Travel to New Zealand - Part 1

#voyage #Jerouleamoto

Stage 1 - Paris & Christchurch

After 2 weeks of madness, we're off to Auckland for a 3-week motorcycle road trip on 2 wheels. It's the destination we've chosen for our honeymoon.

Preparations began with plane tickets and the bike. First of all, New Zealand is 2 islands 8,500 kilometers apart. It's the other end of the world. There's a 12-hour time difference with France. So we decided to leave in February. It's summer in the land of Bilboo the Hobbit.

As for the motorcycle, we hesitated between renting one or sending one ourselves. Given the length of our stay, renting turned out to be more economical and practical. We chose a Suzuki V Storm 1000 for comfort and budget. The bike is equipped with a Givi top case and Givi V35 panniers. We bought the bike from Aucklandmotorbikehire.com. So far, Randal Brown, the manager, is taking good care of us. He's given us route suggestions and even found me a tank bag. Randal is professional and friendly. He maintains his machines himself, which are serviced before each rental. My V Storm is equipped with
heated grips, a cigar lighter socket, a Scoot Oiler for the chain (0 maintenance) and a puncture-proof kit: she's ready to travel!

To transport our belongings from France, we used Givi T468 inner bags for the Top Case and Spécial V35 for the panniers. This way, we weren't tempted to take too many clothes for the load capacity of our machine. I'll let you know if it worked.

In terms of equipment, I set off with the Bering Expedition jacket I've had for several years (since replaced by the Odysée model) and Bering Slammer Gore-Tex pants. Isabelle replaced her entire outfit: Bering lady Margot jacket, Esquad Thelma jeans and Ixs Nira mid-season Gore-Tex gloves. On the plane, we realized that we'd forgotten our rain pants :-) We'll see when we get there.

To communicate on the bike, we took the Cardo Scala rider Q2 multi set pro intercom. We'll let you know what we think during the trip. Our riad trip in NZ will be 4000 km long.

The plane trip was extremely long. It took us 2 days with a stopover in Hong Kong. 24h30 of actual flying time! It puts you on your kneecaps.

Sunset over Hong Kong airport

We picked up the bike this evening in Christchurch. It's relatively clean and has 25,000 km on it. I'm going to have to get used to the weight with the suitcases and to driving on the left. I've also noticed that it's sensitive to wind.

The V Storm 1000 in Christchurch

To stretch our legs, we went into town for dinner, but unfortunately the historic heart of the city was badly damaged in the February 2011 earthquake.

Christchurch Cathedral

Old pub destroyed

New Regent Street

Next stop: Arthur's Pass and its mountains :-)

Stage 2 - Arthur Pass / Pancake Rocks / Okarito

From Christchurch, we headed straight for Arthurs Pass to reach the West Coast. This gave me the opportunity to familiarize myself with the V Storm on mountain switchbacks. Aside from the weight of the panniers / Top Case, the big Suzuki can be ridden with precision. The dynamic engine is really nice.

The scenery up to Arthurs Pass resembles the lower Alps. It's very wooded and rocky. We took a break at New Zealand's Fontainebleau: Kura Tahiti (Castle Hill). The site is covered with strangely shaped rocks created by erosion. The most common species is southern beech. We move slowly from plains with yellow grass to mountains. Some of these landscapes were used in the Lord of the Rings films.

Castle Hill

Landscape on the way up to Arthur Pass

Arthurs Pass is a small mountain village with a café, grocery store and self-service... And it closes at :-) 5 in the afternoon. We had a nice hike around Arthurs Pass.

Green landscape of Arthurs Pass

Waterfall during the hike

Southern beech trees

The next day, we set off for the Pancake Rocks. En route, we stopped for breakfast in the mining town of Greymouth.

The miners of Greymouth

DP1 Café for great breakfasts

The Pancake Rocks are a natural site on the Tasman Sea. They are limestone deposits that have agglomerated over time to form amazing shapes.

Pancake Rocks

We then headed off to Okarito for a night hike to see New Zealand's most famous and rare animal: the Kiwi. 95℅ of New Zealanders have never seen a Kiwi. The species is endangered. You have to imagine that we spent 4 hours in the dark just to observe it for 5 minutes. The secret of Kiwi observation is patience :-) Of course, I fell asleep standing up and ended up on my ass!

Next stage: Franz Joseph / Wanaka / Queenstone / Te Anau

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