Motorcycle Touring

Day One a warm up!

This is a day made for warming up to driving on the “correct side of the road”.   We were greeted by Rene, our guide, at 9:00 AM and headed to the world headquarters for Te W our hosts and cycle providers.  It took about 1.5 hours to prepare the bikes, deal with liabilities and paperwork to get started on our orientation to riding in New Zealand.  Since all motorcycling is defensive we needed to learn the mindset of what the other guy is going to do.  We were then introduced to our guide for the day, Rex (wrecks), who would take us on a journey to remember.  Our destination was a beach community to the west of Christchurch.  The terrain started flat and farmed then rose to elevation on roads that were full of tight turns.  I would call this a technical ride that gave us a feel for many of the roads that would become part of our tour.  Rex was an able pilot maintaining a steady pace on the advanced side of riding skill.  In addition to guiding, managing a rental shop, working in a manufacturing facility as a maintenance engineer, he displayed skills of the most experienced rider without breaking the speed limit.   He is the youngest of our initial group at 62.  We arrived at Lyttelton on the inland port where we had coffee and chocolate.  We set out from there to follow the water and climb over a large hill where we stopped at a view point to take in the sights.  All along our route there are cyclists climbing the hills and while we stopped for a viewpoint an elderly man rode up on his electric moped.  His machine gave credit to the anti-gasoline movement as he used his electric machine to commute.  Visions of things to come!  Our next destination is the beach community of Akaroa where we had a light lunch.  Many young people mingling with waterfront shops and restaurants abound.  We took the fast way back to Christchurch as we had a dinner engagement with John the owner and Rene the guide.

 I took my usual 10 minute nap and we went off to dinner where the last two arrivals for our tour had checked in.  Thomas and Fredrick are German nationals, very nice and ready to explore New Zealand.  Fredrick is a retired HVAC engineer and he adds a common bond to Harvey our environmental engineer.  At dinner we discover a little more about each other and Rene is multilingual.  He switched from German to English as fast as I could think.  Quite a trick but common to educated Dutch.  At this point I would like to dispel the myth that New Zealand follows the tradition of bland food.  Our first night we were introduced to an East  Indian restaurant and the meal was casual and excellent.  Our introduction dinner at the hotel had a wonderful menu with presentation as good as any I have experienced. 

 Our next day route was explained in detail and we are to assemble with riding gear and luggage ready for the van at 9:00 AM sharp.  I will sign off for now with visions of the livestock on our ride, the beautiful landscape and flowers, and another great adventure in front of us.  Destination Twizel.

Day One a warm up!

This is a day made for warming up to driving on the “correct side of the road”.   We were greeted by Rene, our guide, at 9:00 AM and headed to the world headquarters for Te W our hosts and cycle providers.  It took about 1.5 hours to prepare the bikes, deal with liabilities and paperwork to get started on our orientation to riding in New Zealand.  Since all motorcycling is defensive we needed to learn the mindset of what the other guy is going to do.  We were then introduced to our guide for the day, Rex (wrecks), who would take us on a journey to remember.  Our destination was a beach community to the west of Christchurch.  The terrain started flat and farmed then rose to elevation on roads that were full of tight turns.  I would call this a technical ride that gave us a feel for many of the roads that would become part of our tour.  Rex was an able pilot maintaining a steady pace on the advanced side of riding skill.  In addition to guiding, managing a rental shop, working in a manufacturing facility as a maintenance engineer, he displayed skills of the most experienced rider without breaking the speed limit.   He is the youngest of our initial group at 62.  We arrived at Lyttelton on the inland port where we had coffee and chocolate.  We set out from there to follow the water and climb over a large hill where we stopped at a view point to take in the sights.  All along our route there are cyclists climbing the hills and while we stopped for a viewpoint an elderly man rode up on his electric moped.  His machine gave credit to the anti-gasoline movement as he used his electric machine to commute.  Visions of things to come!  Our next destination is the beach community of Akaroa where we had a light lunch.  Many young people mingling with waterfront shops and restaurants abound.  We took the fast way back to Christchurch as we had a dinner engagement with John the owner and Rene the guide.

 I took my usual 10 minute nap and we went off to dinner where the last two arrivals for our tour had checked in.  Thomas and Fredrick are German nationals, very nice and ready to explore New Zealand.  Fredrick is a retired HVAC engineer and he adds a common bond to Harvey our environmental engineer.  At dinner we discover a little more about each other and Rene is multilingual.  He switched from German to English as fast as I could think.  Quite a trick but common to educated Dutch.  At this point I would like to dispel the myth that New Zealand follows the tradition of bland food.  Our first night we were introduced to an East  Indian restaurant and the meal was casual and excellent.  Our introduction dinner at the hotel had a wonderful menu with presentation as good as any I have experienced. 

 Our next day route was explained in detail and we are to assemble with riding gear and luggage ready for the van at 9:00 AM sharp.  I will sign off for now with visions of the livestock on our ride, the beautiful landscape and flowers, and another great adventure in front of us.  Destination Twizel.