Saturday, March 1, 2014

New Zealand - Day 1

Christchurch to Nelson - Feb 11

It was a late start to the morning thankfully because my flight didn't get in until near midnight and I waited for my brothers flight just after midnight so we could go to the motel in the one bus. Wayne from Paradise Motorcycle Tours picked us up at 9:20 and we were dropped off at Hampton Motorcycles where the bikes were waiting for us. Three off BMW F800 GS and one Triumph Explorer 1200 were our weapons bludgeoning instruments of choice, Wayne, Geoff and myself had the GS and my brother had the trumpy. Wayne noticed that the front tyre had some cracks in it and mentioned it to Wayne of Paradise and he had the mechanic change it no questions asked. Excellent service from Paradise. The weather was looking pretty good as well at least it's a nice start to the trip.


By the time we got away it was about 10:45 and we still had 460 odd kms to churn through so it was time to get going with as little stops as we could afford. Our first turn off out of Christchurch from the main highway was towards Hanmer Springs. Unfortunately Geoffrey was leading and had obviously not looked at any of the maps that I sent as he rode off up the main Hwy. Wayne had to end up chasing him down and suggested that if he didn't know where we were going that he shouldn't lead. We all had a laugh at Geoffs expense and continued on up the inland scenic route as an alternate to the main highway.

Waiau River

It wasn't long before we got the red and blues flashed at us by the local constabulary, warning us to slow down. We had only been doing about 115-120 km at the time anyway. It's a weird feeling riding in another country knowing that you can't lose you license for speeding, but I suppose they could deport you if you were doing some really silly speeds.

The inland scenic route is a great road, very scenic with lots of twisty bits to keep us happy as well as lots of sweeping bends through the forested hills on either side of the road.




We finally arrived in Kaikoura where we faced our next stuff up of the trip and its only about 3 hours in. Dave and myself said to Geoff that we would go back into town along the beach after we leave the petrol station. Well it seems that Geoff forgot to mention this to Wayne, so when we exited the servo and went right, back into town Wayne went left out of town towards Picton. Little were we to know we wouldn't see Wayno until we arrived in Nelson for the night. So it was only 200kms before we had lost one of the crew. Onya Geoffro.


We had a quick drink in the main drag of Kaikoura which is where we realised that wayno wasn't going to join us so we hit the road again headed for Blenheim. The road was excellent along this section but as we were pressed for time to get to Nelson before dark, I didn't stop for photos along here, I'll come to regret that later as the scenery along the coast here was spectacular. The road wound its way along the ocean front with large hills on the opposite side. We stopped in at the Omaka Air Musuem in Blenheim but unfortunately it was closed when we got there at 4:30 but we still got to see some of the old World War 1 planes in the hangers as well as a Hurricane and stuka out the front.
Hurricane Davo


Bi-planes


Stuka


The road to Picton was very busy with traffic, which I assume was headed for the inter islander ferry. We took the Queen Charlotte Pass between Picton and Nelson. I remember scrapping the centre stand on the beemer first on a couple of left handers then on some right handers. The bike was telling me it was getting near the limits of clearance. This is one of the twistiest roads I think I've ever ridden on. It's pretty tricky trying to learn a new bike and new roads at the same time. The BMW is so far removed from my R1 its not funny but I'm still having fun on it. In fact I'm having a blast.
Lookout over Picton


Okiwa Bay

The road into Nelson is an absolute cracker with a very long winding section of road heading into Nelson only about 20kms from town. It has been hot mixed all the way along and was top fun but we were very much looking forward to getting off the bikes and getting a beer and food, it had been a long day. Nelson appeared to be a town that doesn't sleep as we were out late on a tuesday and we could hear people all night up the street at other pubs and clubs. We stayed in the Wakatu Hotel which was pretty ordinary with standard pub type rooms, nothing flash.

Road into Nelson from Picton
A couple of initial impressions of the BMW F800 GS. Well how does it go and handle. I must admit I initially struggle with it in over taking situations as I like to get around quickly but this thing lacks any sort of punch. Don't get me wrong it still can go bloody fast but it takes a while to get there. It seemed to handle the bends ok and the steering was fairly quick and direct only feeling slow in the really twisty bits along Queen Charlotte drive. The 21inch front was a bit vague in the feel department but it seemed planted. The bike lacked ground clearance that's for sure, as you will see on day 8. I struggled a little with the height of the bike as well as it was also pretty top heavy, but was easily manoeuvred at low speeds doing u turns etc.



Here is the google maps link to the first days riding.



View Larger Map

19 comments:

  1. part 1 of the trip and looks great
    glad to see ya on a bmw
    even if it is slower than the r1
    will be waiting for the rest as you get to write it up

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    1. Hi dunc
      It was fantastic riding, the roads in NZ make ours look like goat tracks.

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  2. Day 1 sounds great even with a few hiccups along the way.

    Sounds like the BMW made you slow down a bit in the corners. Think of the views you saw that might have been a blur on the R1.

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    1. It was hard riding the BMW flying into corners and also trying to look at the views and trying not to have an accident.
      It was lots of fun though.

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    2. He was going so fast he saw nothing Brandy. We are still taking the piss and asking him if he saw the seals north of Kaikora...!!

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    3. Lies, there all lies. There are no seals I tells ya. It was a damn motorcycle riding trip not a sight seeing holiday.

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  3. Queen Charlotte is the windiest road you've been on? Sheesh, you haven't lived. Hope you found a few more on your travels. Shame Omaka was closed - it's a great museum.

    Enjoying the read so far...

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    1. G'Day Mate
      I guess what I mean was that it was really tight and narrow, so many blind corners.
      Oh we found plenty of NZ best winding roads, but I bet there are as many unfound ones as we actually did.
      So much riding to do, so little time.

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  4. Excellent post Steve, even though it's driving me crazy wanting to be there! Last time I rode through Queen Charlotte, it was pre-dawn on the Blackbird in a hurry to get the early ferry. Trouble was, there was about 10 km of pea gravel which was a nightmare! Can't wait for the next instalment......

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    1. Ohh pre dawn with gravel on the corners, ins't that called russian roulette?
      Thats one tight little road that, but oh so much fun.
      Stay tuned mate.....

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  5. What a great writeup. Can't wait to read the next installment. But what's with the rush? I for myself wouldn't have been able to enjoy the scenery and It would have angered me to have missed a photo op when going too fast...

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    1. Thanks Sonja. We got away late and we didn't leave Kaikoura until about 2:30pm with still 260kms to ride. We knew there would be photo stops along the way as well so we would be pushing it to get into Nelson before dark. Little did we know it didn't get dark till about 9:30 either.
      I made sure I stopped on the following days and took photos when I felt I needed to. We weren't really going fast only 110-120kmh.

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    2. Now I am relieved, 110 to 120 km/h sounds reasonable (not allowed on German roads though where the limit on country roads is 100 km/h). So, bring on the pics.

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    3. 100k's is our limit too. And you are the worst sort of criminal if you exceed it...

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    4. Yes I know, lock me up and throw away the key......won't someone please save the children

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  6. An acceptable start to your blog on your NZ travels.....

    Im sure the best is yet to come though

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    1. Phew, I'm relieved I passed the Roger test. Yes mate the best is yet to come, day 1 was boring compared to some of the other days in comparison.

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  7. So I'm sitting here waiting for what seems like ages for you to start this write up then .. when I'm not looking .. you start it and I miss the begining. Sheesh. Great write up tho.

    Oh well it looks like day 1 went off pretty well, not too many mishaps so far, and some beautiful scenery so far .. now I'm just hoping that you slowed down enough to get more pics for the rest of the trip :)

    I dont know how I'd go learning a new bike on new roads like that .. reckon I'd still be on my way to Nelson.

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    1. Heh heh that me I sneak up behind you and belt you over the back of the head with my latest blog installment when your not watching.

      Lots more pics to come yet. Stay tuned.

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