Now this was a good start to the trip – flew into Auckland, jumped into a cab and headed to the Copthorne Hotel.

A quick check in and down into the Reception area. From there one of the staff directed us over to the Provedore pub – a great little pub over on the wharf.

As luck would have it, we wandered in at about 5 pm just when they we’re starting Happy Hour!  Wooooohoooooo!

$2 Beers – A Nice Start!

Heinekens were $2 each and the lads tucked in.

They also provide free sandwiches and a BBQ for free during this time.

Life can be very, very good sometimes.

From drinks we wandered over to the Kermadec Restaurant, across the road.

After a wonderful 4 course meal, a few wines and beers, we got tucked into bed for a nice eraly start the next day to ride the roads of the North island of New Zealand.

Cheers

Brendon

You hear about these supposedly incredible roads for riding in New Zealand and you wonder if they’re not a bit over-hyped.

They’re not.

A couple of times on the trip – heading into Mount Cook and the road from Hawea through to Makarora (between Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea) – was breathtakingly beautiful.

Heading away from Mount Cook

They were times when you can’t quite believe your luck.

New Zealand’s a very easy place to motorcycle around for Australian’s – very friendly, English speaking and they’re set up wonderfully well for tourists.

The Australian $ is strong against the NZ $, so it’s a pretty cheap place to visit – as an example, my hire of a R1200R BMW motorbike for a week set me back just under $900 Australian.

With the super cheap airfares from Australia, there’s really no excuse not to head over to NZ for a motorcycling holiday and it’s one I’d recommend strongly.

The South Island scenery is nothing short of spectacular and well worth a look.

Near Tasman Lake

After a hearty breakfast at “Song of the Tui“, Riley, Flyboy and myself headed out on the bikes to explore the countryside.

We found ourselves at a very remote spot at the northern most part of the South Island of New Zealand.

We wandered through some paddocks up to a lookout and had some dolphins frolicking in the water below, surfing the waves as they went.

We headed for lunch at (I think) the Farewell Spit Visitor Information Centre -  where we had the legendary Seafood chowder followed by a coffee.

Sitting in the sun without a care in the world.  A lovely spot.

Then it was back into Collingwood and a coffee at the Courthouse Cafe.

A gentle sort of day, taking it easy.

Dinner At Song of the Tui

Then it was back to Reg’s and a fantastic curry dinner he’d cooked up for us.

The meal included a superb carrot soup, ice cream and more.

Really was a terrific spot to finish off our last night in New Zealand.

Day 10: Back To Nelson, Then The Airport

The final day was an uneventful ride back to nelson along some prety standard country roads and then heading to the airport for the flight home.

After a hearty breakfast we posed for the obligatory photo outside the Blackball pub and departed.

First off was a trip to Reefton, from where we headed onto the State Highway (# 7) and then joining the State Highway (# 65) over the Lewis Pass into Murchison.

More breathtaking riding along gorges and rivers and mountains and more.

We stopped for lunch at the River Cafe in Murchison, an old service station renovated into a very popular cafe – great food and a comfortable outdoor spot to sit.

After lunch it was more of the same with terrific roads, nice bends and superb straights.

Just more perfect weather

Saw a couple of log trucks today, but campervans still rule the road.

As usual, all drivers are very courteous here in NZ.

From Murchinson through to Motueka was nice open and fairly straight roads,w hilst the from Motueka to Takaka was a whole lot of fun with twists and turns galore.

Then nice country roads through to Collingwood, includinga  nice hill (Takaka Hill) climb followed by a descent down some lovely twisty roads.

On top of Takaka Hill

Song Of The Tui – Luxury Bed & Breakfast

Once we got to Collingwood, we had to find the remote “Song of the Tui” – a, get this (!), luxury Bed & Breakfast run by a retired English artist called Reg.

Riley booked it, so we assumed he wanted to get all romantic on us.

Anyway, we eventually found the spot along some lovely dirt roads and then had a hair-raising ride on the bikes up Reg’s front driveway.

It didn’t really seem our style.  And we were here for 2 nights!

We were soon settled in by reg and enjoyed some mighty fine hospitality – by that I mean great food and booze.

The Mussel Inn

Reg directed us to the famous Mussel Inn for dinner – it was a bit of a drive away, so Reg leant us his car for the trip.

Dinner was fabulous and it was back to Reg’s for a nice snooze after a 384 km day on the bikes.

Riley The Excellent Accommodation Selector

At the end of the stay with Reg it was unanimously voted that Riley is indeed a genius and would forthwith be know as “Riley The Excellent Accommodation Selector”!

View from Reg's Living Room

When it was time to leave Reg’s delightful place no-one really wanted to go – he’d looked after us so well in his beautiful home with the amazing views, limpy dog called Princess, incredible food and much more that it was one of the highlights of the trip.

Reg makes you feel very welcome and it’s very obvious that he loves what he does.

Check out the “Song of the Tui” review here.

We started off the morning by checking the cloud cover and heading down to the Helicopter company we’d book a flight to the top of the Glacier with.

Now Flyboy is named “Flyboy” for a very good reason.  He used to be the Chief Test Pilot and Flight Lead for all Special Operations with the Australian SAS on Counter-Terrorist Operations.

(Flyboy can kill a man from 400 metres with a magnifying glass and a spoon!)

He hadn’t been in a chopper for a while, but herded us all in and away we went.  The chopper dropped in to Franz Josef (another nearby glacier town) and we picked up a young French woman who was taking the ride too.

No Surprise On Who Gets The Girl!

Up on top of the glacier for a bit of a look around – amazing views as you might expect.

Then it was back down the mountain and a great breakfast at Cafe Neve.

We then rode up for a look at the terminal face of Franz Josef.

Terminal Face Franz Josef Glacier

Heading For Blackball

Then it was onto the bikes and off – aiming for the old mining town of Blackball and the legendary Formerly The Blackball Hilton (with that name I thought it would be an older style 5 star joint – a little mistaken there!).

Some lovely bending bits today as we went over mountains, through valley and then along coastal highways.  Nice roads again with hardly any traffic.

We stopped in at Hokitika for lunch at a cafe and topped up at the service station.

I won’t name any names (it was Birdman) kept his record intact of dropping his bike by managing to drop it in the service station driveway.

Formerly The Blackball Hilton

Then it was onto Blackball and the Blackball Hotel (better know as the very cheekily named Formerly the Blackball Hilton).

The wonderful old mining town pub turned 100 in June 2001 and was the place for the start of the labour movement in New Zealand.

The host was Chris, he’s also got a mate in managing the place now, and he is a terrific guy.  Helping us to store the bikes, get sorted in our rooms and then taking great care of us as we relaxed in the bar for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Bikes into the shed at Blackball

Publican Chris makes sure Golden Knob has room for dessert!

We had the very good luck to meet 2 couples – Danny and Heather & Lex and Carol – a fine bunch of characters!

The girls were taking the husbands on a Mystery Tour for a few days – frankly I reckon the mystery was how these 2 dopey blokes ended up with a couple of good lookers as wives!

Brendon (r) joins in the fun with the happy couples!

Blackball Hilton Does A Terrific Dinner & Breakfast

After a bit of a wander around Blackball (it’s a very small town) we settled back into the bar and dinner.

The dinner was delcious and plentiful and then it was a relaxing few hours chatting with the others in the bar, including Rod and Lyn who were traveling around the Island on motorbikes taking the unsealed roads.

Riley and Birdman toast David Lange!

In a surprise to everyone, Birdman flogged Drop Top Doc in dart.

I know what you’re thinking – “How pissed was the Doc?!”

Amazingly, Drop Top Doc ain’t a big drinker and Birdman beat him sober.

Birdman, incredibly, wins darts against Drop Top Doc

Paulie (l) toasts Birdman's amazing win

Golden Knob saves time and washing up and drinks straight from the bottle

Flyboy relaxes whilst Birdman falls asleep

For More On The Blackball Hilton

For more on the Blackball Hilton check out my review here.

Distance: 404 kms

Today we headed out of Queenstown and headed for Fox Glacier, a bit over 400 kms away.

Headed down nice country roads with some switchbacks over the pass down into Cardrona where we stopped for a coffee at the old pub (the one with the old Chrysler out the front).

(It was too early for a beer – BUT, my brother Bryan recently (in 2010) cycled the length of New Zealand.  He kept a diary and mentioned cycling up the hill towards Queenstown past Cardrona.

Sure enough, he stopped at the same pub.

I read where he had 4 schooners of beer.  Then I noticed the time – 10 am.

Not saying he’s a complete pisshead or anything, but the evidence does suggest it!)

Onto Wanaka

Further down the hill is the delightful lakeside town of Wanaka.

With the lake in front, the hills to the side and a gorgeous town it was as good a place as any to have breakfast so we enjoyed a leisurely cooked breakfast at one of the many lakeside cafes.

Then it was on with the riding.

And what a ride it was.

Out of Wanaka to Hawea along the Makarora-Lake Hawea Road was great riding and then from Hawea through to Makarora (between Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea) was breathtakingly beautiful.

Great roads with the most amazing scenery.

The best ride of the entire trip.

Scratch that, the best riding of my life.

The scenery just has to be seen to be believed.

Although we did have a traffic jam!

Traffic jam NZ style

The rest of the ride went back to being just beautiful rather than mind blowing.

Flyboy takes a typical corner

Riley uses rest time to do some extra crunches!

Up through the Haast Highway over the Haast Pass (a fabulous ride in itself) alongside rivers and creeks and mountains and forests and the sea – this ride really did have it all.

We finally pulled up at the made-for-tourist town of Fox Glacier.

Tons Of Tourists and Petrol Was $2.05 NZ a Litre

There were plenty of tourists in campervans and cyclists on the road, so no great drama.

Bearing in mind we rode in early 2010, the petrol was $2.05 in Fox Glacier.

Dinner was at the Heartland Hotel Glacier Country, a nice dinner with a lovely steak.

Drop Top Doc kicked arse on the dartboard and we all went to bed safe in the knowledge we’d be flying in a helicopter to the top of Fox Glacier the next morning.

That was enough to have half the lads laying awake in fear all night!

Distance: 600 km

What a ride!

We left Queenstown in the eraly morning – about 6 am would be my guess – and headed off for an amazing ride.

We rode out of Queenstown and jumped on to Kingston Road, a piece of riding paradise that meanders its way alongside Lake Wakatipu for 35 kilometres.

In the early hours there wasn’t any traffic about and the riding was perfectly peaceful and just superb.

From there it was rolling hills and farmland either side of us as we headed through small farming communities to the town of Te Anau, where we stopped for a nutritious breakfast of a pie and coffee (cough).

That’s about 170 kms from Queenstown.

(When you ride this road, just be aware that the cops hang around Te Anau in the late afternoon to catch tourists exceeding the speed limit on the way back to Queenstown after visiting Milford Sound.  Easy money if you can get it.)

Beside Lake Te Anau

Then it’s more lovely riding beside Lake Te Anau as you head along the Te Anau Milford Highway.

That highway becomes the Milford Sound Highway and you’re heading to the Sound.

You go up and over mountains, hills and more and travel through the famous Homer Tunnel, the tunnel that pierces the Main Divide at the Homer Saddle.

When you go through the tunnel you’ll be amazed that it was started by just 5 guys with picks and wheelbarrows!

The bends from the western side of the tunnel to the Sound make the trip worthwhile and you head down, down down to the water.

All up it’s about 295 km from Queenstown to Milford Sound – a great and ever-changing ride.

It’s pretty easy to describe the ride back – the ride there, but in reverse (well, not reverse, turn your bike around and go the other way – how funny am I??!).

Milford Sound Itself

The Sound is actually a fjord (which the boat operators will tell you time and time again – they seem very pissed that it was wrongly named).

It’s New Zealand’s most popular tourist attraction and gets up to a million visitors a year.

They all pretty much take the boat cruise, so there are a good number of cruise operators in the purpose built facility on the wharf.

One of the many cruise operators

So it was onto the boat and a cruise around the Sound (sorry….fjord!) and a look at the scenery.

The lads about to hit the Sound......sorry, fjord!

Oooooh look, there's a hill in the water!

Short wait at the west side of Homer Tunnel

It’s Lovely And All…………………….BUT

Now, don’t get me wrong because we’re talking about:

• New Zealand’s most popular tourist attraction
• The world’s top travel destination in an international survey (the 2008 Travelers’ Choice Destinations Awards by TripAdvisor)
• A place Rudyard Kipling described as the Eighth Wonder of the World

Source: Wikipedia….so it must be true ;o)

BUT………………………..Tasmania’s Gordon River cruises out of Strahan kick it’s ass!

The Gordon River/Macquarie Harbour cruise has a ton more interesting history, you get dropped at an old convict island with a tour and the scenery is just as good.

My bet is that Rudyard Kipling never visited the Gordon River so has no bloody idea what he’s on about!

Another Brilliant Ride

All up it was close on 6oo km for the day, but what a beautiful ride it was.

Like a lot of the New Zealand roads, it was picturesque, mostly traffic free and a pleasure to ride on.

We started with a ride out of Mount Cook to to Tasman Valley and visited the Tasman Lake (where the Tasman Glacier melts into).

Leaving Mount Cook

The lake is at the end of probably a 10 km ride on gravel road and then a 5 minute walk up some steepish steps/terrain.

Tasman Lake New Zealand

Then it was back on the bikes and we were heading for Queenstown.

Leaving Tasman Lake

Another magnificent ride out along the valley floor beside Lake Pukaki.  Truly spectacular ride.

It was off to Omarama to fill the tanks up then a lovely ride along deserted country roads to the town of Cromwell, where we had lunch in a great local pub.

The ride had a bit of everything from typical grazing country to vineyards to mountains rising in the distance.

From there is was pretty much just another great ride next to the Kawarau River into Queenstwon.

A ride filled with more spectacular scenery, with rivers, gorges and mountains galore.

Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park

We were staying in the Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park, a popular spot amongst the RV crowd, with the unit sleeping 5 in comfort for $165 per night.

This fully self-contained unit was terrific – just a short stroll into town (about 100 metres).  Brilliant value for money too.

Dinner was at the iconic Winnie’s Gourmet Pizza Bar – a bar/restaurant where the roof opens (to get rid of the snow I think).

After a few beers it was back to the unit for some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Distance: 415 kms

Another leisurely breakfast before we headed out, this time in the popular bakery along the waterfront.

Just as we threw the leg over the bike to start the ride it started raining again and we had drizzle for the first hour or so out of Akaroa.

Off we went up and over the hill – would have been a terrific view if the rain wasn’t about and out into the Gebbies Valley.

We got onto the Main South Rd and pointed the bikes towards Ashburton and the turnoff to Geraldine.

Absolutely Poured Rain

Absolutely poured all the way, combined with the bloody cold morning and it was a crappy ride.  Really bloody ordinary.

As we got to Geraldine, the weather cleared and we stopped for a coffee and to dry our gear.

From Geraldine we took the Geraldine-Fairlie Highway and then the Fairlie-Tekapo Highway to the amazingly coloured Lake Tekapo.

Very easy riding with rolling hills and nice roads with not much traffic.

The gorgeous Lake Tekapo has a tiny church (Church of the Good Shepherd) situated right beside it and was a real highlight to that point in the day.  We stopped to stretch our legs and take a few pics.

Amazing colour of Lake Tekapo

From there it was on to the Mount Cook Rd turnoff as we headed towards The Hermitage, the rather expensive hotel with amazing views and the rudest staff in the world.

Flyboy rides past Lake Tekapo

One Of The Great Rides I’ve Done

The majority of the ride down to the Mount Cook (Aoraki) accommodation and view is next to Lake Pukaki.  And what an amazing ride it is.

I can’t write well enough to justify the view with the lake to your right and the mountains all round.

I take a break on the road to Mount Cook

Heading to Mt Cook

Sweeping bends, traffic free road, incredible scenery – it was one of those times in life you can’t really believe you’re experiencing such as majestic moment as you ride this fantastic road.

Just breath-taking.

We checked into The Hermitage ($320 for a twin room from memory).

Shit and rude staff that I mention here, but the room came with a superb view of Mount Cook.

The room at The Hermitage

View from the hotel room

We got comfortable and took a short walk around – not a lot to see, unless you’re a hiker heading into the mountains.

Superb Dinner at The Panorama…..Before Being Slagged Off!

That evening we had a superb dinner at the hotel’s The Panorama Restaurant.

A superb meal with one of the best Maitre d’ I’ve encountered – Piers was his name and he had a wonderful knowledge of foods and wines to accompany.  He was world class.

After the meal the lads retired to their rooms whilst I went for a stroll and a refreshing beer or 2 – that’s when the staff from the hotel started slagging off guests behind their back.

All in all an interesting day – starting with atrocious weather, great scenery and terrific riding, finishing with a superb meal and the rudest staff I’ve ever seen in any sort of hotel.

Steer clear of The Hermitage staff and you’ll have an even better time that we did!

After picking our bikes up from the terrific John and Aidan at Te Waipounamu  Motorcycle Tours we headed north with the destination being Ahipara.

More to come on our North island trip soon.

Cheers

Brendon