Well it’s been a long time in the formulating, and it’s finally here… The latest and absolute last post in this blog. Right now, Maggie’s sitting out in the carport at my dad’s in Nelson covered in a tarpaulin, and I’m sitting in Bangkok, on the way to somewhere, where I’m planning to rediscover that thing they call “real life”. Oh joy.

The last time I made an entry here, I was entering the final phase of the journey, to ride around New Zealand’s south island with Nadine.
We set out on 17th February, and headed to Abel Tasman National Park, where after tense negotiations at the tourist info centre, we secured at great expense a canoe for the following day to paddle round the coast. Sadly the negotiation was the closest we ever got to a canoe, since whilst a canoe could be arranged, finding us a space to pitch our 2 square metres of tent afterwards in one of New Zealand’s largest national parks was proving an impossible request. So, after seeing off Nadine’s camping virginity and 110 NZ$ better off, the following day we set out walking the coastal track instead. The walk was really special and very easy along the well trodden path, up as far as Appletree Bay where we found an almost entirely deserted white sand beach. After a few hours lazing on the beach the walk back was a little harder but enjoyable none the less. (Thank you Nadine for at least offering to carry the team rucksack 200m before the end!).

Due to a turn in the weather, we found ourselves back at dad’s for a day sheltering from heavy rain. Thankfully New Zealand’s weather forecasts only prove to be correct approximately 3.5% of the time, meaning the forecasted week-long heavy rain turned into clear skies and sunshine overnight. So we set out again, heading south along the east coast. The only issue we had was the intermittent gremlin in the electrics still causing the engine to cut out, normally appearing as we were overtaking, which was a concern…

Eventually we found ourselves in Christchurch, and staying with fellow kiwbiker.com forum member Helen. It never ceases to amaze me how kind complete strangers can be when you share a passion, such as motorcycling. Before Nadine arrived it was nice to be able to find an opportunity to give back after all the hospitality I’ve benefitted from. In heavy rain I’d ridden past a touring cyclist whilst riding back to dad’s house from Nelson. He looked in dire need of a cup of tea, so I suggested he pop in. In the end he was our guest until the following day. Surely it won’t be the last time I’ overcome with generosity.
Anyway, back to the story.
So there we were in Christchurch, with the fabled Banks Peninsula beckoning. Setting out entirely under-dressed, we took the longest possible route around it, and arrived freezing cold in Akaroa, where we enquired about swimming with dolphins. If we were quick we could go out immediately with the next boat, so donning our (not sufficiently) thick wetsuits, we headed out on the boat, and spent a very enjoyable but thoroughly freezing 25 minutes in the water with several different pods of Hector dolphins (the smallest in the world). Apparently we should have had 45 minutes with the dolphins, so they refunded $50 each! As we rediverted these unexpected funds into the local chip shop’s till, I contemplated how unlikely such a refund would have been at a similar operation in the UK, and also about how close to freezing to death I would have been had we got the full 45 minutes!
Back on the road we headed west towards Mount Cook in freezing rain, so we stopped early in the virtually deserted skiing village of Methven, and found a wonderful ski-chalet-esque backpackers, and negotiated a rock bottom rate for a double room. It was so nice here, and since we had the place to ourselves, we decided to stay for 2 nights, despite the lack of local attractions. Nearby though there was one of the major Lord of the Rings locations, but we didn’t quite make it there as Maggie decided to start leaking petrol on the engine two thirds of the way there 30kms from the nearest town. Unable to fix it without new fuel line and a fuel filter, we took the risk and rode back to fix it at the local garage.
Back on the road, we called into a salmon farm and filled our bellies full of delicious fresh salmon sushi as we peered through the mist to get a glimpse of Mount Cook. Unimpressed by the weather, we turned to head south towards Twizel, leaving the heavily shrouded peak behind us. Twizel was where we stopped for the night, and I’m told there are several things this small town is famous for, but we left entirely uneducated as to what these might be, heading towards lake Benmore, and it’s enormous earth dam. The second largest in the southern hemisphere actually. Spectacular as it was, there are so many other things on a par with it in the south island, and deserve to be recorded here, but I think I’d better just cut to some of the highlights of the south island, or we’ll be here forever!
The Nevis Crossing threw us unexpectedly in at the deep end. This road takes in NZ’s highest public road at 1300m through spectacular scenery, and then onto a section of 25kms which features 24 river crossings (some of them were pretty bloody deep too!). This section proved especially challenging since I no longer had knobbly tyres on the bike, and it was cold and rainy. Nadine demonstrated incredible perseverance as she waded through river after river taking it all in good humour. A couple more boxes ticked in my mind!
Milford Sound was very nice, as they said it would be, but I don’t think it’s worth the song and dance that several people have made about it. Bit of an overpriced tourist trap to be honest. The Mevora lakes on the way from Milford Sound to Queenstown were infinitely better, and infinitely cheaper. Especially so, as we managed to blag food from several wonderful people, meaning we could camp there. The blagged booty was merely a backup, in case my ingenious fishing tackle proved fruitless. As it turned out the pasta and minced beef were delicious.

Kawerau Bridge in Queenstown is where I did my first (and second, and then third!) bungee jump. Set up by AJ Hackett, at 43m it’s the first commercial bungee site in the world. Having read his autobiography in the days before, I was interested to read that the first bungee jump ever was actually in England, executed by a member of Oxford University’s “Dangerous Sports Club”. After the bungee jumping, Nadine and I raced back to town to get on the last Shotover jet-boat ride of the day. Frankly it was a little tame in my opinion (perhaps having spent a portion of the last few hours in a state of freefall didn’t help) but Nadine found it a thrill.

The most notable thing about our onward journey to the Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers was the fact that Maggie cut out completely for the first time on the trip. Despite breaking down in the light rain, it turned out to be very fortuitous! Whilst trying to diagnose the problem, (which of course had to be related to my intermittent fault) with the seat off, I put my tool bag on the battery cover, and hey presto, no problem. Lift up the toolbag, and the problem returned. Well in the end it turned out to be the wiring loom had chafed against the frame, and just one tiny bit of copper wire was exposed in one of the immobilizer wires and shorting out. A quick application of duct tape, and all Maggie’s problems, and so mine, were solved! I was so happy to have finally diagnosed this fault. (I have to mention at this point how UNHELPFUL Yamaha were when I approached them for assistance. The fault had been diagnosed by Yamaha mechanics in Nelson to be the TPS unit or the ECU, both of which had been replaced under warranty recall in the months before I left only a year before. Yamaha refused to replace either unit. Having been a rolling advert and ambassador for Yamaha for the last year, I thought they may have been interested to help me out, not least of all because the problem appeared to be with a part they’d recently replaced under warranty. Although the product is good, the after-sales service sucks. My advice… buy Honda). Rant over.

The Fox glacier was pretty impressive, but we couldn’t get very close, so we went on to the Franz Joseph glacier where you’re allowed to get within about 200m. OK, I can understand keeping you some 50m or so away in case ice calves off the terminal face, but I don’t think the glacier’s going to suddenly come careering down the valley… I think 200m is a bit excessive.

Now we’re entering the home stretch, and after a dip in Hanmer Springs thermal hot-springs, we headed up the “Rainbow” road. Reputed to be one of the most beautiful roads in New Zealand, this dirt road crosses a huge private farm. I had to agree, it’s absolutely incredible. Rather than splash out on yet another mediocre backpackers where we rejoined the tarmac in St. Arnaud, we opted to return directly to dad’s, signaling the end of our lap of the south island.

No sooner than Nadine had left the tarmac on the first of 6 gruelling flights back to Germany, dad put me straight to work. He needed an insulated shed to live in over winter, so we set to work. It was nice to get back into a project, and even nicer to do it with my dad. Sadly we didn’t quite get it finished before I had to pack up and leave myself.

So, in the end Maggie’s odometer’s showing 50906kms, meaning the total distance covered was 41762 kms. I’ve not set any records, but she’s got plenty of life left in her yet. She’ll be there, ready and waiting when I inevitably want to escape the real world once again.

But for now, bring on the real world!

Having worked my way down the East Cape I arrived in Gisborne. This is where my grandmother grew up, I met up with some Germans I’d met the previous night for a barbecue, and then headed out to “Smash Palace” (no doubt my nan’s old stomping ground…) where deafening live heavy metal was ALMOST defeating my will to drink. Not totally as it transpired, so I found myself wandering round Gisborne at 3am completely hammered looking for my hostel. Evidently I remembered to take my beer compass out, and awoke into a stonking nightmare hangover and being told to pay up for another day or get out. So, out on the road, I managed to wobble about 20kms in the direction of Napier before I had to pull off the road and sleep a bit more under a tree. Fortunately for me, Miles and Manuela (from horizons unlimited forum) were there to cushion my landing in Napier, and were, like the rest of my wonderful Kiwi hosts, simply wonderful. After touring the famously Art Deco town/wineries the next day, Miles took me riding (motorcycles this time) along the beach to see a colony of gannets at Cape Kidnappers. Thought they’d be fatter somehow… A stunning ride the next day westwards across fields of golden velvet and up into pine forests was memorable for the Swedish couple who had driven some half a kilometer with absolutely no tyres on the rear right corner of their camper van. He said “I have to admit it did feel a bit funny….” The other thing was meeting dutchman Steven who was riding the other way on a Suzuki DR650. Luckily for me he had 2 baguettes and tins of tuna. Lunch and tall tale swapping taken care of, I headed off to the next stop of note at Faye and Andy’s place near Levin. Through the Kiwi Bike forum, they had offered me a place to stay, and were again lovely. Faye’s chocolate pudding was in a league of it’s own, and certainly appealed to the gannet in me! Taking the longest possible route from Levin to Wellington, I passed through the drizzle up into the Tararua range of hills and rode the beautiful twisties right down to the coast at Cape Palliser, where a colony of seals kept me mesmerized for about 2 hours, as I sat within a few feet of them. Amazing that there still are places that you can get so close to nature, and not have to pass through a turnstile to do so!
My last hosts in New Zealand before crossing to the south island were Barry, Belinda, and their 2 children Lewis and Georgina. I had a wonderful 3 days in Wellington with them, going to bars, a great dinner party, the One Love music festival, and then the final act of debauchery was the rugby sevens. England won apparently, but I was too busy having dinner with Ben, Mayumi and Ronald who I’d known from living in Bangalore, and then getting on the sauce with Barry. I ended up on the roof of yet another bar, as I climbed from his office window to the bar with the best party ($20 entry! No way am I paying that!)

And then so it was that last Sunday on 8th February, I boarded the ferry from Wellington on the north island to Picton on the south island, and rolled off to make the final 80km leg to my father’s house. I guess Maggie knew that this was coming up to the end of the journey, and as she started to relax, she occasionally forgot to send a spark to the engine. 37569 kms without a problem, and she starts to misfire 15kms from the finish line. Women. Thankfully after a few choice words of encouragement Maggie got her shit together, and we reached my dad’s without much further incident. We pulled into my his driveway as the odometer clicked up it’s 37584th kilometer since we left mum’s driveway 313 days earlier on April 1st 2008. Pulling into his driveway, and seeing family after such a long time, the enormity of what I’d just done struck home, and coupled with the sadness of it all being over, I have to confess my emotions got the better of me. I did it, and I can’t believe I survived. I feel like there should have been a gift shop outside my dad’s selling the ubiquious “I survived the…” t-shirts. But what to say… “I survived the murderous Kyrgyz shepherds", “I survived the truck drivers in India” or perhaps “I survived my own company and singing"…

This is of course not the total end of the trip, as I have the next month to look forward to riding round the south island with Nadine, but I kind of feel that now the onward journey is just a bit of a biking holiday, rather than being on a mission to cross the world.

This has been one of the most amazing years of my life, and is without doubt the most interesting chapter in what has already been an incredibly blessed life. I feel like probably I should be writing something profound here, and that I’ve changed in some dramatic way… but as far as I’m concerned I’m still the same old me, perhaps just a bit wiser. I’ve realised that people the world over are essentially the same, and if we could only look at each other and see the similarities, rather than the differences between us, the world would doubtless be a nicer place to live. Most of the people who have made this trip so special will never read this blog, but in my heart I have to thank all the people I’ve met along the way who have given me such amazing memories (yes, even you, Mr. Throat-Slitting-Kyrgyz-Shepherd). Thank also to everyone who’s been reading this blog - it’s nice to know that I was gone but not forgotten!

Now… to write a book or not to write a book…

Been quite a while since I posted the latest on my trip… it’s just nothing dramatic seems to be happening in these civilised countries, so no need to report it urgently!

So on the road, and to some of the most amazing roads I’ve ever ridden. Shame I’m still running knobbly tyres on the bike - not so good on the amazing tarmac sections, but pretty handy when it gets to the plentiful gravel sections. Sadly the tyres were not agressive enough for the off road section I attempted to tackle at the top of the Coromandel peninsula. Ended up having to take my luggage off and lug it back up the hill, before attempting to get the bike back up the hill. I dropped it many, many, many times… fortunately this was all caught on celluloid for the amusement of the masses. Tarantino needn’t be worried quite yet, but the footage is getting better. Need a tripod though.

Anyway, have done a long circuit down the west cost to Taranaki, taking in caving with glow worms in Waitomo, before looping round Mount Egmont, and going back up the Forgotten Highway to Whangamamona (or should I say Republic of Whangamamona) who kindly supplied me with my 4th passport - Jason Bourne eat your heart out! I have to mention the kindness shown to me by Paul in Hawera, who put me up and took me down the local boozer, and generally sorted me out for the evening. Top man, and a motorcycle salesman to boot! Anyway, through this strange republic where the last mayor was in fact a goat, and on to the Rural Riders annual meet up/knees up/piss up thingy in the middle of nowhere. The RR motto is “To grow old, and in the way", but most of them outlasted me, and I was in my tent around 2am having consumed more than my fair share of organic beer. That blue smoke was wafting by again on the breeze. Seems to be a recurring theme here…

Back up north to Tauranga, gatecrashing an A1 GP after-race party on the way. (Yes, that was me climbing over the roof of the bar to get to the back entrance). Owen and Glynis put me up for one of the nights I stayed in town, and cooked a wonderful smoked trout on one night, and then the following night invited some other bikers around for a barbecue. They spoilt me rotten, and thanks to all these wonderful Kiwis, I’m putting weight back on!

Rounding the East Cape, I finally reached the most eastern point of New Zealand, which signified the most eastward point of my travels. Quite sad actually after 10 months of heading eastward to reach this “end of the road” waypont. It’s beginning to hit home that the end of the trip is in sight.

For those horsey people, went horse riding this morning along the beach, reaching almost light speed as I graduated from a sketchy trot, through a wobbly canter, and onto a damn neaqr catastrophic gallop! Bloody good fun though!

Pics to follow…

Finally I’ve reached the other side of the world! Albeit by plane, but this is now the last country of my trip, and I’ve just got word that my bike is arriving tonight. Amazingly, somehow my shipping guy has already cleared the bike and my kit through customs and all that remains is to get the bike and have it inspected by the MAF (the guys that look for dirt/seeds etc to stop foreign insects etc coming into NZ). Hopefully this will all be done tomorrow, meaning that I can later go and get my bike certified for registration in New Zealand. Rather sad that I’ll no longer be riding WX06 EPC anymore, but some other random New Zealand plate
I’ve been in New Zealand since 3rd Jan, so since I’ve been here I hired a car and headed to fellow XT rider, Nick’s house (which was some way south of Auckland) for a few days before heading north out of Auckland to have a look around. At this juncture I’d just like to say the Mazda 3 is a wonderfully composed car which sticks like shit to a blanket, and provided me with hours of fun on New Zealand’s twisty roads… BUT, is slightly lacking whilst in my charge in reverse on gravel roads (see gallery). Luckily I was due to be giving the car back the following morning, and all this happened just round the corner from Nick’s place. The following morning the stereotypical brute came in his recovery truck came and pulled the car out of the ditch, and so then off to see Avis. The lady there was very understanding, as they swiped my credit card for the NZ$3000 excess. Fortunately I’m insured seperately for car hire, so can claim this all back (thank you insurance4carhire.com!)!

After this was all resolved I went round to the shipping guys and sorted out some of the formalities for importing the bike permanently to New Zealand.

To counter balance the bad luck I’d just had with the hire car, another XT rider called Noel called up, and offered to come get me from the shipping agent’s. My plan had been to go into the centre of Auckland and hang out there until my bike came, but Noel insisted that I stay with him (he lives not too far from the centre), and has made his XT660X available to me to cruise around on until mine comes! We went out for a ride with a load of other bikers, and the following night had a spit-roast party (For those of you giggling at the back, I’m talking about spit-roasting a turkey… as in cooking it). It’s been great in Auckland, and on friday is New Zealand’s biggest music festival in Auckland - Big Day Out. I can’t say I recognise most of the acts, but I’m sure it’ll be heaps of fun!

I have to say the Kiwis seem to be looking to knock the Uzbeks from the “top hospitality” spot. Nick and Noel have been absolutely wonderful hosts, and I can’t thank them enough for their kindness. I’ve also recieved another half dozen or so offers from around New Zealand for places to stay through the kiwi-biker/horizons unlimited forum.

I’m absolutely loving New Zealand so far. Long may it continue.

I couldn’t write much about my onward plans in the last posting as Ben was planning to go home in time for Xmas to surprise his missus, so didn’t want to spoil it, since she thought we were flying direct to New Zealand last week… In actual fact, I’ve joined the lowly ranks of the common or garden backpacker (albeit with a $3 holdall from Tesco’s) and used something they call a “bus” to transport me and my designer baggage down to the south of Thailand where after fannying around on the Malaysian border to secure a visa extension, I headed to an island called Ko Lipe on the west coast, not far from the Malaysian border. Have met up with friends Orlando and Sarah again, which I met in Laos, and have been passing the last few days here snorkeling, diving, and a bit more snorkeling. It’s almost not worth paying the money to go out diving, since the snorkeling is soooooo good straight off the beach!
Not sure of the plan for tomorrow (Christmas Day), as it feels nothing like xmas. I put this partly down to not having radio stations, TV channels and piped shopping mall music ramming Jingle Bells down your throat every 20 seconds! Just simple, blissful silence here! Sure we’ll keep up some of the traditions and go out and over eat and drink. After all it’s the best excuse for midday drinking there is!
The plan from here on out is to go to Singapore for New Year, and then fly out of there to Auckland where my bike is expected to arrive approx. on 13th Jan.
Wish you all a very merry christmas, and happy new year!
Baaaa-humbug,
Nick