RIDING THE LONG WHITE CLOUD
For the past 30 days I’ve intrepidly toured solo through the North Island of New Zealand, and already covered 3600km across eclectic riding countryside with its extreme weather from sweltering heat to freezing dangerous cyclones sweeping across the country. Now I’m crossing over to the South Island for four more weeks of riding adventures on my Triumph 900cc Bonneville.
DAY 31 – FERRY FROM WELLINGTON TO PICTON – A 30KM RIDE TO RAPAURA
The ferry, packed with a couple of hundred bikers all heading for the famous Burt Munro Challenge in Invercargill, arrived at Picton in the late afternoon. We all rode off heading for the furthest southern tip of the island where the races would take place. But feeling mightily thirsty, I rode along the Classic New Zealand Wine Trail on Route 1 into nearby Marlborough wine country for a vineyard stop-over.
DAY 32 – BLENHEIM TO WAIPARA; 264KM
The South Island has a calmer and slower pace with just a fraction of the population living there. Riding through the vineyards at dawn with the red skies was a pure delight. Again I was following the Pacific coast on Highway 1. The weather had cleared but the wind was still treacherous. The massive, fast trucks racing past me didn’t help! Just an hour north of Christchurch I decide to stop
