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!

On the road to Iguazu Falls - Brazil!

After getting the big bike breakdown fixed up in Itajuba Brazil, we ride through the back roads heading south because I'd like to meet Evandro Dalben.  He along with Roney Podda in Sao Paolo, were always helping me by phone or computer when I needed Portuguese Translation.  A lot!  It was such a massive project trying to organize a KTM fix up in a country that doesn't deal with KTM - both mechanic and parts!  So when I wanted to make darn sure I was understood (and we knew that google translator only sort of does the job), I talk to them.  Evandro invited us to stay at his place and it was an easy stop along our route south in Campinas.

When we met him, he told us about his business and passion for motorcycle adventures.. www.pisteiros.com.br  (If you are traveling to Brazil, you can rent motorcycles as well as plan your whole adventure through Evandro and his website) Plus he gave me a really cool new shirt!  Really cool, and I mean cool like in keeping me cool!  It is so hot and this is one of those mesh shirts... Thanks Evandro!

We stayed the night at his house and then he rode us out for a few km's in the morning.  We are headed to Florianopolis on the south coast.

Ciao Evandro!

Riding into Florianopolis..

To be quite honest, Florianopolis was just a touristy coastal town.  It didn't do much for me or James. It was nice, but we didn't see the point to stay two nights.  I've got my bike photo on the beach.. we're done! ;-)

Down the road a bit, we head inland.  As we passed this sign, I had a bit of a chuckle.. but it was worthwhile to James that we turn around to get a photo.. ha!

We'd learned early on about riding a really pretty section of road, called the "Serra do Rio do Rasto".. or SC-438.  So we didn't waste our travel to Florianopolis as this road was a treat in itself!  And we can ride straight on from there to the Foz do Iguazu (Iguazu Falls).

How pretty is this!!??

At the top of this road is a look out.. with some very furry friends!

Don't feed the wild animals.. the sign says so little one, can't you read??? ;-)  He's pretending he can't by squinting his eyes..

 NO!  You're cute, but don't you need to go eat some ants, or something...

After leaving the look-out point, the road got a bit misty.. another beautiful day in Brazil!

Then it turned to full on rain, we stopped for the night in a little no-name town and their only little hotel.  This one is worth mentioning, because the old lady who ran it was such a sweetheart. James and I are terrors to the internet and whenever we stay in a place with wi-fi we quite often can't log on. I'm still not sure why it is a constant problem in this country, but we tend to get around it.  We go immediately to the ceilings or walls, following the wires to the router and go about resetting it.  For me, I pull out ALL the wires, to guarantee a reset.  And it almost always works!  Not this time.  Never mind, we can do without internet.  But the lady wouldn't let up, so she called over her grandaughter, who tried, and then the older grandson came along and finally fixed it. I kept telling her don't worry (nao se preocupe) we don't need it! She wouldn't sleep until the foreigners had their internet. 

After the rain last night, it's a bright and early morning!

Also worth mentioning is a Brazilian breakfast.. No eggs, just cake!  Lots and lots of cake.. with icing!  That's the plus side.  The negative side, is neither of those jugs have tea.. Only coffee in one and hot milk in the other.. This is not a tea drinking country...!

A quick photo of her after pulling out of the garage.. It was more like we just stayed in Grandmas house!  I really liked her..

The ride started off clear, but it's getting cloudy all ready.  Understandable for how hot and humid it is.

We pulled in for fuel and I found a familiar friend!!

Hey.. what are you doing here??  No.. what are YOU doing here?? 

Now these guys in the red chairs are at the gas station too.  Shall we mention that huge tube of beer on the table... AT the gas station??!! Anyone here consider the drinking and driving concept?

Now, hopefully those guys stay put and well off my road..on to Iguazu Falls!  I've been looking forward to this for a VERY long time!

We arrived Iguazu town just as it started raining for the afternoon and found a good campground.  It was raining hard enough, with few visitors so the lady let us set up our tents under an outdoor seating area that had a roof.. it was great!  James went to the grocery straight away.  As I was setting up my tent, this massive storm hit so fast and so hard I was scared enough to run into a little brick building and crouch down.  Then it was over, just like that!  It must have been a small tornado.. When I came out, all the electricity in the area was out and a super large tree went down and hit the house on the property next door...yep, I'd say mini tornado.  Hopefully James is safely inside the grocery and not riding!

The rain never stopped, so we went to the Falls the next day regardless. You gotta do what you gotta do!

Now these are... proper.... falls!!

Even on a rainy day, these falls are beyond spectacular.  The walkway is close enough that you'd get wet anyway, so what does it matter if it comes from the sky or the river?

We went back to the same campground that night, the rain finished thank goodness.

The next day, we planned to leave the country to Paraguay.  James visa expires one day earlier than mine, so we have to go.  Because it's such a sunny beautiful day, we wished we could see Iguazu Falls on a day like this.  The man at the Brazil border gave him a 10 day extension, no problem!

Check out the curl they put in the motorcycle lane. Easy on the little bikes, but a little harder for us!

This is what the border from Brazil to Paraguay looks like.. Can't wait until tomorrow!  Not.. ;-(

We went back to the falls.. bought another ticket and did it again!  Woo hoo!

And they do look different.. I'm glad we came back already!

 

This is a view to the people on the Argentinian side of the falls, and their flag.  They look really crowded at that view platform, but it would be fun to see the falls from above like that.  However, I think being close to where they crash down is an even better viewpoint.. Not sure, maybe we should go to Argentina to check them out from there first.  Well, first we have to go to Paraguay actually.. ha!

This being our second visit, we wandered on to the walking trails a bit.  Lots more falls to see, but what I really enjoyed more I didn't expect... butterflies!  Lazy ones too, they're hitching a ride on me!

In this photo I have 3 on my hand, at one point I had 5!

This one is my favorite.. it even has a red heart.. love it!!

Trying to not forget I'm here to see the falls.. I'm not sure now which I'm loving more!

Oh yeah, more falls.. we've not seen these ones yet.. ;-)

There's the odd lizards here and there..

Even found some PRE- butterflies..

Lord have Mercy.. check this one out on the bench at the bus stop!  I decided to name it Albert Einstein..

One last butterfly. I've not seen this one before, and it was hard to carch the photo with the wings open.. but just fascinating colors and design.

We really should go... one last look at Iguazu Falls.  This place has become one of my favorite highlights of my entire world tour..

Cheers!!