Sweet As, Bro!!... NZ South Island 2016

Back to the Redwood Pass Road, bouncing around a series of smalls hills and valleys towards Blenheim while avoiding the main highway.












Not quite Altimarloch, but not shabby at all for being barely 2km from the beaches.





Someone trying to start a local version of the famous Cardrona bra-fence....or just the leftovers of a wild night at the dizzying heights of Redwood Pass?
Willo...where are you when you're needed?!






The little Spring Creek Motel to the north was booked chockers, so it's the Blenheim Top10 C/P for the night, where the caretaker's little 125 Honda is
sprouting some interesting bits of chain-care and aftermarket parts.











It all comes together after a short stroll, following the advice of another local ADVer....









The Dodson Street Beer Garden, an address that should be WELL NOTICED by anyone coming to Blenheim.
There aren't just 25 beers on tap, an in-house brewery...







...and various other attractions like home-made Schnapps....
but the Pizzas are simply outta this world!!


Dave, one of Doug's local mates from Nelson, joins for the festivities and the night in Blenheim... it's laughs and happy faces all round
Day #2 IN DA BAG!!

Pizzas look diabolical but knife and fork? Really?

Great photos. Choice views. Jealous as.

John & Johnny said:

Pizzas look diabolical but knife and fork? Really?

Click to expand...

No choice!
With all that stuff piled on top it's either "eat it or wear it".
And those pants and T-shirts had to last another 12 days yet...

nev said:

Great photos. Choice views. Jealous as.

Click to expand...

Stuff you know coming soon, the Rainbow's next.
Overall it was a lot drier, more rutted/ rough/ rocky than '12+'13, water-levels down in most water crossings etc.
At the same time it was surprising how much the pedal-powered tourism has grown, with designated tracks and resulting infrastructure
all over the south, Canterbury, Otago and Southland in particular.

With the mood in overdrive after the last couple of days, neither the so-so weather forecast nor the grey overcast skies could dampen the buzz. Nelson-Dave left early for the 2hr. drive back home as Eivind scraped out more clogged dust out of the radiator of the XT...







A re-visit of the Cafe Le Cupp for brecky topped up the cholesterol- levels appropiately...






...for the planned ascent to Mt. Patriarch, which Yours-Truly farked up gloriously by getting stuck into the cold morning twisties, following the tar away from the Wairau River and the Northbank Rd., leading through some roadworks and the settlement of Onamalutu instead.
Checking with the local road-workers, the goof-up turned out a piece of luck though, as they'd closed off the access road to Mt. Patriarch the day before
for a few days of Extreme Fire Danger....saving us around 50k's and an hour travel time.

Backtracking for a fuel top-up in Renwick, good old Killswitch pulled an extra-performance...and got stuck in the servo's gravel-pit.







HELLO!!!???/ Whadda we've got here??











Now on the highway, following the Waiau River west/ inland also sent us straight into the eye of a broiling, black and menacing weather front.
Not long and the light drizzle turned into heavier showers, then solid rain and heavy gusts at the Kowhai Bridge...with things looking like a proper shitstorm ready to hit any second just west of the Rainbow Road turnoff.

Tempted to call a hasty retreat back to Blenheim, the first ~15km of whoopsies and creek crossings of the Rainbow road had me wondering if this was a good move....the prospect of a remote 120km Rainbow Rd. in heavy rain and without views just don't gel.





Not a single mutter of protest from any of the crew...let's keep going a little further.



















Is this...? Really??? Oh man, PLEASE make this stick!! :bow:

Rain -> drizzle -> spittle -> DRY!

As the juice still squelches in the boots, it's dry from above!!
Hanmer, here we come.










The couple in the 4WD coming the other way is happy to see the gate open as we're about to slip through at the farm-house, where the same lady still collects the road-toll:

"Hanmer is burning!"
Farkin WOT??
"Power's been out since 4.20 this morning, the town's dead!"
HEHH? :???:
"Folks left the place in droves until they closed the road at the bridge across the gorge, we were lucky to be able to get out via the north, with the 4WD and all that..."


A few minutes later we've got the whole story and it might just play into our hands, not having a booking for the intended stay in Hanmer.
Let's see how this pans out...

Staying dry, the clouds crack for the first blue and clear bits.
This is turning into one superb spectacle with Mother Nature playing the curtains.bb
























Some just can't help themselves, jumping outta their pants with joy!!
And just in case someone's wondering....yer right, he's holding a bag-'o-nuts in his left hand

Things are clearing up more and more the further south we drift...















Near Lake Tennyson, after discovering the Sedgemere Rd. to be locked for the rest of the season...











The wet morning long behind us, we flick past Jack's Pass and go for the Jollie's Pass instead for the drop into Hanmer.
















With all the horror news about Hanmer, we find the place alive and kicking, although fairly deserted after all the obvious press-hype it got as a result of a fairly minor fire in a pine plantation above the access road.

Which gets us some premium units right opposite the spa-pools in the center of town at an absolute bargain-basement price!






Not bad, aye?

Josh from RemoteMoto
http://www.remotemoto.com/
seems to like this yarn enough to stick it onto the frontpage of the RemoteMoto site, thanks mate.




Needless to say that without RemoteMoto this trip just wouldn't have come together (nor the 2012 + 2013 rides) , Josh's site is one hell of a piece of work and absolutely essential for anyone planning a NZ ride.

Go and have a look, folks...you WILL regret it
The place won't let you go....

Nawwww, Dave....can't see a swap for the 1150GS coming.







Same here....too easy to push for the practiced Tiger-owner, not enough power to jump off a cliff for Faz.







Once more it's steak-night at the Monteith Ale-House in town (we always seem to get THAT right!).

The Grande Finale...







.... of a day that started with a bit of choke, a kick up the exhaust can and a good swearing...before running smooth.


Making it 3 outta 3.


Sweet As... indeed!!

With the fires well under control and the road south open again, the freezing cold numbs fingers and toes. Which makes the top-up fuel stop come brecky-spot at Amberley, a welcome sight.
There's also BigKev (Kev777) and his GSA12 waiting, a cockpit-mate of Eivind's and a local, who's agreed to smooth out the navigation for the planned Okuku Pass/ Lees Valley loop.

Thanks for helping out there, friend
The way I like my dogs






An hour or so of backroad-cruising later, just north of Loburn.
The endless plantation tracks and roads make things somewhat confusing.



















Those 6'5" make the 1200 Bimmer look like a 250...and hey, the sun's starting to burn away the morning fog
















A look over the shoulder....






Cruising through those short, steep-sided valleys and folds, big patches of "silvery" sheets seem to cover the flanks of the hills, somehow reflecting the sunlight.
Makes me curious enough to stop and scramble up the steep, crumbly embankment until I reach the edge of one of those silver-carpets.
There's billions and billions of tiny dew-drops hanging off the wispy grass, covering the hills.

How neat is this?