Lyndon's New Zealand Motorcycle Tour 2013

Left Heathrow at 15:35, arrived in Los Angeles at 18:20, which was pretty quick if you ask me. However, in reality, it was 19 hours of daylight and very little sleep. Cloud cover until we reached the coast of Canada. Yes ... Canada!!! The plane headed over Wales and Ireland, brushed the south coast of Greenland and then to Canada. Dunno why. I'd have thought that over the Scilly Isles would be better, but ho hum ... what do I know? Canada appears to be frozen solid, but was an awesome sight. This was probably not unreasonable as the temperature outside the aircraft was -60 degrees Celsius ... plus a bit lower if you add in the wind chill factor of 575mph. Hudson bay looked particularly impressive in its half frozen state. Even the USA was frozen over as well. I never imagined that the little town of Rock Ridge (famous in Westerns) would be frozen over. Saw Las Vegas from the plane ... or at least I saw some town in that vicinity with loads of flashing lights. On landin...

I actually lived this day thinking it was Friday, only to have an entire day of my life removed that evening. Got to the hotel at 8:30am. I'd been up for 38 hours with only a couple of dozes. Surprisingly, I felt okay. Room not going to be ready until 10:30, so went for a cup of tea and an Afghan cookie (very chocolatey, very nice, but lacking in that explosive element). As I'd been sat down for most of the previous day and a half, I thought a good long walk in search of an internet cafe would be in order. Also, a nice long walk down a hill would be good... not really thinking about the walk back! Now my feet hurt. The hotel is in the middle of nowhere, well outside the city centre and on the top of a hill. Checked into the hotel and had a chat with one of the company owners about what to expect. All good stuff ... and I pick the bike up tomorrow.

Picked up my tour bike ... a Honda ST1300 Pan European like the piccy in a previous blog. Rode it a few km back to the hotel, and it was fantastic. I love it, and will be getting one in the future. Met up with and had lunch with my New Zealand based cousins. I'd not seen one of them since I was a child, and had never met either of her daughters nor her grandchildren. Finished the day with a great meal in the Sky Tower in Auckland: Nearly 200m high with great views ... and I actually managed to stand on the glass flooring. Tour starts tomorrow.  Yes, those are my feet.

I will try to inform you of the state of my bottom, just in case any of my readers are interested. The rating will be from 0 to 10 where: 10 feels like it has been pampered and caressed with delicate hands. 0 feels like I've been rodgered all day by a herd of elephants on heat.

Auckland to Coromandel (295km) Once out of Auckland, the roads were fairly quiet. After lunch, we went through some hilly forestry land with lots of tight twisty bends. The bike (all 300kg of it) coped well, and I love it. Went on a small train ride in a pottery and brickworks location which was very scenic. The evening meal was 'double portions' for all, with nobody managing to complete theirs. The food was fantastic, though, and I had the chicken and banana curry with coconut rice. After walking back to the hotel, we struggled to get in as it seemed to be all locked up. Fortunately, one of the Germans was very good at these sort of puzzles, and found the hidden bolt to open the gate in the (very) dark with a bit of brute force. Bum condition: 9.5

Coromandel to Waitomo (395km) A scenic run alongside the sea was quite stunning. Following this was an equally stunning ride through a gorge sided with forestry, and with plenty of nice turns. A German couple got a puncture, which kept the guide busy as we carried on our way (at his insistence, as the support van was not far away) We got to the hotel a bit late (6:15ish), but the support van with all our gear was not there yet. Really helpful Filipino lass on the reception desk took one look at me and told me that I would not fit into the bed in the room allocated to me. She was right. I was relocated to a bigger bed in another room.  Leather trousers can get a bit warm in this heat (25 degrees plus), so I was imprisoned in my room until my non-biking clothing arrived at 7:15, at which point a shower was well received. Evening meal was a (nearly solid, but lovely) bacon and mushroom soup, followed by NZ lamb. Hotel is said to be haunted, and I've been joking about ...

Waitomo to Whangamomona (273km) WTF???? Arrived in Whangamomona after riding some scary roads, only to find that the hotel is the only building in town to take money. It's like a wild west township with a hotel, which includes the saloon bar, a couple of houses and very little else. It really is quite a quaint little place. The day started with a very pleasant boat ride through the Waitomo Glowworm Caves. A very interesting experience, but really nice. The ride today took us through another narrow gorge with palm trees and fir trees on the sides, which gave way to a rather spectacular river. Much of the scenery here is made up of loads of small hillocks, forming what can only be described as mini mountain ranges. Then we reached three saddles in very close proximity. Now, in the UK, a saddle helps protect your bum when riding a horse. Not here! Here, a saddle is a series ... a LARGE series of tight bends going up/down a small mountain. I don't know what was on the sid...

 Whangamomona to Wanganui (305km) Whoa there!!! Part of the run this morning was over a 12km gravel road through a national park. However, the 300kg bike with standard road tyres coped admirably (probably due to the skill of the rider), and the only blip was where I lost the steering on a right hand bend. However, I managed to slow down enough before the bike left the road. It's amazing to ride these roads with their huge drops on the side and minimal (or no) fencing to prevent you from going over the edge. However, the thought of it costing me 2,000 quid insurance excess if I was to trash the bike and survive is a bit of a deterrent. Road works were quite abundant today. Over here, they pour tar on the road from one vehicle, then drop the chippings from another. Rollers do not seem to exist over here to complete the job. This results in slipping, sliding and peppering the rider behind you with the said chippings. Our mountain road ride was much more enjoyable, though. Up t...