Accompanying
me on this trip were Stephen and Gavin.
For me
these trips are more satisfying if there is a specific target rather than just
an aimless ride, so the objective was to ride to Milford Sound in the Fiordland
National Park.
I took the
ferry over to Picton and from there rode down to Nelson where I stayed a couple
of nights. I then met up with Stephen and Gavin and we set off down the
island’s West coast staying the night in the town of Westport.
The bikes.
Camping in Westport.
The weather
so far had been hot and sunny but it all turned to custard that evening when
the rain arrived, though at least not until after I pitched my tent. It rained
heavily all night and I had the grim task of packing up my tent in the pouring
rain.
We rode all
day in the rain, which made for some demanding riding on the regions tight and
twisty roads. In a perverse way the riding was actually rather enjoyable and
all part of the highs and lows of touring.
We stopped
off on the way at Punakaiki to view some weird rock formations before arriving
in Franz Josef where we stayed the night. Miraculously the rain stopped just as
we arrived and I was able to put up the tent in relative comfort and start the
process of drying everything out. The reason for stopping here was to take a
look at the Franz Josef Glacier that flows from New Zealand highest mountain,
Mt Cook. It was about a 40 minutes walk to reach the terminal face of the
glacier, but well worth the effort. I first visited here 11 years ago and it
was sobering to see how far the glacier had receded in that time.
Punakaiki.
The Franz Josef Glacier.
Come the
next day the rain was back with a vengeance. We rode down to Haast where we had
lunch and a chance to retreat from the driving rain. The road from here heads
inland up and over the Southern Alps via the Haast pass. The scenery and riding
was spectacular not least as the rain finally stopped as we passed over the
range. We eventually arrived in a hot and sunny Queenstown.
Queenstown
is a big, brash and in your face international resort and consequently disliked
by many Kiwis. Personally I love the place. Gavin and I did a couple of rides
on our own in this area at a rather more “spirited” pace than we had so far. We
rode to Glenorchy, which boasts some great views of Mt Aspiring. The other trip
was between Wanaka and Queenstown via the Crown Range. This is New Zealand’s highest road and to my mind is
about as good as it gets in biking terms with seeming endless fast sweeping
bends.
At the top of the Crown Range.
Looking over towards Glenorchy with Mt Aspiring in the background.
Lake Wakatipu.
From
Queenstown we headed off on the relatively short leg to Te Anau, where we
stayed for a couple of nights.
The next
day was the real big one, and I guess the climax of the trip, where we headed
off to Milford Sound. The road to the Sound is about 140km long and passes back
over the Southern Alps before dropping down steeply to the coast. We set of
very early to avoid the dreaded camper vans and to give us a chance to beat the
heavy rain forecast for later in the day. As we ascended the mountains it
became cool and misty but mercifully dry. We eventually arrived at the Homer
tunnel. The tunnel is long, steep and roughly hewn and quite an experience on a
motorbike. From here the road dropped down very steeply and after another 15 minutes or so we finally arrived in Milford Sound.
This isn't our footage (thanks for the link Stephen) but the clip below shows the last part of the trip, starting at the Homer Tunnel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roBWem8NdwU
The main thing to do in the Sound is a boat cruise, so this is what we did. The weather on the outward leg of the boat trip was dry but rather cloudy and misty which I reckon actually gives the mountains more of an air of mystery. We also saw a penguin and a seal eating a fish, which according to the skipper of the boat was actually rather unusual. I am no expert so will take his word for it.
Milford Sound.
A bit further down the Sounds with one of its permanent waterfalls in the distance.
On the
return leg of the cruise the rain returned and quickly became heavy. To some
extent this was actually rather lucky as we got to see a great many waterfalls,
which sprung up almost instantly from the steep hillsides. The downside was yet
another soggy day on the bikes.
As tends to
be the way, the rest of the journey was very nice but also a bit of an
anticlimax as we needed to head North and cover a lot of ground to make it to
the ferry in Picton. On the way back we stayed in Geraldine and Kaikoura. The
highlights of these last few days motorbiking wise were the nice and twisty
Lindis Pass and the much straighter but very cruisy Inland Scenic Route.
