The Long-White-Cloud Spectacular__NZ South Island 2012

[nev]

The last hurrah.. the last gravel road for the trip.

Backyard tyre changers

How many motorcyclists does it take to change a tyre ?

And to add to Pete's comments about Hakan. What a top bloke, and a passionate rider. For many people who run hire joints, it can turn into a business.. but not this bloke. At our return, he was just as excited to hear about the passes we'd ridden and the adventures we'd had as we were to tell him.

Plenty of people would be scared to have their bikes go off the bitumen. He was the opposite. He reckoned the accident rate for his bike was lower than companies who only rented out road bikes. His logic was good. On the gravel you're being extra careful, and there was stuff all other traffic on those roads to get tangled with. I think the following conversation summed it up perfectly.

Pete : "... and yesterday we rode the Lees Valley road."
Hakan : "Isn't the Okuku River crossing great!! We're currently working on some way of floating the bikes across the deeper rivers"






Mentioning him is fine but google ranks on linkbacks http://www.biketoursnz.com/

 

[platypus121]

.
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Watching Pete coax that tyre off using a wooden fence and a few lengths of timber for levers was a real lesson in how to get the job
done with what's on hand. Perseverance, even though at one point it seemed to be a case of bowling it down to the closest workshop.
Thanks guys for getting the new one on. That one in the pic looks ok, but would have been pretty shagged by the time I got home.

Now that we are all at a safe distance ... whatever happened to the old hoop ???


Two weeks on the road with a bunch of Aussies might seem a bit of a harsh sentence, but I loved every minute of it: even house-training
Latte-Dave was starting to pay dividends by the last days!

Big thanks to all for the company, the laughs and the memories. Even bigger thanks to Pete for the outstanding job of organizing and keeping
a sometime disparate (in the nicest way) group moving along in harmony - that takes a special skill!
.

 

[glitch]

.
Thanks guys for getting the new one on. That one in the pic looks ok, but would have been pretty shagged by the time I got home.

Now that we are all at a safe distance ... whatever happened to the old hoop ???


Two weeks on the road with a bunch of Aussies might seem a bit of a harsh sentence, but I loved every minute of it: even house-training
Latte-Dave was starting to pay dividends by the last days!

Big thanks to all for the company, the laughs and the memories. Even bigger thanks to Pete for the outstanding job of organizing and keeping
a sometime disparate (in the nicest way) group moving along in harmony - that takes a special skill!
.

Maaan, getting that hoop off was a real bastard. But no way we'd quit halfway through, eh?

What happened to the old one? Perhaps Tassie-Dave took it home in place of another cold lamb shank to nibble on....perhaps Rob took it for practicing precision-bombing the next creek...perhaps Latte Dave threw into the suitcase with all the other stuff when packing up and didn't realize it


And mate...with all the shits and giggles along the way and everyone doing their bit, things were "easy as".... after all, you guys were kicking me along, always being the last one, farting around with the camera and all that.

 

[robbieb]

Seriously, though, glitch, you provided the foundation for the spring board that made the trip so good. Day one summed it up for me perfectly, on the Culverden Stock Route when your excitement bubbled over and you did a little dance before jumping back on the bike to eat up some more. I'm glad I could be a part of that, and even more glad that you could too this time. An absolute pleasure riding with everyone

 

[robbieb]

Maaan, getting that hoop off was a real bastard. But no way we'd quit halfway through, eh?

What happened to the old one? ....perhaps Rob took it for practicing precision-bombing the next creek...

Don't worry, mate, just re-reading the midgets ride reports and getting the tips of how to do it properly from yourself!!!

 

[Dusty]

Another truly SUPERB write-up and wonderful photos. Those unexpected treats day after day are addictive. Glad everyone made it through with minimal problems. So many large landscape shots did a great service to pass on the feeling. Bravo!! and thanks for all the time to put this together. Wonderful reading and scenery everyone!
Jim

 

[glitch]

As said before, mate....missed ya.

No.... really!!

 

[penguineer]

Whew! Finally managed to catch up with this amazing trip......every time I'd come back to the thread it would grow by another 5 pages of amazing piccies!

I love the South Island - been over there a few times in a hire car and even without leaving sealed roads the scenery is amazing but you guys have really cut loose!

Now I have to go back through it to see if there was anything I accidentally skipped over......

Thanks for the read!

Cheers!

 

[glitch]

I love the South Island - been over there a few times in a hire car and even without leaving sealed roads the scenery is amazing but you guys have really cut loose!

Now I have to go back through it to see if there was anything I accidentally skipped over...

Same here....LOVE the place.

Finally got around to actually read through the whole thing over 3 nights and also discovered a few posts from Nev, Robbie and Jo that I hadn't seen before.

Guess, it'll be the bike for you next time then?
The place is just....STUNNING!!
Particularly on a bike!

 

[Chally]

Jude and I have been away for a couple of weeks (caravaning) so I have finally just caught up with this. All I can say is absolutely incredible!!!

The photos and story telling were both excellent and I'm so glad you all had such a great time. Robbie, that second photo of the sunrise of the last day (I think it was) is just sensational!!!

Thanks for taking us along to such amazing places that I will never get to see - TOP SUFF!!!

Jeff