White Island – visiting an active volcano

At the best of times, I would have really enjoyed this trip. I mean how often do you get to walk around on an active volcano? Unfortunately the boat ride from Whakatane was really rough, with waves reaching heights of a meter. Apparently they can get up to 10 meters but 1 meter was bad enough. I was violently sea sick throughout the ride and super queasy even after we disembarked. The island was stunning. We wore masks to protect us from the strong sulphuric acid smell. Looking into the volcano itself was a little bit disappointing because it didn’t contain lava, but also exciting because active volcano!!

The boat ride back wasn’t a whole lot better but I managed to sleep through most of it. It took me the rest of the day to recover. I was supposed to go to Rotorua that evening but unfortunately I had to extend my stay in the shitty hostel to recover from the dehydration.

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Looking down into boiling pools of sulphuric acid inside the volcano


 

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Riding the East Cape

If I had to pick the one ride which was the highlight of my entire trip, I would probably pick the East Cape ride. Oddly enough, it was the one that I was a little apprehensive about because it was a lot of kms to cover in one day and was also reputed to be one of the most remote with very little civilization on the way. In the end, this turned out to be the most appealing part of the trip. My route went from Gisborne to Whakatane via Te Araroa. This meant I would have to bypass the direct route via the gorge which is also supposed to be a good ride. It would have been a perfect loop if I’d had more time.

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Gorgeous remote route the entire way.

The route that I did pick was lovely, quiet and serene, and full of twisties! I was probably the only person on the road going north, which meant that I could just stop the bike in the middle of the road and take photos for once. I made a couple of stops in Tolaga Bay to see the longest wharf in the southern hemisphere, at Tokomaru bay to get lunch, and Te Araroa for some coffee.

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Tolaga Bay – the longest wharf in the southern hemisphere.

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Tons more amazing roads to ride!

In Te Araroa, the heavens burst open and it poured down rain. I stood outside the café until the downpour subsided, unsure of how long it was going to last. It wasn’t the most exciting place to stop at for the night so I decided to push through the rain and keep going. Luckily, the rain stopped in a few minutes and the sun peeked out again! Good decision made! The rest of the ride was fantastic too. Waihau Bay was stunning and a sweet place to stop and fuel up. Then all the way to Opotiki which had mostly shut down by then. Whakatane for the night in a bit of a shitty hostel. I booked a spot on the crossing the next morning to White Island – an active volcano off the coast.
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Napier to Gisborne

This morning I left Napier for Gisborne. It was a relatively short ride of around 200 km, although I took the inland twisty route which meant that I was riding for a good four hours. Today’s ride was one of those where I truly felt like I was riding through the Shire in Middle Earth with all the lush green rolling hills for as far as the eyes could see. The inland road also had the advantage that there was almost no traffic and I rarely saw more than a car of two in the space of a half hour. The road was a cornucopia of colors –  hedges and meadows in every shade of green, copses of white and silver trees, leaves tinged with red and gold heralding the first signs of autumn. And the road… it undulated, climbed, descended, a motorcyclist’s dream with mostly perfect pavement. I also saw quite a few animals – sheep, sheep dogs, cows, horses, deer, hawks, little black birds with white tipped wing…

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Sometimes mystical looking forests….

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Sheep everywhere!

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Napier

This morning I left from Wellington and hit the road after a two day break. The ride started off with a bit of a hitch as I realized that I hadn’t correctly downloaded the section of the map that covered all of the lower North Island. I managed to pair my phone to my Sena and got directions from my Maps app instead. *whew* It wasn’t really needed after I had gotten out of Wellington since the directions were pretty much – take Highway 2 all the way north.

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Leaving Wellington

It was a bit jarring to be on the freeway after so long. Luckily it ended quickly and I was soon in the Rimutaka hills. As usual, my fear of heights kicked in and I rode absurdly slowly on those really cool roads. Ugh…

Then some mostly good riding in beautiful rolling hills country. At times it felt like riding through the Shire. No photos unfortunately.

At about the 200 km mark, I started to get exhausted as usual. My stamina really really sucks. I stopped at a cafe and got some coffee and took a bit of a break. These breaks really help a lot because when I got on after, I felt pretty refreshed and ready to go faaaast.

After days of riding in the South Island with almost no traffic outside of the touristy areas, it was a bit strange (and annoying) to be stuck behind trucks and slow moving cars and having to keep pass them. Some of the semis pull over to let traffic go past them but many do not, which is really annoying.

I reached Napier at around 3:00 PM and checked in to a YHA right on the beach. The downtown area had really cool art deco architecture. It was also really warm and sunny and a really lovely afternoon to be outdoors.

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Cool art deco


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Picton to Wellington

Today I wound up my travels on the South Island and got on the ferry to Wellington in the North Island. My ferry was at 1:15 PM and we were instructed to get there at 12:15 PM. I decided to go a bit earlier and got there at 11:45 AM. This worked out well because I was at the front of the line in a big group of motorcyclists who were returning from a rally in Queenstown, and not so good because the ferry was running late and I had to stand there for almost an hour.

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Waiting in the InterIslander queue.

 

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Securing our bikes

 

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All tied up.

 

When they signaled to us, we rode towards the ship and were guided to park in special motorcycle parking. This involved wedging the front tire into a triangular metal structure and using tie-downs to secure the bike on both sides. I didn’t  have any but one of the riders lent me one of his, and the ferry provided another one.

Bike secured, I walked up to one of the decks and found a spot to sit down. Since securing the bike took so long, I wasn’t able to snag a window seat. I was also super hungry exhausted by this time so I missed most of the interesting part of the ferry crossing as it wound its way north through the Marlborough Sounds. By the time I felt well enough to go outside, we had already crossed into the ocean. In the distance I could see mountains with windmills on them.

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Out on the deck.

 

About 3.5 hours later, we docked in Wellington. Then ensued a bit of a scramble to get to the bike.

I rode off and was met at the docks by my host Jeff Vickers who had come to pick me up on his wife’s GSXF. I followed him out of the docks and for a moment felt overcome by a pang of deja vu and homesickness as I felt like I was exiting the downtown Seattle ferry terminal but in reality I was in a totally strange city! They both looked so similar…

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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.

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Epic view of the Sounds.

 

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Another view of the Marlborough Sounds.

 

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.

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Somewhere above the hill looking down on Picton.

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You can see the mountains from everywhere in Picton!

 

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.

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By Kaiteriteri Beach

 

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.

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The best Eggs Benedict I’ve had in a long 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!

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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.

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On the other side of the Pacific Ocean

 

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.

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I spied a flock of cormorants hanging by the water.

 

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.

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Getting air at a gas station

 

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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