chicken george's motorcycle diaries vol 1

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My first roadtrip...

Day 1:
Hi, my name's Chicken George and this is my very first motorcycle diary (that's me, on the bike - right). I arrived on Christmas day 2009 and quickly became the star of lunch for my new family - not the main meal you understand, the singing, dancing sensation that I was made for.

My chicken feet hardly had time to hit the floor however and we were off! Two paniers and one tank bag for all the gear to see Joce, Pete and I through the next three weeks touring on our 900cc Ducati Monster.

The afternoon was sweltering hot and while I was flying cool as a bird strapped on the front of the tank bag, Joce and Pete were melting in their full motorbike gears. Suckers!

That afternoon was a short jaunt to Grandma Yeoman's place, in the foothills of the Kaimai Ranges, Bay of Plenty (about 400kms!). Joce and Pete usually follow the same route as it's proved to be quicker than most - down State Highway 1 (SH1) as far as the turnoff to Tahuna and across to Paeroa, then down SH2 to Grandma's. It's a great ride through there, lots of open country and far less traffic than on the main drag which goes via SH2 turnoff at the bottom of the Bombay Hills.

Day 2:
Boxing Day 2009 and we're off bright and early. It's lovely weather - clear and warm - and we've decided to head for Ohakune today. We take the old Tauranga/Rotorua direct road, which is sealed all the way and much nicer than the main route over the Kaimai Range to Putaruru.

We make great time and cruise by Rotorua, heading out to Taupo for a quick lunch stop where our first pic is taken. There's a nice little lunch area off the main drag if you turn right at the end of the first main shopping strip in Taupo and go down to the end where the marina is. Free toilets, a great little cafe and a cool, shady spot under the trees so Joce and Pete could strip off their bike gear for an hour.

The wind had picked up as we made our way down-country and by the time we got to Taupo there was a stiff south-westerly buffeting us. Quite frankly it was a bit hard on the old neck for me as my beak kept getting caught by the wind and fair twisting me head off!

Anyway, after a nice long stop in Taupo we battled the wind down as far as Turangi on SH1, then cut across to SH4 on the opposite side of Mt Ruapehu and cruised down to the turnoff to Ohakune.

It's great riding through the central plateau region - the scenery is spectacular (there was snow on the mountain I'm told but it was hiding behind a blanket of cloud when we went by) and the roads easy. There was very little traffic around, despite the fact we were in prime summer holiday season. I suppose they were all still up north at the beach!

We cruised into Ohakune and it was pretty dead. It's a great little town but it's mainly set up for the winter ski season, which is pretty gnarly by all accounts. The camp ground we tried first was closed - yep, in the middle of the summer holidays - so we ended up at the Ohakune Top Ten Holiday Park.

It's in a lovely spot nestled among trees and beside a pretty little stream. There were a few campervans but not many people really. We got a dinky 'Gypsy' style cabin, which was a perfect size for two people and a chicken. The shower and toilet block has been newly renovated so it's nice and clean, and you don't pay anything extra for the showers - a bonus as you do in some camp grounds during summer.

We got settled in and went for an evening stroll along a boardwalk and bush walk - really short but peaceful with glimpses of the mountains (we tried to take a photo but it's not very successful). We wandered to an old rail bridge at the far end of town (Waiouru end), opposite the giant carrot. Ohakune is famous for carrots. The first market gardens in the area were started by immigrant Chinese families in 1926 and carrots are still their largest commercial crop - a majority of New Zealand's carrots are grown here. The model carrot is reputedly the largest in the world! She is a beauty but the folks wouldn't let me take a nibble.

Day 3:

December 27 and we're heading for Wellington and the rellies, who live in Seatoun. We cut across to Waiouru - a military base and home of the Waiouru Army Museum (which the grandfolk say is well worth visiting - famed for the Vic Cross medals that were pinched and subsequently returned, it's seen something of a resurgence in popularity recently). For Joce and Pete it generally represents a 'cold hole' as they've been saturated and frozen solid on several occasions while travelling through there.

We stopped for petrol and continued on down SH1 through Taihape (gumboot town) to Foxton Beach, where we stopped for lunch and shelter at rellies. They weren't home but we had lunch on the back porch and I was covered over in anticipation of wet weather. Just as well - it rained from there to Wellington, we had gusting winds and by the time we got to Wellinton, Joce and Pete were both frozen and wet through. Yay for Andy, Janice and Sophie who helped us dry out our gear and had a nice hot shower waiting - I was bone dry thanks to a handy plastic bag and the tank bag cover!

The pic of the memorial is taken not far from our rellies place. It's sited where would-be rescuers watched helplessly as the worst storm in living memory took the lives of 51 people. It was 10 April 1968 and the Union Company's TEV Wahine, the Lyttleton to Wellington interisland ferry, foundered in heavy seas on Barrett Reef. It was the worst modern maritime disaster in New Zealand and television coverage at the time came of age as the footage was broadcast live into the nation's living rooms and later around the world, for the first time - prior to this news came from overseas sources and was considerably delayed.

Day 4:

We managed to dry out the gear thanks to heated towel rails and a good washing machine and drier so it was a pleasant, albeit early start on Day 4 as we headed into town to the Interisland ferry for our crossing over the ditch.

Anyone who knows their NZ geography will know that our country is made up of a series of islands, the dominant two being aptly named the North Island and South Island. The bulk of our population live in the North Island - we hail from just north of Whangarei, about 2 hours north of Auckland - so the South is more sparsely populated. The geography is pretty well legendary in the south with the island split by a little thing called the Southern Alps. The northen tip of the South Island, which actually sits slightly north of Wellington by an interesting quirk of georgraphic layout, was where we were heading and to get there we needed to cross the stretch of water that separates our two main islands - Cook Straight.

Cook Straight is so named after Captain Cook, the first European explorer to lay eyes, and claim to this often perilous and rough stretch of water. I'm told the seas can get rough enough to make a chicken chuck up his teeth, however on our early morning crossing it was pretty calm and while Joce managed to feel queasy (which she can honestly do just by looking at the sea), the rest of us didn't ruffle a feather. We watched a movie - actually I tell a lie - they watched a movie while I chilled out in the vehicle hold! The bike was secured tightly with tie-downs and chocks so she was pretty sweet.

It was fine and overcast by the time we made our way through the entrance to the Marlborough Sounds and into Picton. We saddled up and took the scenic route to Nelson via Queen Charlotte Drive. It follows the coastline around the sounds before cutting back in and across to Nelson. It's picturesque, the bush-line pushing down to the waters edge, but it's very winding and Joce was not really impressed with her already queasy stomach!

We stopped for lunch at a pretty little bay and by the time we got going again Joce was ready to ride. The road opened out not long after our lunch stop and we cruised through to Nelson. We like the look of the place, although we didn't stick around as there were far too many people but it's a fabulous harbour with bright, blue waters twinkling in the sunshine and pretty little houses perched around the water.

After a quick petrol stop we pushed on to visit some rellies in Mapua. It's an interesting place...

There is evidence of substantial early Maori settlement in the Tasman Bay area and Mapua was no different. The influence of early European settlement was felt from the early 1900s and particularly with the building of a sizeable wharf in 1915. Apples were a dominant crop in the area by this time and the wharf a solution to shipping them for export. Connecting roads throughout the region were still a major problem though.

The wharf is still a feature of Mapua, which is little more than a small village that is mostly tourist-oriented. There are some lovely boutique stores, a boutique brewery, galleries and cafes which utilise the old apple-processing facilities. When we visited, the lads took turns at leaping from the wharf and the lasses went for a walk among the shops. Joce says she could have spent up large but alas, there's not much room for souvenirs on the bike! (Pete says just as well).

We had lovely chocolate cake at the rellies (thanks Coralie) and a nice break before heading on to Motueka and over the Takaka hills to the real Golden Bay.

The ride up over Takaka hill is great - very winding and we headed up into a thick layer of cloud so the view was obscured from a point not far beyond where the photos were taken looking back towards Motueka. Once on the other side it was getting on towards 7p.m. and a lot cooler than we'd had earlier in the day. The valley opens out on the Golden Bay side of the hill and it's rolling green dairy country, surprisingly green for the middle of summer with a lot of irrigation.

We stopped in Takaka at a great cafe - The Wholemeal Cafe (they've got a website so Google it). They have fantastic food and a great story about the owner and history, plus a couple of recipe books Joce says she'd love to have collected had we the money and space.

Had a nice meal and mounted up again for the 10-minute trip on to Tukurua Bay and the Golden Bay Holiday Park. It's situated right on the water, in fact access to the beach is now limited to camp-ground patrons only, which has caused some degree of indignation among the locals!

Our tent site (the photo of me in the tent is taken here) was right beside the water and next to a lovely couple who have been coming to the camp ground for 20-odd years. Most the patrons seem to be the same - families who have been going there for a couple of generations. It was a pretty full site with around 300 people - a bit busy for our liking and the showers were fairly old. You had to pay $0.50 for a 5-minute shower but other than that, they were reasonably clean and functional.

Day 5:

We woke to drizzle and wind and quickly decided to flag the idea of going anywhere major on the bike as we really needed some time out. We took a look at the beach - gorgeous - then headed back to Takaka for breakfast at the same cafe and to grab some groceries at the supermarket. There was a great fresh bread stand so we picked up a nice sourdough loaf - not as good as the ones Pete makes - and headed back to the camp site for a few hours R & R. Kicking back, doing some washing and lazing on the beach was quite nice but Joce and Pete got a bit twitchy so we headed up to Collingwood in the late afternoon/early evening.

It's a cute town - not much there really except being the jumping point for most of the Farewell Spit Eco Tours. Great Fish 'n' Chip shop where Joce and Pete bought dinner. It was blowing a howling gale so we ate outside the chip shop then wandered down to the beach to take photos. It resembles a wild west coast beach rather than an east coast one, but it's picturesque if not blustery while we were there.

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