North to South

Friday morning arrived in Napier with mizzle and drizzle, but that did not diminish the lovely breakfast served to us at our B&B, the Manor on Parade. Two of the rooms were occupied by bikers, so the conversation flowed. Before leaving town, we spent some time at the local museum to educate ourselves about the 1931 earthquake.

The 144 km ride to Dannevirke was a damp one, but not long. We soon found the home of Tony Barnett’s (Heather’s husband) parents, Robin and Richard. We’d met them at the 2003 wedding in New York and were greeted warmly as we rode up on our bikes.

The Barnetts were wonderful hosts; the tasty Friday night dinner featured lamb from the farm. Saturday morning we got a short tour of the sheep/cattle farm; Richard trusted me to drive his little two seater four-wheel drive truck while he rode in back and jumped on and off to open and close the gates as we went from one paddock to another.

As we were leaving we discovered that Zele had a flat rear tire due to a horse shoe nail. A call to one of the local bike dealers set things in motion and soon the bike was on its way to the shop in the back of a small pickup. Zele was kind to us by having her flat tire in the Barnett’s garage only delaying us for about an hour.

Next stop: the Duncan House in Foxton, the home of Angela and Dave Pilgrim. Dave and I graduated from Albert Lea High School together in 1964 and share the same birth date! RA and I had a good time visiting with Angela and Dave last fall at my 45th high school class reunion in Albert Lea and warned them of our planned visit. Dave has lived in New Zealand since 1979 and has some great stories to tell about his time Down Under. He has been instrumental in getting an authentic, operating Dutch windmill up and running in Foxton; we got the full miller’s tour before riding to Wellington to board the Interislander ferry to the South Island. If you come back in April, you will be able to ride the blades of the windmill!

Windy Welly was exactly that with a cold mist in the air. The Aratere was a little late in departing and the Cook Strait was not the glassy smooth sea that RA had ordered. The evening ride from Picton to Nelson was a pleasant one with plenty of daylight to spare (sunset at 2108). The Cedar Grove Motor Lodge offered comfy digs and the Vic Brewery Bar served up tasty fish ‘n chips which we enjoyed alfresco.

On Monday the 18th, Zele got a new front tire which had been sent to one of the Nelson bike shops by Te Waipounamu (they didn’t have one in Auckland and did not want us to do the whole trip on the current tire even though a fair bit of tread remained); we appreciated their concern for safety.

The ride to Westport through the Buller Gorge is rated four smiles (out of five) by Peter Mitchell in the New Zealand Motorcycle Atlas which is the motorcyclists bible for riding in NZ. It was the best ride to date in NZ; the warm sunny weather had something to do with it as well.

The Bay House Café in Tauranga Bay on Cape Foulwind served delicious fare with a view to die for. Thanks, Paul--it was well worth the short ride. After dinner we took a short walk out to see the fur seal colony--many pups still with their mothers.

The run from Westport to Franz Josef Glacier took most of the day with stops for a couple of nature walks and aviation related historic sites. The Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki showed off the geological stylobedding giving the rocks the appearance of stacked limestone pancakes.

Some of the snow-covered peaks above the village were peeking through the clouds as we ate dinner and explored one of the tourist meccas of New Zealand.

Today, the 20th, was a lay low/catch-up day as we awoke to a steady rain. The rain stopped after lunch so we geared up and rode 5 km to the beginning of the walk to the Franz Josef Glacier terminal. It was an easy walk through the moraines accompanied by on and off rain showers. I had entertained the idea of a helicopter flight to and landing on the glacier, but the weather grounded the aircraft today.