[MV in NZ]

Time for another touring thread. Last week was my annual round the South Island of New Zealand bike trip. Ten Riders, no route planned, no room bookings, that's the fun factor. We just check the days weather, pick the best riding roads and go until sunset, with the general aim to get to the bottom of the island and back while crossing as many East-West passes as we can. Then find a town with a hotel/motel. Never missed out on a place to kip..so far.

We are blessed down under with our Sth Island. It is remote, which means sparse population, which means empty roads, which means very few cops, which means ..FUN. Previous trips have ended in some serious speeding tickets but this year we all got home with a clean slate.

Down the West Coast has the best twisty roads, following the curves of the coastline and the tight never ending esses through the mountain passes.

I should have heaps of awesome photos but I don't. When the pace is up no one ever takes time to stop and smell the roses through the best bits.

First time I've ridden in kevlar jeans and I'm a convert. The temperatures were pleasantly warm. Might not look warm in the pics because most were taken late afternoon/evening when cloud cover comes in.

The throw over bags worked well. I had a long blat on the Ducati 1198S. As expected it had so much power it was silly. Surprising similar riding position to the F3. Same mirror manufacturer, a blind man.

1800km and I never got sore shoulders or any aches and the bike never missed a beat. Of course it also was the best looking and sounding bike in the group.

ps- we never spotted a single Hobbit

[MV in NZ]

Some more.

[MV in NZ]

OK these were previous trips before the F3 but the scenery is great.
The sunrise over the Daytona has the Fox Glacier in the background. This pic. came out great.
The cruise ship is in the Milford Sound
That opal blue water behind my 636 is Lake Pukaki at the foot of Mount Cook.
The snow near the road was the road to Milford Sound

[MV in NZ]

Last ones.
Lake Rotoiti upper South Island
Behind the Tiger is the Buller river that produced one of our top rides - the Buller gorge. Simply fantastic fast flowing esses. You can just make out a white car far right background heading through a single lane section cut into the solid rock face. Oh yeah and some idiots car down by the water's edge. Not sure if it was dumped or crashed?

[MV in NZ]

One more of Mt Cook behind the Tiger

[Donsy]

Cool man, that looks great. Thanks for sharing.

[Sydney 910R]

excellent pictures, hopefully sometime in the not too distant future i would like to something like that on my Brute with a group like that, awesome stories when ever you stop fo rthe night!!

James

[The_castle]

Agree.

[esq'z me]

Must.....get.....there..........

[adamv1000]

Gotta love the South Island.