By Karen Richardson
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Mountain view near Queenstown 33 KB Click for a bigger image |
New Zealand is a spectacular scenic country with friendly, relaxed people,
and a motorcycle tour is a terrific way to experience all of it. We were
there from January 30 to February 17, (which is late summer in New Zealand)
and spent 12 of those days riding. The tour was organized by Beach's
Motorcycle Tours, an American company that has been in this business for
many years, guiding tours of New Zealand and the Australian Alps. Our group
consisted of 19 people (including two guides) driving 12 motorcycles and a
luggage van. We were the only Canadians and, other than a Dutch couple from
Singapore and our two New Zealand guides, the rest of the group were
Americans. Ages ranged from 30s to 60s. Everyone was really nice and we
made a few closer friendships with two or three couples. We rode with Kasey
and Cindy, who were from Los Angeles.
The tour company provided locally-rented motorcycles (we chose a 650 cc BMW
Funduro), and we brought our own helmets, boots, gloves and riding suits.
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Karen Richardson, Rick Lopez, John Richardson, on the road to Milford Sound 28 KB Click for a bigger image |
The tour included accommodations and breakfasts, and all but two dinners.
The food in New Zealand is excellent; our favourites were the lamb, fresh
mussels and salmon, and a melt-in-your-mouth dessert called Pavlova. Also
included in the package were some wonderful extras, such as a cruise in a
fjord, and a helicopter ride to a glacier (which was cancelled due to bad
weather).
Each evening after dinner, our tour guide would speak for a few minutes to
us about the itinerary for the following day, offering several scenic
routes, famous or interesting places to see, road hazards to be aware of,
good restaurants or pubs to stop for lunch, etc. We split up into small
groups of two or three bikes each day, and usually rode from about 9 until
4 or so, stopping every now and then to stretch our legs, or see something
interesting, or to have lunch. Dinner started about 7:30, which gave us
time beforehand to go for a walk, do laundry, catch up my trip diary, write
a postcard, or whatever. Generally our group went to bed shortly after
dinner, because we all wanted to be up before 7:00 in the morning. The
focus of the trip was riding, after all.
I chose to ride on the back of John's bike, rather than ride my own, so I
could take pictures while we were on the move. I took almost 500 photos,
most of them while I was holding onto the bike with my knees as we swooped
around curvy, hilly roads (I had a lot of faith in my driver!). We had
asked to have a backrest on our bike to make photography easier, but found
backrests not available outside of North America.
I did have an opportunity to drive one of the bikes for about 5 km on our
last day, as I ferried a 600 cc Yamaha back to the rental company. I felt
kind of off balance, driving on the left. John did a great job driving in
the 'wrong' lane for two weeks, and we had no mishaps. One other couple did
have a minor accident on the third day, dumping the bike on a high mountain
road in the rain. The driver broke his collarbone and the couple had to
ride in the luggage van for a few days until they could arrange a rental
car which the passenger could drive.
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Mitre Peak on Milford Sound. One of the highest (1695 meters) 59 KB Click for a bigger image |
We had a variety of weather for the tour, from sunshine to typhoon, and
covered most regions of the southern island. Most of the terrain was hills
and mountains, with shallow gravelly rivers, and considerable rain forests
on the west side. Temperatures ranged in the 60s and 70s, just nice for
riding dressed in full gear. We only carried with us what we needed during
the day (first aid kit, water, extra sweater and gloves, camera and film)
and our luggage, which travelled in the van, was waiting for us in our
hotel room each afternoon. One of the tour guides also rode a bike, and he
watched for strays and made sure everyone reached our destination safely.
We found the tour to be very well planned and a great way to explore a
foreign country.
We flew Canadian Airlines and Air New Zealand from Toronto to Honolulu to
Auckland (north island) to Christchurch (south island). The trip there took
30 hours total, and the trip home took 26 hours. I enjoyed the flights,
reading an entire book each way, and found the seating quite roomy and the
food surprisingly good. We were very tired when we reached Christchurch,
having had only a few hours sleep in 48 hours.
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View of Golden Hills from Christchurch Gondola 40 KB Click for a bigger image |
Christchurch is a lovely, clean and very British city, with emphasis on
trees, parklands and cultural activities. We stayed there for three days
before our tour, and two days after, and tried to see as much as we could
in that time. Our motel was about a 20-minute walk from the downtown area,
so we hiked everywhere. The weather was nice and sunny. The old university
campus was made into an Arts Centre, showcasing superb art such as pottery,
blown glass, woodturning (we bought a lovely Rimu wood vase there),
paintings, clothing, jewellery, and live music. We took a ride up the
Gondola in the mountain beside the city, to see the view of the city,
harbour and surrounding golden hills.
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This is the sheep farm we stayed at Click for a bigger image |
We walked for several hours in the huge Botanical Gardens to see the
flowers and unusual trees (we noticed that almost all homes in New Zealand
had lovely flower gardens, which were in late summer bloom when we were
there; lots of roses, dahlias, hollyhocks, and torch lilies). We toured
several fine art galleries and Canterbury Museum (exhibiting Maori and
Antarctic history), and found everything to be of a high calibre. There was
a 'Strawberry Festival' held in the park while we were there, so we joined
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Sheep being drafted 46 KB Click for a bigger image |
in. It was a free outdoor concert of music from the 60s and 70s. Families
were there, sitting on the grass with their hampers of food and wine and
beer, and not a policeman or security guard in sight. Very civilized. We
also enjoyed a Wine and Food Festival in the park, which involved sampling
the wares of 20 wineries and 40 restaurants, with the money going to
charity.
Next week we'll have some details on the actual tour.
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