New Zealand North Island

It's getting late in the summer and my plan is to ride around the north island quickly.  I've been here before (not on a motorcycle) and I know I want to spend more time on the South Island.  But after paying heaps of money to ship the bike here, I'm going to ride the whole country if I can!

After leaving Hotwater Beach on the Coromandel, today's goal is to ride to the very top of the north island with Russell being a recommended stop for the night.

I found a super cheap place to stay, and set off to have a proper meal.  We had fish, chips and beer two nights in a row and now I have a craving for something green!

I sat outside alone and watched the sunset with a New Zealand red wine.  (Okay I chose purple instead.. ;-)

And boy, was it ever a sunset!!!

The next morning was lovely, it's going to be a nice day!  I had a bit of trouble starting the bike. I think the biggest downfall with my bike on this journey was buying that fuel with water in it in Argentina.  Ever since then, I can't (well the mechanics can't) seem to get it right.  Now I think it's a matter of too many mechanics hands in the bike and I feel that in itself is causing these latest issues.  I feel uneasy on a bike that I don't trust anymore.  Always nervous to turn it off even just to get some fuel.  I'd eventually get it started, but I'm having to roll it to the side and wait then try again and again.  I called the mechanics in Auckland and told them I'm coming back.. ugh ;-(

I've checked battery connections, the spark plug is fairly new, not sure what the problem is, however it's Friday.  I won't get to Auckland in time for them to do anything, so I'll just travel carefully and slowly and pray that I get it started for the rest of the weekend!

I rode to the famous 90 Mile Beach.  This is one thing I missed on my last trip to New Zealand.  You are allowed to ride out there, but I'm not so keen taking a bike that is suffering and spinning it through the sand with my gear alone.  So I don't go too far.

I'm still wishing I could ride on the beach a bit more so I pull into Ahipara at the southern end of the beach.  The sand looked a bit more solid than my last try, but no.  I rode out into the sand and stopped for a photo.  And wouldn't you know the bike fell over anyway!!  I was prepared, I had the sidestand on the plastic square, made sure the angle was good to the left, it wasn't sinking on that side. But then it fell over the opposite way to the right!  Bugger! I still don't know how I managed that!

I ripped my bag off and picked up the bike quickly by myself, no problem.

Then I noticed two ladies walking toward me. They came over to give me a hand if I needed which was nice, but I didn't need help.  One of the ladies rides a motorcycle as well and she really wanted me to come back to her house for a cup of tea.  Sure!  Before we left she took a photo for me.. thanks!

Nice cup of tea and Jude shared lots of photos to her friend and me of her motorcycle ride around the south island with her partner a few weeks ago.

I continued riding the west coast.. such pretty slow curves, easy riding.

Eventually arriving another ferry.  Noooobody is here but me.. Is the ferry not running today?

Finally a van with 2 retired American couples who are exploring the country for a month pulled up and we had a nice chat to pass the time.

Not much farther and I stopped into Opononi. I just liked the name and decided to stay.. I've got two days until I can see the mechanics in Auckland and I really like it here!

Across the bay are these super size sand dunes!  I would normally say the biggest sand dunes I've ever seen, but that award still belongs to Iquique Chile for me.  However these are impressive.

Luckily the summer season is over and I found a super place to stay that didn't have a soul there except the owner..  Nice little cheap room and amazing views.  The owner was super nice, gave me some great ideas on how to explore those big sand dunes tomorrow.  Looks like I'm stayin'!

She told me about a Maori man who gives tours by quad bike.  That actually sounds right up my alley.  I can't take my own bike even if it was working well.  So I give my Tony a rest.  This area is called Hokianga and I need to take a quick water taxi to the other side early in the morning to meet him.

This is Andrew!  His family has lived on this land for generations.  The government no longer wants to spend the funds on this area, he tells me.  So they are handing the land back to the original owners (Andrew and his family) next year for them to manage as they see fit.

I can tell by meeting Andrew and hearing his passion for this land and the history on it that the change over will be a positive one.

He explains, Hokianga is short for Hokianga-Nui-A-Kupe, which means 'the place of Kupe's great return'. Many iwi (Maori tribes) trace their ancestry back to the legendary Polynesian explorer Kupe who, with his crew, voyaged deep into the southern ocean to find New Zealand. They believe that Kupe made his first landfall on the shores of the Hokianga Harbour. He later named New Zealand "Aotearoa" – Land of the Long White Cloud.

Andrew first wants to show me the totem pole, called Niniwa. So we start off by taking a ride to nearly the top.  Parked the quad for a long steep sandy hike to the very top, where sits this large totem pole.  In my ignorance, I think of totem poles to be mainly of native north Americans.  Andrew kept me busy with many stories and legends of his people.  This totem pole is of a female elder who looks over the Hokianga Harbour for protection. Not from the Europeans, but from other Maori tribes.

There was a lot of rivalry and fighting amongst local Maori tribes and even though we hear more about the challenges of the European invasion, the Maori's have quite a history of warring with each other!

 

I spent a good couple of hours riding around with Andrew.. Those sand dunes are so much fun on a four wheeler!  He didn't have anyone else booked for the day and I was happy for him to tell me stories as long as he wanted to.  It was a really special day.

What a great place in the world to be.... Andrew was the best. His knowledge of the land and history never stops. I highly recommend you look him up if you ride through Hokianga.

He dropped me back to where the water taxi point is and where the weekenders are having fun surfing the sand dunes.

Once I'm back to Opononi I think I could use a sandwich!  I walked up to the local, I hear the country music going, and I'm wondering... why are they playing that country music here in New Zealand?  For line dancing, of course!  It seems so American!  Who'da thought! 

I got my sandwich, watched a little boot scootin' boogie and wandered down the road a couple kilometers to my little room by the sea.

A super peaceful end to a beautiful day.

Monday morning, the nice lovely north island thoughts go away and I need to get serious again.  Let's hope the bike starts!  I went outside without my bag, I didn't want to expect too much.  It took about 4 tries to get it going, and I just left it running in idle while I finished packing my bag.

On the bike I ride through the famous Kaori Forest.. really famous!  I'm not willing to stop the bike though! Here's the main attractions I will be passing by taken from this New Zealand website  http://www.newzealand.com/int/waipoua-forest/

"This forest is the home of Tane Mahuta, the country's largest kauri tree, which is approximately 2,000 years old and still growing. Nearly 18 metres to the first branch and 4.4 metres in diameter, Tane Mahuta is rightly called 'The Lord of the Forest'. Another significant tree in Waipoua Forest is Te Matua Ngahere – 'Father of the Forest' – which is estimated to be between 2,500 and 3,000 years old."

Whew!  Yep you guys are gooooood looking!  But I must get to Auckland.  Which I did. My only troubles were when I stopped for fuel, because I didn't stop for anything else! I dropped the bike at the KTM shop and let the guys work on it for another 1 1/2 days.  In the meantime I went back to stay at lovely Dick and Diana's house and they're not even there!  Mark is though! The Hubbards have gone off to Tasmania to ride a motorcycle on a special tour, so they've left the keys to both Mark and I.  Mark is still here working on his shipping so I get to see him again! Cheers!

Gee whiz, we live the rough life in New Zealand, hey?  You can mark us both down as  S P O I L E D !!!

The KTM mechanics were so nice to fix the bike and didn't even have me come out to the shop.  They delivered poor Tony to my door!  I don't know what they did, but it starts like it's brand new again.  Seriously, there is no guessing or worrying even now to this day several weeks later.  It starts on a tick! Thanks to James and Graham at Cyclespot KTM!!

Now, Mark makes it clear that he is here first so his bike gets the parking space and I can find room if I can.. okay I think I can manage that, ha!

No worries Mate.. I'm leaving in the morning!  Lets hope that is the final moto worry solved and we can enjoy the rest of this beautiful country!

Welcome to New Zealand!

After 40+ hours flying from Indiana to Auckland, New Zealand via Washington DC, San Francisco and Sydney, Australia, I finally got a few hours sleep at a late night airport hotel (yuk).  First thing in the morning the lovely girl from TNL Shipping, Deanne, picked me and my luggage up from the hotel on her way to work to take me to my bike.. so nice!  They had everything organized, I only had to sign a paper, pay the bill and leave.

Unfortunately the bike was still not functioning from the breakdown in Uruguay, but not a worry.  I had organized well in advance to have the Auckland KTM dealership pick me and the bike up in a truck and to the mechanic to see if he can perform a miracle.  I've come to this country only hoping!!  Fingers crossed I didn't waste heaps of money in shipping!

While I was waiting in the office, Dick Hubbard called me.. What?  Who knows me here??!! I had just missed meeting Dick and his wife Diana in Ushuaia as they were riding the tough roads on their epic Alaska to Ushuaia journey.  They'd met up with Mark Donham along the road in Chile, whom you've seen a few times in this blog. He introduced me to his Kiwi friends online.  Even though I had not met the Hubbards in person, there they were on the phone saying, "Sherri Jo, welcome to New Zealand.  Now we're coming to pick you up to spend Easter weekend with us.."  Okay!!

I left my KTM behind at the shop and then we went to the BMW shop to see the Hubbards bike which had also just arrived from Buenos Aires.  Dick is proudly showing me his stickers from the Americas.. and we start comparing notes!

They live in the most beautiful modern home with superb views of Auckland and I can't feel more lucky.  Dick and Diana are so incredibly kind and generous and treated me like family the moment I arrived.  And thanks goes to Mark for introducing us.  In this photo Dick wanted me to sit in the same chair with the same pose as he took of Mark a few weeks ago.  He even made sure we had the beer bottles lined up exactly right!

I can not tell you how wonderful it feels to be in such a civilized clean modern country!  I do not discredit my amazing experiences over the last 16 months from Mexico down to Argentina.  They have their own character which I love, but New Zealand is feeling very good at the moment!

Dick takes me on one of his daily super power walks.  I'm always up for a great morning walk!

Then he drove me down to Piha.. a very popular beach for the locals.. We stopped for a cup of tea.. because we can!

Another day he gave me a tour of One Tree Hill, which is actually at the top of one of the 46 volcanoes in the Auckland area. One Tree Hill is also the site of a long gone Maori fortification.  The one tree that used to be on the summit was cut down by a Maori man to bring attention to the injustices he believed had been inflicted upon the Maori people by the New Zealand government..  It has now been replaced with a concrete monument.

Bronze statue of a Maori warrior at the site of their ancient fortification on One Tree Hill.

Easter time!  When I had booked my flights last January to arrive New Zealand, I had not even considered the holiday calendar.  It was really bad timing for me to arrive now, but the Hubbards have made this an Easter to remember.  Being that they've created and own Hubbards Cereals and Muesli's - the top brand for all of New Zealand, a morning doesn't go by without my favorite brekkie.  They've just released 6 new flavors in the supermarkets and I will have to experiment with all of them, just to give proper first-hand feedback, right?  I think the only thing they heard come out of my mouth was, "Oh man I love that one!  Oh man, that one's good too!" Really fun flavors, soooo yum!

Easter breakfast!

They also have a chocolate Easter Bunny on a motorcycle.. how perfect is that?? Love it!!!!!

Easter services at church.

After lunch we went out for a wander around the neighborhood with Diana.  She is so friendly and outgoing.. she walks right up to this guy who is cooking a meal for his family in the park.  She found out his name, where he's from and how long he's been living in New Zealand.  Then she thought, "hey, there is a fantastic cooktop we can use!'  When we returned home Diana says to Dick, "You know there is a free cooker in the park, we can walk down there anytime and make a meal!"  Dick says, "Or we can cook here... in our house!"  Right there, clearly the difference between Man and Woman.. ha!

The lovely churchyard we strolled through is full of settlers history.

This beautiful sunset view to Auckland CBD photo I took from their house and marks a perfect ending.  Tomorrow morning is an early rise to ride the bike out the Coromandel and join Mark on the road for a couple of days before continuing on my own journey around the country.

Good morning sunshine! Luckily the bike has been fixed up.. all related to that fuel system problems from Argentina.

I savor my tea in this beautiful place quietly in my Rukka gear.. before anyone else gets up.

I have to include this photo I took from inside.  It's so funny. Dick was the Mayor of Auckland for 3 years (2004-2007) and this is a political cartoon from that time.. his opponent was John Banks.

 
Farewell photo.. I always hate to say goodbye to people I really enjoy.  I never seem to get used to it. Thanks again for EVERYTHING!!!

You wouldn't believe.  I walked down to my motorcycle in the garage and there is a pool of fuel below it.. Now what??!!  I have a guess, but I called the same mechanics and they came to get the bike in a truck straight away.

I've had this problem before, so I think I know what it is, but I let them tell me.  When they put the fuel injector back on, the 0-ring is delicate and it either ripped or broke.  All it takes is to put a new O-ring back in and I was good to go.. whew!

Now I need to go meet Mark Donham. Mark and I both have local sim cards from New Zealand so we are able to keep in contact as I ride out to Coromandel.  I let him choose where we meet up and where we'll be staying tonight and he gave perfect riding instructions.

When I pulled in to the site.. I didn't even get my helmet off yet before he hands me a beer! The last time I saw Mark was in Ushuaia Argentina for Christmas and New Years..

We will be staying here at Hot Water Beach, where he's been advised the beach experience is worth checking out.  There is an underground hot water river that flows through here to the ocean.  At low tide, you can dig out the sand and the water will fill like your own personal natural hot tub.  You couldn't dig too deep though as the water is unbearably hot!  The trick was to get the right mix of some ocean cold water flowing in to your hot hot-tub.

Then we went for a ride to the north of Coromandel, a peninsula on the east coast.  Lots of curvy roads.  The guys at the motorcycle shop in Auckland all tell me that these are the roads they prefer to ride on the weekends.

It wasn't the most ideal day weather-wise for touring the Coromandel.

We did stop at a cafe, which was well worth the desert I shouldn't be eating in the middle of the day!

We decided to keep the same camp site and just leave the gear behind near the base of the peninsula. The following morning is another opportunity to walk on Hot Water Beach at sunrise.  Just gorgeous!

Time to pack up the bikes!

As we were leaving the little cabin, I did a double take on the beer bottles we've left behind. They were perfect for washing down the local fish and chips.. It's been 3 years since I've had fish and chips!! I can't take half credit though.. Mark had a bit of a collection going before I arrived.. right?? ;-)

That's the end of our little reunion.  Mark wants to go back to Auckland for several days to prepare his bike for shipping.  Then he's flying home again to the United States for a while before returning to travel on his bike in Australia.  He just had a home visit before coming to New Zealand as well!  I've been to USA to visit my family, but my home is in Australia, and I've not been home since I rode my bike out of the garage on June 1, 2010.  It's a different way of thinking, but I have done that on purpose.  When I set off to achieve this goal, it will feel that much bigger when I ride my motorcycle in to my driveway not having seen it since I left, goal complete (hopefully!).

I wizzed past Mark, waved goodbye.. and I'm headed to the north of the north island!