New Zealand is home to some of the most famous treks in the world. The Milford Track, the Abel Tasman Track and the Routeburn Track all rank among the most beautiful walks in the world. On top of that, New Zealand was the site for dozens of remote location shots for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy. The beauty of the land is legendary and people come from all around the world to lose themselves in the beauty of its natural surroundings.
And yet it was with a completely clear conscience that we had decided not to walk a single mile of it. No, for us New Zealand was going to be explored on motorcycles.
New Zealand was definitely a splurge destination for us. Renting motorcycles is not cheap, in fact most people are surprised to find that it’s often 2 or 3 times more expensive to rent a motorcycle than a car for a day. Though the exchange rate between the US and New Zealand Dollar is favorable to the US (1 USD = 1.4 NZD) the fact that New Zealand is so remote adds a bit of a premium on most things so food and lodging tend to be very close to US averages.
Even so, New Zealand has been a “must go” destination since we started our trip. Anjel’s father loved the outdoors and had dreamed of exploring the island. In fact the west coast of Washington State and New Zealand are two of only a handful of places in the world that are home to Temperate Rainforests. My own father had talked about the two of us going there as one of those “dream motorcycle vacations.” So though we knew that it was going to be a bit of an expense, it was an important leg of the trip for us.
We picked up the bikes just outside of Christchurch. We’d reserved them for 11 days and I had sketched out a rough figure-8 route around South Island that gave us 7 full days of riding, with 4 potential off-days for exploring areas like Queenstown or Milford Sound. New Zealand is one of the “adventure sport” capitals of the world and we were considering spending at least one day bungee jumping, sky diving or parasailing. If nothing else we imagined resting and spending a day or two on foot exploring a town.
In the end we rode every single day, rarely stopping for more than a lunch break and maybe a quick walk to a lookout point. In 11 days we put in almost 3000 miles and if we did it again we’d probably do the exact same thing. Riding in New Zealand is like taking the greatest roads in California (Skyline, Hwy 1, Hwy 9, Yosemite and anything else you can thinking of) and stringing them all together with a 60 mph speed limit and no traffic. It is quite literally a motorcycling paradise.
Day 1: Christchurch to Kaikoura
Day one started a little late, as we expected it to. The bike rental place picked us up from our hostel and drove us out to pick up the bikes. We took care of some paperwork, got fitted for gear, unpacked our packs, shoved all of our things into the side-cases on the bikes, made a few stops for last minute supplies and we were on our way.
We were outfitted on a pair of BMW GS650s. The GS650 is a bike that we’ve rented several times in the past for motorcycle trips and it’s just a great all around bike. It’s also usually one of the less expensive bikes to rent, as most people either want the larger 1200GS (which does look awesome) or something sportier. A little unexpected bonus was that mine happened to be fitted with an aftermarket pipe that actually gave the bike a pretty good growl. Though fun, the Beemers usually have a very tame engine not, so it was satisfying to have a little when gunning the bike on a pass.
Right off the bat, we faced the challenge of riding bikes on the “wrong” side of the road, as New Zealanders drive on the left – but amazingly we found the transition to be almost effortless. In a car, driving on the left side of the road introduces all sorts of differences. You’re sitting behind the wheel in what should be the passenger seat so your sense of where you visually align yourself in the lane is all thrown off, you’re shifting with your left hand, and whenever you try to look up and to the right to check your rear-view mirror, you end up looking out the window instead. On a motorcycle, the only thing that changes is the side of the road you’re on. I’d say we got used to things in the first 15 minutes and never had another problem.
Here’s a map of our
route for Day 1. Our first stop was Hanmer Springs, a natural hot springs and resort. It was indeed beautiful, but after having ridden the entire island, I can easily advise you to skip it unless you specifically wanted to spend a day in the spa. The scenery is beautiful, but its out of the way, requires riding out and back on the same road and ain’t nothing compared to what’s coming.
By the time we got back to the coast, it was already getting dark. We stopped in the small town of Kaikoura to look for a Hostel. We found the Albatross Backpacker Inn (they call Hostels “Backpackers” in NZ). It seemed like nice little place, but it was going to be about $25 per person for a spot in a 4 or 6 bed dorm. We have no problem in staying in dorms at this point – we’ve been sleeping in them almost everywhere we go – but we weren’t in the mood (that night) for paying $50 for two beds, so we asked if there were any campsites near by. It’s not uncommon for hostels to have camping space out back, which is usually closer to $15 per person. “Free campsites?” the woman behind the desk asked. That wasn’t what I was thinking, so I replied “No” before adding “…well, actually, yes. Are there any free campsites around?” She said that about 15km out of town you could find free camping along the beach.
We hopped back on the bikes and rode for 20km before we started to worry. Had we missed it? Was she just way off on her distance guesstimation? I pulled off the the main road when we finally reached a little place called the Hapuku Lodge and Tree Houses which indeed offered tree-house accommodation (which sounded awesome and ridiculously expensive). I was going to kill the bike to talk to Anjel when I noticed that the little road we had turned onto continued past the hotel and off towards the ocean. We followed the pavement a little further as it turned into a narrow one lane road with thick bushes on either side. It seemed promising, but we knew we were going the right way as we saw rabbits up ahead scampering back and forth across the road.
It’s important to believe in omens as you travel and for us, birds and bunnies are good omens – they show up again later in our story. Shortly past the bunnies the road turned to sand and we found ourselves paralleling the beach, along what was clearly a surfer camp area. There were only a few other cars parked along the half-mile stretch so we picked a quiet spot, parked the bikes and in the rapidly fading light, set up camp and got a fire going.
The only downside to our camp spot was having the absolute crap scared out of us when around midnight a freight train drove by. It was probably 200 feet away from our camp spot, not too close, but we hadn’t seen the tracks and it didn’t blow its horn, so there were several moments of panicked quick-thinking: “is that a stampede? is there a herd of elephants? are we about to get runover by a semi?”
Day 2: Kaikoura to Westport
This day had some of the greatest riding in all of South Island, which is saying a lot. If you stayed here for a week and just rode back and forth between Kaikoura and Westport, you would consider the week well spent. Here’s the
The day started out with a pleasant ride along the coast heading north on Highway 1 which runs until you hit Picton. Along the way we stopped at a random Flea / Farmer’s Market we found and picked up some fresh vegetables. Once we reached Picton we found our way onto the Queen Charlotte Drive.
The QCD isn’t fast riding, in fact its so tight and winding (with the occasional trailer towing a boat up the grade) that we were just cruising around 30 mph or so – which was fine because there was so much to look at. The QCD runs along the Queen Charlotte Sound and has stunning views overlooking little inlets and tropical bays.
About 60 miles later we arrived in Nelson where we stopped for a quick lunch. 80 more miles of pleasantly winding roads brought us to Murchinson where we stopped for gas. There was a group of 5 or 6 local guys on Harleys filling up at the station. They asked which way we were heading and when we told them West, they asked if we’d ridden the Buller before (pronouncing it Bullah). We said we had not and they assured us that we’d love it.
It’s a testament to how fantastic the road is that we have absolutely no photos of it. Never once was I tempted to slow down and fish the camera out of my pocket. It’s about 50 miles from Murchinson to Westport, our destination for the night, and for about 40 of those miles, the road follows the twists and turns of the Buller river. The whole road is fantastically paved and 2 lanes wide. In California a road that size would have a 45 mph speed limit and you’d want to ride it closer to 60. Here in New Zealand the speed limit is 62 mph (100 km) and you can push it close to 70 without too much trouble. We also overtook maybe 10 cars in that 40 miles.
By the time we got to Westport it was dark. We looked at a local map and made our way down to the beach in the hopes of finding more free camping. After a little searching and a ride down what looked like a shady dirt road, we found ourselves at a large clearing by the beach with a handful camper vans parked for the night.
Day 3: Westport to Gillespies Beach
Today was a fantastic example of the range of environments you can ride through in one day in NZ.
We started our day on the beach in Westport.
Then followed the coastal road south all day taking us past gorgeous beaches…
aqua blue rivers…
a quick stop for lunch at the pancake rocks…
two glaciers (Franz Joseph and Fox)…
before finally riding 12 miles down a dirt road through a rainforest…
to arrive at a beach in time for dinner…
and a spectacular sunset.
While riding through the rainforest I was in the lead and Anjel was several bike lengths behind. About halfway to the beach a Kea, a Alpine Parrot found only in New Zealand started flying along with us. He was about 10 feet above us, generally staying behind me and in front of Anjel, just following us as the road snaked through the forest. It was a pretty amazing sight and hard not to take it as a good sign.
Here was our
Day 4: Gillespies Beach to Brighton
Day 4 was our crossover day, leaving the west coast and cutting east across the island towards the city of Dunedin. Also, if you want to sound like an idiot, pronounce it “Dune-din.” We both did. For several days. Until someone asked if we’d been to “Dun-eden.”
I can’t describe every day as fantastic riding, or at least I shouldn’t keep saying it so I’ll stick to some of the sights; like this staggeringly blue river.
Honestly, the water is clearly having some sort of food coloring added to it up river as there’s no way it looks like this naturally.
After leaving the coast behind, the road follows the shore of Lake Wanaka before veering off and almost immediately picking up the tip of Lake Hawea, just to the east.
From there the road flattens out a bit and for the first time we were actually riding through gently rolling plains. Though not nearly as exciting as the constant twisties and elevation changes of the coastal road, the plains were beautiful and the late afternoon sun and threatening rainclouds gave an fantastic quality to the light.
We skipped right past Duneden. I’m sure there were things to do there, but it’s home to 124,000 people, and seemed like a metropolis compared to the towns we’d been riding through (traffic?!? stoplights?!?) so we continued south to Brighton, a tiny beach town where Anjel set up camp while I rushed back to the local supermarket, catching them just as they were starting to turn off the lights, successfully returning to camp with a few beers…
to enjoy with our simple dinner…
while we relaxed at our free campsite overlooking the ocean…
Here was our
Unfortunately, that’s all I’m able to get out before we start our trek in Nepal. More when we return.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
i hope you realize how lucky you both are to have a partner who wants to share these adventures. what a grand adventure this is!!!
dani
Inspiring stuff, kids! I know Danielle from Friends of the Sunnyvale Library, and she told me about your adventure because, like her, I used to sail. And, like you, I’m hoping for some adventure riding soon (probably on a Suzuki DR-Z 400). I’d love to chat over coffee when you’re in the Bay Area.
Craig Haggart
Sunnyvale, CA