The Rough Way Down, North Cape to Bluff

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December 8th 2010

Published: December 16th 2010

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Rosco p

Rosco Ready to Ride

WLA ready for Burt Munro, maybe next year

The destination was the Burt Munro Challenge Rally in Invercargill, at the bottom of the South Island in New Zealand.
Originally I was going to go there on my Trusty 1942 WLA Harley Davidson, but as I was away having fun on the TAT in the USA, I never got the time to service the WLA, then I got an invite to join up with a couple of characters that were organizing a ride from North Cape (close to our place) to the Bluff at the bottom of the South Island, OFF the BEATEN TRACK and to coincide with the start of the Burt Munro Rally at Invercargill.
This ride was to celebrate 30 years production of the BMW GS series, they also decided to raise some money for the Westpac rescue helicopter fund.

So after picking up the bikes from the USA, I had to give the old GS a good service, in the mean time I had met up with my Hungarian friend, 'Dora the Xplora' who works in Spain, via our German friends, Bridgitte and Toni that we met in Moab, Utah in 1990 and they now live part time in Spain, Dora was keen to come

Cape Reinga

Dora at the start

to check out a bit of NZ over her winter break, so I invited her to join me on this adventure.
And what an adventure it turned out to be!

A group of intrepid riders left the South Island, led by Justin Ryan and Gary Williams, meeting up with other like minded riders on the way and regrouped at our place for the ride South.
On Sunday the 14th 17 riders left Cape Reinga and headed South via 90 Mile Beach and the Te Paki Stream.
Unfortunately, Mark Taylor, one of the riders that had ridden all the way from Christchurch cocked up his exit from the beach and broke his collar bone, after making him cosey at our place, we left him in good care with Bones and Dora and I set off to catch up with the rest of the riders and our over night at Russell.
Bones was not sure that she got a good deal here, here I am roaring off into the sunset with Dora on the back of my bike and she is left with a broken man waiting for the hospital to open......

Day 2 took us on the coastal route

Garry and Justin

We were able to share their dream.

and some back shingle roads to finish the day at the Sawmill Cafe in leigh, via the Town Basin in Whangarei, Waipu Caves and many fast sweeping back roads.
This turned out to be another great social evening when Graeme Crozby (Croz) turned up, as he had a book launching here the night before, it was great to catch up with him after all these years, I actually bought my Harley Softail from him in 1990 and it is still in my garage with only 56,000 kms on it.

Day 3 took us to Tauranga, via Muriwai Beach (not for me) BMW Headquarters in Mt Wellington for a superb light lunch, on over the Coromandel and onto Mt Maunganui, where Mount Motorcycles hosted us with a BBQ feast. We met up with Robin and Diane here and went back to their place for a Southern Comfort or two, lots of chatting and lay down before breakfast, what great hosts, thanks.
Robin and Diane will be joining us on our next High Andes Adventure in March.

Day 4 we headed off to Napier, along with Robin for the ride, but not on your normal route, of course, we found

Helena Bay

Cafe and art gallery

many unsealed back ways to get us to Murapara and then around Lake Waikerimoana.
This is always a wonderful ride through here.
Even by now Dora the Xplora had seen so much more of New Zealand than the average visitor and we are only up to day 4.
We stayed the night with our Daughter Geraldine, and Moe's place in Hastings, good catch up time.

Day 5 took us from Napier to Wellington, again finding all the roads lest traveled. Dora and I made a detour to visit our friends Peter and Daphne Lester at Waipawa for free coffee. It was great to catch up.
We retraced our way back to find the Waihi Falls and on the way met up with Keith, who just appeared from nowhere after getting left behind in Hastings.
BMW Dealer, Motomart put on a great BBQ for us that evening, while bikes were getting new tyres, oil etc.
It was a new experience for Dora when we stayed overnight at the Wellington Sun Club.

Day 6 and its an early start to catch the 8.00am ferry to Picton.
After a very leisurely crossing in absolutely brilliant weather, we regrouped with a bunch

Croz and Dora

Dora having a wet on Croz's bike

of riders that had ridden up from Christchurch and further South, led by non other than the infamous Sam Roundtree.

At the briefing he assured us that the Maungatapu track had been worked on over the winter by the council and DOC and that no other vehicles had used it and he has the key etc etc, so I very reluctantly went with the flow, as I had been over this road a few years ago on my GS, by myself with minimal luggage, and I found it a bloody challenge then, now here I am am with two people's luggage and a Dora on the back, but as Sam had assured us it was in excellent condition.
'Year Right' it turns out that Sam drinks far too much Speights and is well aware of this saying, as the track was such a huge challenge to most of the riders, with steep loose rock up hill climbs, which were nearly imposable to restart on if you had to stop when the way was blocked by a cluttery of bikes and bodies.
Suffice to say that we left Picton around 1.15 pm and arrived in Nelson at 5.15, having traveled

Bloody Sand

It just fell over?

about 80 kms.
The right decision was made, to sleep in Nelson, as there was no way we could make Hanmer Springs, via the Rainbow Station that night.
Unfortunately for Nigel, he broke a bone in his wrist when he dumped his 1150 GS, and also damaged his bike. We got him on a flight out to Auckland that night, now he has an excuse to fly back to Nelson and ride his bike home.
Dora and I were lucky as we had no damage when we 'Spun Out' in a slippery up hill.

Day 7 saw us with a pretty big day, as we had to make up what we never did yesterday and our destination was Glenfalloch Station (which is in the middle of bloody nowhere!)
We were away by 8.00am to Hanmer for morning tea, we made a run for Oxford, as now the weather had become unsettled and we were in a misty rain, I had been down the Lees Valley before, so a group of us settled into Cafe51 to await the others.
By the time we regrouped, the temperature had dropped somewhat and the day was closing in. We made good time while

Why I don't like sand

'Look Mum, No hands

on the seal, then we turned off before Mt Hutt and followed Blackford Road along the Rakia River (forever) until we reached Glenfalloch Station.
What a little oasis this turned out to be, nice, warm and cosey......About now we realize that Gary, our Tail End Charlie, was not with us, how did our system break down? After a while we got a message, via another traveler, that he had not one, but had got two flat tyres, so we proceded to load up food and repair stuff and send a party back in the Stations 4X4. They had only got a few kays down the road and spotted a lone rider heading towards them. The long day ended with all the sheep in the pen.

Day 8 saw us wake to a grey overcast day, but at least it was not heavy rain, as we had enough to challenge us soon after leaving the warmth of the Station.
Within a few minutes we were negotiating tractor ruts that had been made when the ground was softer, well we all know that the rut we are in is not going to last forever, sometime soon you are going to have

More sand trouble

Where is my wheel?

to negotiate your way out of it and choose another one and so on.....the light rain never made this any easier, but after all we are on an adventure.

Soon after the tractor ruts, we came upon a rocky scree slope, this is where the side of a rocky mountain just slides down to the river and if there is a lot of rain, the water is underneath. Now these rocks are not your ordinary every day road stones, these are big 200mm square sharp mothers, with very few small stuff between. lucky for us there had been a couple of 4X4 gone through a few days before us, so there was sort of a way that we could follow.

This was a major challenge for me, fully loaded and with Dora on the back, as I knew that if anything happened here, Dora, me or the bike (or all 3) would get hurt. 100% concentration and we were doing it, Dora sitting tight an her seat and me standing on the pegs, picking my way, it was a great relief for me (and Dora) that we made it safely across. That was my biggest challenge so far.

Rosco and Dora

In the Sounds

At this point I have to give Dora credit for having the confidence in me to sit there, but as I said to her in the beginning,
"She has to trust me and my job is to keep her trust" So Far So Good!

Later in the day we made it to Fairlie, where we had a lunch stop. Here I phoned Anne and Fill up, as I stupidly thought we would be heading out past their place and we would stop to say Hello, but of course we never did. We headed off down the MacKenzie Pass and into the Black Forrest, with fabulous views over Lake Benmore.
We had a welcome stop at Dansey's Pass Coach Inn, as we were again riding in wet conditions.
A great days riding ended with another BBQ at Waipiata.

Day 9 saw us leave bloody Wiapiata and make our way to Queenstown, via the Old Dunstan Trail, Hawksburn Road and of course the Nevis Valley.
The Nevis is always a challenge with it's many river crossings and now the added challenge of the slippery Diddymo, I only got Dora to walk through the fist one, as I could see the

GS lays down

Rosco and Dora 'Resting'

Diddymo there, that way she could get a photo!

On the way we made a rendouvois with my friend Ross Bulling from Invercargill (The Duke), who had ridden away on his bright red Ducati, from his responsibilities at Ivan Bulling's Furniture factory.
When Dora saw this moto, she just abandoned me and literally slithered onto the pillion seat behind Ross, it just reminded me how fickle my relationship was with her!! after all we had been through!!
We stayed overnight with The Duke and his kids, Jarn and Anna, at their place in Queenstown.

Day 10 we were to barge the bikes across Lake Wakatipu to Walter Peak Station, with our destination that night being Te Anau.
The loading of the barge was not without incident, as one of the riders dropping his bike while going up the ramp, with the bike falling between the two ramps, lucky there were no injuries as he managed to eject himself (well I think that is what they said)
The ride through the Station was gorgeous, with absolutely stunning views and such a perfect day.
We were privileged to be able to ride up to Meridian Energy's White Hill Wind Farm,

Justin and Dora

and have the history and operational details explained to us by the manager, who was riding with us.

Day 11 and our first option was to ride to Milford Sound for a cup of coffee......as Ross was riding his Ducati with us now, and me being free of Dora, why where is Dora ? I hear you ask, on the bloody Ducati !! So it was a quick trip for a good coffee and sandflyes and a regroup back at Te Anau for the ride down to Invercargil.
We arrived at Riverton, by the sea in misty rain and then onto Oreti Park, the site of the Burt Munro Challenge Rally.
We were privileged to be able to stay with Ross the Duke and Christine, and to be able to catch up with Ivan, Grant and the rest of the family.

Day 12 and the final leg to the Bluff, with Mayor, Tim Shadbolt joining us on an old Triumph for the last leg.
It was a pity that it rained, as we had in fact had such great weather all the way.
That night we had a great final Farewell Dinner at the Cabbage Patch Restaurant to

Lake Tennison

relive the adventure that started 12 days ago.
I must thank Justin and Garry for sharing their dream with us, I know many others had a great input, but at the end of the day they made it happen..Thanks Guys!!

The next few days we spent enjoying all the events, meeting up with old friends, meeting new friends, and generally having a bloody good time with bloody good friends.

After the last event, which was the street races at Winton, we started our trek North, Ross and Christine, rode with us up to Queenstown and Dora and I made it to Wanaka for a beautiful sunset and a night in a cabin.

It was a run over Haast Pass, Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers to stay over with Kerry and Gwen at Awatuna, it was great to catch up with them in their new home and environment. Thanks Guys.

The next day we headed to Woodend, to stay over with Leo and Jenny. But first we needed gas, so we followed Gwen back into Hokitika and checked out her Greenstone Gem Shop, good to see that we still have such great craftsmen (Women) still doing it.

Lake Benmore

Dora up there

After gassing up, we turned inland to find Kerry's Gold Mine, where he drives this massive articulated dump truck looking for tiny little bits of gold. After taking Dora for a spin in his truck we headed North to pick up Arthurs Pass and back to Oxford for Dora's Moca Chocca thing at Jo Segars Cafe.
We arrived late afternoon at Leo and Jenny's for lots of catch chats, some Southern Comfort and fine food.
Leo came with us to the High Andes in 2009 and I had not caught up with him since our return.
Again, thank you both for your kind hospitality.

Leaving the next morning in the rain, we headed North up the Kaikoura Coast and out of the Canterbury rain to see the smelly Seals up on the rocks. we were on a bit of a mission as we had to catch the ferry at 1.00pm, we arrived at exactly 1.00pm.
We had another smooth sailing, meeting up with new and old friends while we sailed, Dora had been texting Gary, and he met us for coffee on arrival in Wellington.
we continued North as far as Waikanae where we took a grotty cabin, Dora

The Nevis

A bit of trouble here

spent the night wacking any insect that moved with he bike boot!!Lucky we had two rooms, her walls were all blood stained and covered with black boot marks, god only know what the cleaners thought the next day.

We made a run for Toupo and got ourselves a nice Motel room close to town. toupo was a picture.
We took our time in the morning and went to the Huka Falls and onto the Waitomo Caves, then the Kiwi House at Otorahonga.
We arrived at Robyn and Rex's, just out of Hamilton in time for some pre dinner drinks, with our little sister, Lynda arriving for a feed and a catch up, a quick ride on a horse for Dora and a roast lamb dinner and a few after dinner drinks, remind me to come back here it's pretty good, thanks again Rob n Rex.

The next stop was Auckland to watch Aleisha at her Rock and Roll Dance finals, what a treat that was for me, to see your 7 year old granddaughter rock in Rolling to our music, and taking home the awards.
We left the next morning on our last leg, dropping in on String

Nevis Valley

Justin takes in water

and Petal for morning coffee.
Next stop was the Matakohe Museum and lunch.
Riding up through the Waipoua Forrest is always a treat, as is seeing the Giant of the Forrest, Tane Mahuta.
Picking up the Rawene ferry and arriving home safe and sound after riding 6841 km on my same set of Continental TKC 80 tyres.
What a great adventure ride, we do have such a loverly country to ride in.

We have another High Andes Adventure to Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru in March-April 2011
I will update the blog and introduce the adventurers in my next Blog.

In the mean time, please have a happy and safe Christmas and New year with your families.
Cheers,
Rosco

There are many more photos on Picasa on the GS ride, cut and past this link into your search browser:
http://picasaweb.google.com/gsridersnz/BMWGSAnniversaryRideNewZealand2010?feat=email#

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