To Picton

This morning I left Nelson and rode back to Picton. I was really looking forward to Queen Charlotte Drive and it did not disappoint, even though it was sprinkling a little bit. I got held up by an a**hole Sprinter van once which was rather annoying but outside of that, most vehicles either moved aside to let me pass or I was able to pass them in the straights. I also got to take a couple of good photos of the Marlborough Sounds to remember the place by.

 

 

I got into Picton around noon, checked in and spent the next few hours walking around the tiny town. I kind of wished I had planned this better and just booked today’s ferry instead of spending the night here. There really isn’t a whole lot to do and after the past couple of days of being cooped up in Nelson, I’m a little fed up of sitting around and wasting time on the internet, rather than being out riding.

Tomorrow I catch the 1:15 ferry to Wellington. I’ll probably spend a couple of days there since I’ve heard that it’s a pretty interesting city with much to do.

 

To Takaka (or not)

So Takaka did not really end up happening. I got as far as Motueka and a little beyond when I was stopped by a queue of cars stuck behind a police car parked sideways across the road. A cop appeared to be talking to each driver. When I reached him, he informed me that the road (the only road to Takaka) was closed on account of a milk tanker flipping over. He said that they wouldn’t be able to open the road for at least 3-4 hours more I later found out that the tanker had spilled 19000 litres of milk on the road. Only in New Zealand?!!

I did a little scenic loop to Kaiteriteri and back, which was fun.

 

Then I returned to Motueka, found a café with wifi and proceeded to wait it out until the road opened. I followed the State department’s updates but there was nothing new for the longest time.

It gradually dawned on me that it was going to take a long time to clean up the mess and even if the road did open in the evening, it would be gridlocked with all the people trying to get to Takaka. Plus I would reach there pretty late in the day and then get rained on the next day. So reluctantly, I decided to go back to Nelson and stay there for the next couple of nights. :( Sad. I guess I’ll have to experience the thrill of riding Takaka Hill and seeing Golden Bay another time. It’s part of travel though. Nothing goes your way all the time.

Kaikoura to Nelson

The rough plan was the next couple of days was to ride from Kaikoura to Nelson in a day, then either do a day ride to Takaka or back the next day, or to go to Takaka, spend a couple of nights there, then return to Picton the day after. The weather appeared to dictate the latter because I was going to get at least one rainy day and it made sense to do all the riding on the days before.

The route from Kaikoura to Nelson started off promisingly with a gorgeous coastal road past the ocean. I observed amusedly to myself that even though I hadn’t done Highway 1 in California, I was doing it in New Zealand! :) I stopped briefly at Oahu to observe the seal colony and spied quite a few baby seals. Cute!

After the road turned inland, it got pretty dull and I started to get bored. About an hour more of this and I finally passed through Picton. Soon after I entered the Queen Charlotte Drive was turned out to be half an hour of very tight 20-30 kmph corners. It really put my cornering skills to the test. At the same time, I quite found myself enjoying it. As usual, the only times I cursed was when I would see stunning glimpses of the Marlborough Sounds and there weren’t many places to stop and take a photo. I told myself I would take photos on the way back. The color of the water made me gasp. How do they get it that blue-green?!

Before I knew it, I was in Nelson where I got a dorm for the night at the YHA. They let me park in their garage so I had secure parking for the night. The dorm room was really neat too. It was huge even though it had only six beds in it.

The next day I would ride to Takaka and spend a night there.

Hanmer Springs to Kaikoura

This was supposed to be a short pleasant ride. All I had to do that day was to get out of Hanmer Springs, turn off a country road and follow it all the way to Kaikoura. I did a part of this right. I did turn off of a country road that turned out to be divine, magical, lyrical, if you could call a road lyrical. It was full of twisties and went past beautiful rural landscapes that looked like they were straight out of a child’s storybook. Narrow curved roads, golden rolling hills, the occasional flock of sheep, an occassional church, barn or abandoned shed, this is a road I have dreamt about, not knowing where to find it.

It ended way too soon and I was abruptly deposited onto a busy motorway with semi trucks bearing down on me, a little too close for comfort. I found later that I had taken the wrong road – Parnassus St. and Leader Road, instead of Mount Lytton Road. I didn’t know if I was upset about this or not. On the one hand, I missed a reportedly beautiful road which would have taken me all the way to Kaikoura and kept me from the rude shock of riding on the motorway and getting back to reality. On the other hand, perhaps that road wasn’t as idyllic as the one that I accidentally stumbled on? I guess I will never know unless I go back and find out.

The ride along the motorway was very beautiful as it wound past the Pacific Ocean (my first view of the ocean on the other side!) but the wind was strong and there were too many trucks blasting past me on the other side. My entire time on the South Island has been on roads with very little traffic and I had begun to forget the rest of the world a little.

 

I arrived in Kaikoura well before lunchtime and checked in to the Albatross B&B. The room I was in was the tiniest I’ve stayed in but we had an entire lounge area and kitchen for ourselves. Also, I lucked out with really cool roommates who were fun to hang out with.

 

In the afternoon, I decided to do the Coastal Peninsula Walk which went around the entire tip of the peninsula, promising views of wildlife and epic scenery. It did not fail to disappoint! I didn’t see much wildlife outside of a bunch of seals and some birds but the scenery was consistently staggering. I took my time walking slowly and taking it all in so it took me almost an hour and a half to walk from town to the very tip of the peninsula where the ocean looked nothing short of majestic. It was very windy on account of the remnants of Hurricane Pam blowing over and the water was churning and turbulent.

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Lewis Pass

Today’s ride was lovely. I rode from Westport to Hamner Springs, about 217 km in total, going over Lewis Pass. I set off at around 10:00 AM, stopping briefly at a local gas station for fuel and air. My front tire was down to almost 25 psi which is a little surprising, considering I started at 35 psi a few days ago. I’ll have to monitor it over the next couple of days and make sure it doesn’t have a slow leak. Filling up air was a marvelous experience compared to the horrible air stations in the US. You set the PSI range you want, stick the tube onto the valve and keep it pressed down. The pump automatically adds the exact amount of air you measured out and you’re done! Plus, it’s free! No need to hunt around for exact change and listen to that awful sound the machine makes while you frantically try to fill air in all your tires before your money runs out.

 

The ride started off being really windy but after 30 km or so, the wind dropped off and it was calm. My new Sena was acting up again and it simply dropped connection after the first half hour. This time around I just let it be rather than stopping to reset and restart everything. I decided I’d try to ride in silence for a bit and it turned out to be a great decision! For the first time since I started this ride, I wasn’t listening to music and was just alone with my thoughts. It turns out that this was the first step in acquiring motorcycling zen, that elusive state that I’m always in search of. It helped the road and scenery was fantastic too, of course. Lots of twisties over great pavement, and beautiful trees lining the sides of the roads. I don’t know what trees lined the sides of the road. They seemed like birch but without the white bark. Whatever they ever, it was lovely to ride between them with the green light filtering through the leaves, a little like riding through Lothlorien. In fact, huge sections of today’s ride felt like riding through Middle Earth. Unfortunately, there weren’t many spots in which to pull over and take photos.

I don’t know when I crested Lewis Pass because I didn’t see any sign, or I missed it. In any case, after I crossed over onto the Canterbury Plains, I was stunned to see how stunning the vista was. Beautiful golden plains and mountains for as far as the eye could see. It was difficult to focus on the road because I wanted to gaze in every direction and soak in the scenery. What a beautiful magical place! I wonder if the first couple of days of my ride looked like this and I was just too tired and distracted to notice. Or maybe they looked better going west rather than east. Whatever it was, I was glad I got a second chance to notice and admire the plains.

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