Kiwiboom and bikes

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New Zealand has been fun - in the North Island I spent a lot of time with friends, including going to the local Burning Man-related event. Here is some great footage of the unexpectedly explosive burn that was a bit of a pain in the knee for my friend Lee from Inverness, who was stood next to the man when he exploded...

While I was in Auckland I stayed with old friends Gerry and Stew, and caught up with Rowena, who I'd already known from London, and we had a choice day out in Piha. I've already mentioned Raymond in Napier, and then I got to Wellington, where I was put up in style by a new friend from Kiwiburn.

I was feeling too rushed, so I changed my flight dates to Oz to allow me an extra few days in NZ. My head is also full of all sorts of possibilities for interesting things to do between here and London, but you'll get to hear about most of those when/if they turn into reality...

In a last-minute fit of extravagance I rented a Triumph Tiger (that's a 1050cc motorbike, if you didn't know) and spent a fun five days buzzing round the South Island. It's great fun, and very well timed - I checked the weather forecast and it said it would be good, and on the whole they were right this time.

There was very little traffic, and the roads are lovely for the most part - great scenery, of course, but also generally well-maintained (they only have 6 or 7 roads to maintain, so this shouldn't be a surprise!). The one downside is that when they decide to repair them, which seems to be quite often, they just rip it up and replace it with piles of gravel while they work, and when they've finished they put down a layer of gravel on top of the tar. Gravel, for those of you who don't ride, is a nightmare to ride bikes on, if they have road tyres (which mine did), so I often found myself reduced to 30kph, or even less when I accidentally ended up on a twisty, poorly maintained, steep single-track gravel road with an unfenced sheer drop and hairpin bends... That one had me creeping along in 1st gear!

I'm now relaxing in Christchurch for a few days before I head off to Australia.

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