these movies, so I rather liked it. Let’s be honest though, the only truly decent Matrix movie is the first one?
After Wanaka rode to Kaka Point on the East Coast and stayed there two nights. Kaka Point has a nice pub and is a pleasant enough place, but we basically used it as a base to explore the Catlins area, which is renowned for its waterfalls and rugged coastal scenery.
After overdosing on rugged coastal scenery we were faced with a very long ride back to Picton to catch the ferry back to Wellington and grim reality. We did this over two days stopping at a campsite next to a Burger King just outside Christchurch - not a great way to finish a trip, but the burgers weren’t bad!
All an all, a great trip and thanks to John as well for being such good company.
For those enlightened souls who are interested in these kind of things, John was riding an Honda ST1100 and I was on my BMW R Nine T.
