New Zealand (Not Europe Part Three)

In what felt like a flash (but also three years), the last seven months had flown by and it was time to embark on our final month of travel before heading back to the US. After Nepal, there was one more bucket list destination that Brian and I wanted to visit - New Zealand! New Zealand had been on our radar for a long time (I mean, who doesn’t want to go there?), but multiple invitations from Brian’s friend Billy over the years, along with his generous offer to lend us a motorcycle, tipped the scales and gave us the crazy idea to add it on to our adventure. The timing also lined up perfectly as we weren’t quite ready to be done riding and could evade the winter weather of the Northern Hemisphere for a while.

After making our way through the chaotic Kathmandu airport, we boarded our first flight. The route to New Zealand that made the most sense involved a layover in Singapore. We opted to go with one that gave us a 15-hour layover so that we would have time to leave the airport and explore the unique city-state and island country.

The five-hour flight left at 11 pm Nepal time, so we attempted (rather unsuccessfully) to get some sleep before landing in Singapore around 6:30 am local time. While eating breakfast and planning our itinerary for the day, Brian did a quick Facebook search for people he knows in Singapore. It turned out that one of his good friends from International School in Manila (whom he hadn’t seen in 23 years) had recently moved to Singapore. It also turned out that this friend, Tsubasa, was miraculously free and able to meet up with us for a spontaneous lunch later that day. Talk about a small world!

After making plans with Tsubasa, we left our bags in luggage storage at the airport and headed out into the hot and humid outside air. It was such a stark change from Kathmandu to be surrounded by lush tropical trees and to see the outline of Singapore’s famous skyline in the distance. We took a Grab (similar to Uber) to our first stop, the Gardens by the Bay. Located by the Marina Bay Waterfront in the heart of Downtown Singapore, the Gardens by the Bay is a horticultural fantasyland full of greenhouse biodomes and Avatar-like Supertrees. The Supertrees are vertical gardens that generate solar power, act as exhaust air towers for nearby conservatories, and collect rainwater. They are an iconic sight in Singapore and we spent some time admiring them from below and walking through the outdoor gardens.

We continued walking until we reached another iconic Singapore landmark, the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. This architecturally unique hotel is home to the world’s largest infinity pool on its rooftop. Although we didn’t make it up to see the rooftop, we did cool off in the lovely air conditioning for a bit before adventuring back outside.

Next, it was time to meet up with Tsubasa! He took us to a delicious Chinese restaurant where we ate some of the best soup dumplings, fried rice, and bao buns we have ever had. We chatted and exchanged stories for a while (after all, he and Brian had a lot to catch up on after 23 years) and learned all about his life in Singapore. After lunch, Tsubasa acted as our personal tour guide as we strolled around the waterfront and soaked up the architecture, both new and old. He is an engineer by trade with a focus on sustainable buildings so he was the perfect person to guide us through some of the pioneering architecture and green buildings that Singapore is famous for.

We said goodbye to Tsubasa and continued on to Chinatown where we strolled through the markets and enjoyed some delicious coffee in what felt like a more authentic and historic side of the city. Before long, it was time to take a Grab back to the airport.

We had one final Singapore landmark we wanted to visit before leaving the country. This landmark is actually located at the airport in Terminal One inside something called the Jewel. The Jewel is a nature-themed entertainment and retail complex that houses the world’s tallest indoor waterfall. The waterfall is 130 ft tall and surrounded by a terraced forest setting. We walked along the various levels taking in this beautifully incongruous sight before boarding the tram to our terminal for our next flight.

Our flight took off at 10:30 pm and we began the 10-hour journey the rest of the way to New Zealand. After a terrible night of sleep on our last flight and a very active day walking around the city, fatigue set in and we slept most of the way to Auckland.

We arrived in Auckland and began the process of clearing immigration and customs. It turns out Kiwis take invasive species very seriously, so after a series of questions, our tent and hiking shoes were confiscated for inspection and decontamination. We had no idea how long this process would take and we didn’t have much time to make our connecting flight in another terminal. Luckily, after about 20 minutes they handed everything back in a giant plastic bag. We quickly packed it up and rushed to the domestic terminal for our final flight to New Plymouth where Brian’s friend Billy lives.

It was a short but beautiful flight that gave us our first views of Mount Taranaki, a dormant stratovolcano. Billy picked us up from the airport and we spent the evening chatting with him and his family over a delicious beef stew made from one of their cows.

Brian met Billy back in 2018 while riding the Trans America Trail (TAT) on his motorcycle. They quickly became friends and stayed in touch over the years. Billy and his family are originally from Louisiana but moved to New Zealand in 2011 and have been there ever since. We spent the next day relaxing on their gorgeous property. Billy, his wife Barb, and two of their children, Mikaylie and Nani, went out of their way to make us feel welcome. It was so special getting to know them and experiencing their little slice of paradise.

In another perfect example of just how small the world can be, Billy isn’t the only friend Brian has in New Plymouth. Tim, one of his best friends from International School Manila, lives there with his wife and two children, just 20 minutes from Billy’s house! The next day we went over to Tim’s place and met his wife Margarietha and their two adorable children, Sofia and Eugene. Brian and Tim hadn’t seen each other in 13 years so there was a lot to catch up on. Tim, an avid rider and amateur racer, owns quite a few impressive motorcycles. Shortly before leaving for New Zealand, our plans for the motorcycle I was going to ride fell through. On very short notice, Tim graciously offered up one of his bikes for me to borrow. So that evening, I rode back to Billy’s on a 108-horsepower MV Agusta Brutale.

Although the Brutale is an incredibly powerful and fun bike to ride, it isn’t the most practical or comfortable option for touring. Since there are no motorcycle rental shops in New Plymouth, the plan was for me to use the Brutale to ride the two days down to Christchurch where I could pick up a rental. In the meantime, however, it was time to see just what this bike could do!

The following morning, Brian, Billy, Barb, and I set out to ride the famous Forgotten World Highway through Whangamōmona. It was a fun and beautiful four-hour ride through the winding countryside. It was also great practice for me as this trip was my first time driving on the left side of the road.

We spent that evening packing and preparing the bikes to leave the following day.

The next morning, we said goodbye to Billy and his family and rode four hours to Wellington to catch the ferry to the South Island. While waiting for the ferry we met two locals, Mick and Jane, who were riding two-up on a Yamaha Tenere 700, the same bike I had waiting for me in Christchurch. They were incredibly friendly and gave us loads of route advice. It turned out they were also going to be riding the South Island for two weeks and they had booked the same return ferry as us. We exchanged numbers so we could keep in touch and boarded the ferry.

Although we had taken ferries in Europe, I was a little nervous about the swell for this particular crossing through the Cook Strait as I am very prone to sea sickness. When the ship began pitching and rolling over the waves, I knew it was going to be a rough three hours. Luckily, I had brought some Dramamine and once we moved to the back of the boat, the movement became much more tolerable. The views through the fiords on both ends of the journey more than made up for the rocky ride, and we arrived safely in Picton. We checked into our room at a campsite in town and enjoyed a delicious Thai food dinner at a local restaurant.

The following day we took the gorgeous coastal road south for four hours to the rental shop in Christchurch, trading bikes every couple of hours to get a rest from the intense wind and forward riding position of the Brutale.

There, we exchanged the Brutale for a Yamaha Tenere 700 (T7). Even with a lowering link and a low seat, this was the tallest bike I had ever ridden, but I was excited to try something new! The owner Steve asked us about our plans and when we told him a couple of our half-baked ideas, he was quick to step in and give us some advice. Brian and I generally like to keep our plans flexible so we can adapt to the advice of locals and other travelers, and this was an occasion where it really paid off. We knew rain would be inevitable, especially on the wetter west coast of the country, but right off the bat Steve warned us about some upcoming heavy rain on our intended route and encouraged us to start down the middle of the island towards Mount Cook instead. Before leaving, he helped us draft a tentative route for the entire two weeks, creating an ambitious figure eight of the South Island from top to bottom.

We finished loading up my bike and hit the road. I quickly got used to the tall height and fell in love with the T7 as we rode another two hours to the town of Fairlie. Thankfully, the sun doesn’t set until around 9:30 pm this time of year, so we had plenty of daylight left to complete our longest day of riding yet - over 500 kilometers! Exhausted, we found a room at a campground and walked into town for a late dinner.

One of the places that multiple locals had told us we had to visit on our trip was the Fairlie Bakehouse. Personal-sized meat pies, somewhat like empanadas, are a popular dish across New Zealand, and the Fairlie Bakehouse is known for having some of the best pies in the country. The next morning, we stopped at the bakehouse to eat breakfast and pick up some of the famous pies for lunch.

With our lunch safely secured on the back of my bike, we headed southwest toward Lake Tekapo and then on to Lake Pukaki. The views were stunning as the surrounding landscape was filled with pink and purple flowers called lupins. We took a section of gravel road partway around Lake Pukaki to enjoy more of the beautiful view.

We had planned to ride up to Mount Cook after this, however, the mountain was completely socked in with clouds and the weather did not show any signs of improving. Since we knew we would not be able to see much of the mountain in this weather, we decided to press on to Lake Wānaka, with hopes we would return on a clearer day.

Lake Wānaka provided a picturesque background for us to enjoy our meat pie lunch. We sat by the water and had a “pinch me” moment (one of many on this trip) as we discussed just how lucky we felt.

After lunch, we found a campsite right outside of Wānaka and set up our tent. Not wanting to let the extended daylight go to waste, we took the bikes on a short ride up the fast gravel road to Mount Aspiring. We enjoyed watching the fading sunlight dance across the glaciated mountainside as the occasional herd of sheep darted out in front of us.

Fun fact: Sheep outnumber humans in New Zealand by five to one!

On our way back to camp we stopped to visit #ThatWanakaTree, which is a lone willow tree in the water on one end of the lake that has made the beach a popular photo spot.

The next day would come to be one of our top five riding days of the entire trip! After having breakfast at camp, we headed south toward Queenstown, passing through the beautiful Crown Range on the highest paved road in New Zealand, the Crown Range Road. This winding road with barely any cars provided some breathtaking views and incredible riding.

We eventually veered off the main road to ride through Arrowtown, a small town that reminded us of some mountain towns in Colorado, and to ride up Coronet Peak. Coronet Peak is a popular skiing and mountain biking destination with an incredibly fun and twisty road to the top. We took in the view from the summit before making our way back down the pass and on to Queenstown.

We rode briefly through Queenstown but decided we would come back another day to explore the city properly as we had a lot more riding planned for the day. There is a stretch of road that connects Queenstown to the town of Glenorchy along the turquoise-blue waters of Lake Wakatipu. The mountains surrounding Glenorchy were used in a lot of the filming for the Lord of the Rings and the entire area is extraordinarily scenic. We stopped to admire the striking color of the lake before cruising down the twisty lake-side tarmac with barely any other vehicles.

We stopped for lunch at a cafe in Glenorchy, chatting with a couple of other friendly riders, before continuing on to ride some incredible gravel roads along the Dart River and through the stunning Rees Valley. We had the roads to ourselves as we wound through the valley, fording a few water crossings along the way. We could have happily kept riding deeper into the valley if not for our waning gas bars and the diminishing daylight hours. We eventually turned around and took the same epic route back to our campsite in Wānaka, stopping at one of the ubiquitous Z gas stations for our most frequent cheap meal of the trip - meat pies. It was a perfect day!

The next morning we decided to chance our luck with the weather in Mount Cook National Park as this was our last feasible opportunity to see it. We rode two hours back up north, stopping for an early lunch at the delicious Wrinkly Rams cafe, before heading into the park. The views into the park and along the bright blue Lake Pukaki were phenomenal.

We parked our bikes at a trailhead near the Hooker Valley and changed into our hiking clothes. From there we began a spectacular six-mile out-and-back hike to Hooker Lake. As we made our way between snow-capped peaks and over suspension bridges, the towering view of Mount Cook slowly came into view. Sitting at 12,218 ft, Mount Cook is New Zealand’s tallest peak. The weather could not have been more perfect and the views were breathtaking.

After enjoying the view from the top for a while, we made our way back to the bikes and then rode 10 minutes down the road to another trailhead. Although it was already after 5 pm at this point, we couldn’t resist sprinting up the 300+ stairs to see the Tasman Glacier, the largest glacier in New Zealand. The turquoise-blue glacial water looked like something out of a painting.

We didn’t spend too much time at the top, however, as we still had two hours of riding to get back to our campsite in Wānaka. During our time in New Zealand, we were shocked at how little traffic there was on all of the roads, no matter the time of day. This evening, however, was particularly car-free making for a fantastic ride back. We picked up some delicious NY-style pizza in town and made it back to camp just as the last bit of light dipped below the horizon.

We packed up our tent the following morning and headed south along the Crown Range Road for a second time. When we reached Queenstown we turned north to ride a gravel track along the North and South Mavora Lakes. We then continued on to ride through the Von River Valley. It was a very windy day, which made staying out of the deep gravel tracks a little more difficult, but the views were remarkable. After exploring a large portion of the South Island, I can confidently say that I don’t think there is anywhere in New Zealand that isn’t beautiful.

During our last hour and a half of riding through the Von River Valley it started pouring. We put on our rain layers and rode the rest of the way to Te Anau, a small town just outside of Fiordland National Park. We found a campsite for the night but spent about three hours hiding out from the rain in the common area before it finally stopped and we were able to set up our tent. During this time we made friends with some fellow travelers.

Te Anau is the gateway to one of the most iconic destinations in New Zealand - Milford Sound. Milford Sound is a majestic fiord full of jagged peaks, lush rainforests, and cascading waterfalls on the west coast of the South Island. To experience as much of the fiord as possible, most people take a 2-3 hour boat cruise out onto the water, which we were told was definitely worth doing. As an added bonus, the two-hour ride to the small outpost of Milford itself is considered one of the best riding roads on the entire South Island.

In order to beat the throngs of tour buses, we decided to hit the road before 8 am. With our early departure, we had the road to ourselves as we made our way along what Brian later described as one of the top 10 scenic rides of his life (and I am inclined to agree). We resisted the temptation to stop for photos at every turn as we had planned to just enjoy the unobstructed ride in and take all of our photos on the way out, however, that didn’t stop us from filming on our GoPros.

Milford Sound is famous for being one of the wettest places in the world, getting almost seven meters of rain per year, so our day began with a dewy ride through the misty forest until the trees and the sky began to open up. The juxtaposition of the tropical jungle and towering glacial mountains overhead was jaw-dropping, especially as the sun came out.

After parking the bikes, we made our way into the tourist office to book a cruise. We arrived at the perfect time as the next boat was leaving in just 10 minutes. We quickly bought a couple of meat pies to eat on the boat and sprinted over to the docks.

We boarded our boat and began a remarkable two-and-a-half-hour ride all the way to the Tasman Sea and back. We cruised past 600-ft sheer cliffs brimming with waterfalls, and the occasional fur seal colony. We got incredibly lucky with the weather as the sun was shining the entire time and the views were breathtaking. The pictures truly do not do this place justice.

Our ride back to Te Anau was much slower as we took our time pulling off for many of the scenic viewpoints and lookouts. Two of our favorites were Lake Gunn, where we chatted with a friendly expat from Romania who also rides motorcycles, and Mirror Lake, where even with the late afternoon clouds the reflection of the mountains on the water was mesmerizing.

The next morning we packed up our tent and rode south to the city of Invercargill. We had kept in contact with Mick and Jane, the couple we met on the ferry, and had made plans to meet them for lunch in the city. We got our first views of the southern coast and experienced some of its notorious wind on our way there.

We met Mick and Jane at a motorcycle-themed cafe with delicious food. They are from New Plymouth and recently retired, having spent much of the past year motorcycling around Southeast Asia. It was great to hear about their adventures and chat with like-minded people. They are planning to ride through Europe in 2024, so suffice to say we had plenty of recommendations.

After lunch, we parted ways with Mick and Jane and rode along the shore to the southernmost point of the South Island.

From there, we took an incredibly fun and twisty road through the rolling hills and forests of the Catlins. There were barely any other vehicles on the road and we were having so much fun that we only took one photo.

Our plan had been to find a campsite or cheap room in Balclutha, so we pulled over in the town of Owaka to look at some options and use the public restroom. While chatting next to the bikes, a nearby store owner came out and asked us if we needed any help. He said he also rides motorcycles and told us to follow him into his shop so he could recommend some roads and beaches. We got to chatting with Dane and he gave us some great advice on our route. When we asked him if he knew of any good places to stay in Balclutha, he went out of his way to call a few of his friends who own properties there to inquire about a room. We told him we were trying to find something on the cheaper end, so after his friends said all of their cheap rooms were taken, he asked us if we would like to sleep for free in his art gallery next door. Now, I know what you may be thinking - what’s the catch? In most places this offer would make me a bit skeptical, but already in our time in New Zealand Brian and I had come to the conclusion that Kiwis are the friendliest people we have ever met. If I wrote about every positive interaction we had with a local on this trip, this blog post would be about 5x as long. Thus, after politely declining this overly generous offer a couple of times, we looked at each other and said “why not?”

Dane’s art gallery happens to be located right next to the public restrooms and down the street from the local pub with $5 showers. That evening, we got dinner at the pub and Dane joined us for drinks once he finished work. He is an incredibly likeable guy with a fascinating life story. He told us all about his time leading overlanding expeditions across Africa and riding motorcycles around the world. After chatting for a while, we walked back to the art gallery and set up our sleeping bags and air mattresses for the night.

After a quiet and great night’s sleep, we picked up three coffees in town and chatted some more with Dane. We then said goodbye to our new friend and packed up the bikes to continue along the coast. We took a gravel road for a bit, stopping to see Cannibal Bay, before riding a seaside stretch of tarmac to Nugget Point, one of the places Dane recommended. The views through the rolling green hills and along the ocean were gorgeous.

We had planned to ride a historic off-road track created during the gold rush of the 1860s called the Old Dunstan Road, but the forecast was predicting 50 mph winds with gusts up to 70 mph. Since high winds can make for dangerous and not very enjoyable gravel roads, we decided to take a route a local rider had recommended to us a few days prior. It ended up being a fantastic twisty adrenaline-filled ride that took us from Kononi to Lawrence via Tuapeka West Rd. Once we left the cover of the rolling hillsides and began our journey north back to Queenstown, we experienced the intensity of the high winds, validating our decision to skip the off-road section. We battled the wind and a little bit of rain the rest of the way to our hotel in Queenstown.

During a break in the rain, we set out to explore the city. We ate at the famous Fergburger and then walked around the beautiful waterfront city. We really liked the vibe, but when the rain picked up again, we headed back to our hotel for the night.

The following morning the sun was shining again. We left our luggage at our hotel and set out to ride a different old mining road called Skipper’s Canyon. This gravel track with steep drop-offs wound through the canyon and along a river. The views were absolutely stunning and we took some time to fly the drone.

We would have loved to take time to explore some of the connecting trails, but we had plans to ride to the West Coast. After eating lunch and picking up our luggage in Queenstown, we passed through Wānaka again before continuing on to ride up Haast Pass. The pass was an awesome winding road that eventually connected to the West Coast highway which took us north up to Fox Glacier. I don’t think there are enough adjectives in the English language to encapsulate the beauty that we saw in these two short weeks, but four of the roads we took this day ranked among the top 25 riding roads on the South Island.

We arrived at our campsite in Fox Glacier around 8:15 pm and set up our tent. We walked down the street to one of the few restaurants in town and managed to grab some dinner just before they closed for the evening.

The next morning we packed up our tent and rode to the Fox Glacier lookout. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day and the glacier was obscured.

We pressed on to try our luck at the Franz Josef Glacier. After parking the bikes, we did a 20-minute walk to get a view of the glacier. Although it was still overcast, the clouds parted enough for us to see it in the distance.

Next, we took a nice winding road near Mount Hercules to Lake Ianthe. We spent some time admiring the lake before continuing to Lake Mahinapua. I was feeling particularly tired that day, so while Brian walked down to the water I enjoyed a short nap in the sun.

Our next stop was farther along the coast to visit the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes. The pancake rocks are heavily eroded limestone formations where the sea bursts through several vertical blowholes. We happened to time our visit perfectly and were able to witness these blowholes in full force as we walked around the loop trail over the ocean.

We finished our day at a campsite near Carter’s Beach. Given the weather forecast, we opted to book a room rather than set up our tent. This was one of only five days on the South Island that we didn’t sleep in our tent and it felt like luxury. When we awoke to pouring rain the following morning, our decision was validated.

Luckily, the rain eventually passed and we were able to cruise by the beach and begin making our way through the Buller Gorge. The Buller Gorge was a wonderfully curvy and fun road. The weather seemed to change every 20 minutes, oscillating between light rain and sunshine, but it never came down hard enough to warrant rain layers.

While stopping for lunch in Murchison we met a Scottish rider named Doug who told us that he thinks New Zealand is Scotland on steroids. We chatted with him for a while before continuing through the Motueka Valley. We hugged the river through the valley past fields of hops. Back on the northern coast, we passed by an old shipwreck before arriving in the city of Nelson.

During our time on the South Island, we had ridden by numerous signs advertising real fruit ice cream, but the shops always seemed to be closed. When we saw a fruit ice cream food truck near a gas station, we were eager to finally give it a try. We approached the woman in the truck, but she said she was closed for the day. After hearing that we had never had any of the local delicacy, however, she told us there was no way we could leave the South Island without trying it, and she was going to reopen just for us! This was one of many examples of Kiwi hospitality and boy was it delicious!

With our sweet tooth satisfied, we checked into our place in Nelson and went to explore the downtown. We found an old church-turned-pub and enjoyed some dinner and drinks.

The following morning we left Nelson and took the fantastic twisty Road to Whangamoa on our way to the Rai Valley. Upon reaching the valley we turned north and began making our way up toward French Pass. French Pass is a small fishing village near the very top of the South Island that is located next to a narrow channel of the same name. The road to get there is a mix of asphalt and gravel, and it is said to be one of the most beautiful rides in the Marlborough region. We were enjoying the twists and turns until we encountered a road closure. Due to a cyclone earlier in the year, sections of the road were under repair and the road was only open from 12 - 1 pm and after 5 pm. It was almost 11:30 am when we arrived, so we decided to wait until noon and ride the road as far as we could for 30 minutes and then turn around, allowing us to see some of the scenery without getting trapped for the whole day. While waiting, we met two other riders named Julia and Kevin. Julia was only the second other female rider I met during our entire time in New Zealand, so it was nice chatting with her and Kevin while we waited for the road to open.

As soon as noon rolled around, we were off! Although we wish we could have ridden all the way to the end, the views we did get to see were well worth the wait.

After completing as much of the road as we could, we stopped for a snack by a nearby lake and then continued on to the peninsula surrounding the Kenepuru Sound.

At the start of the road leading to the end of the peninsula, we encountered another road closure sign. This one, however, said that the road was open to residents. Seeing as we were planning to camp at a campsite on the peninsula, we decided to use a loose interpretation and call ourselves “residents” for the night. Despite the sections of washed-out road and gravel due to damage from the same hurricane that affected the French Pass road, the ride was terrific. On our way to the end of the peninsula, we scoped out a few campsites to determine where we wanted to sleep for the night. As we neared the last section of road, it transitioned to a fun rocky dirt track with switchbacks down to the water and sheep around every corner. The view down to Titirangi Bay was stunning.

^I think this was the third time I stepped in sheep poop

After enjoying the view for a while, we rode back up the road and set up our tent right on the edge of the Kenepuru Sound. With almost no one else around, the stars that evening were incredible.

The next morning, we awoke to the sounds of some very loud birds and took some time to enjoy our secluded campsite. After flying the drone and packing up our tent, we were about to put our helmets on and leave when I heard Brian scream out in disgust. I looked over and his head and neck were covered in bird poop. The culprit was sitting up on a tall power line right over where we had parked the bikes. After addressing the comically large dropping with some wet wipes, wilderness wash, and a new shirt, we were off.

We took the same winding road out and then hopped on the Queen Charlotte Road to Picton. We stopped briefly to pick up some butter chicken pies (our favorite) for lunch later that day. We were about to embark on a long and remote stretch of off-road where there definitely would not be any restaurants. The Awatere Valley Rd, or the Molesworth as it is known to most riders, is a 200-kilometer track that runs from Blenheim to Hanmer Springs. There is a small campground in the middle of the route, but otherwise the road is surrounded by vast landscapes different from anything else we had seen in New Zealand.

We began with the deep gravel of Taylor’s Pass before connecting to the official Molesworth track. The terrain alternated between thick slippery gravel and fun fast gravel as we wound our way along the Awatere River.

Brian and I took turns riding in front to get breaks from the perpetual cloud of dust that our bikes created. At one point while I was enjoying a fast pace in front, I went over a hill that took a sudden turn and forced me to ride across a patch of deep gravel. I was going 35-40 mph and upon hitting the deep gravel my bike went into a vigorous fishtail before bucking me off. Unfortunately, the bike landed on my left leg and pulled me into a slide to the edge of the road. Brian was able to avoid crashing himself and quickly pulled over after hearing my screams over the intercoms and seeing the large cloud of dust I had created with my landing. It was by far the scariest fall I have ever had, but miraculously I was mostly uninjured. I could tell I was going to be very sore later, but I was able to stand up and rule out any major broken bones.

Of course, the crash happened almost exactly at the midpoint of the remote track. We always carry our Garmin InReach with SOS capability, but luckily to this day, we have not needed to use it. After relaxing at the midpoint campground and eating our lunch, we decided to press on. I rode the remaining 100 km a bit more cautiously, and the views distracted me from my aches and pains. A little later in the ride, we stopped to chat with a fellow rider who told us he had a similar experience to mine that day. We would later learn that the marble-like deceptive gravel of the Molesworth is notorious for knocking even the most skilled riders off their bikes.

We eventually made it to Hanmer Spring and decided to get a hotel in town. After changing out of our very dusty riding gear, we grabbed some dinner and then went to bed.

The following morning we had planned to ride from Lewis Pass to Arthur’s Pass, but the weather forecast was not looking good and my left knee and ankle were really hurting. After doing a self-assessment, I determined my ankle was likely just sprained, but I was concerned I might have a fibular head fracture that was causing my pinpoint lateral knee pain. Given that I would not have medical insurance when we returned to the US in less than a week, I decided it would be wise to utilize my travel insurance to get an x-ray. The small clinic in Hanmer Springs was unable to fit me in, so we decided to ride an hour and a half to Christchurch.

After texting with Billy, who is a doctor, we learned that I could receive free care at any public hospital. I was initially skeptical as the idea of anything in the medical world being free is a very foreign concept in the US, but we decided to give it a try. I was absolutely blown away by the New Zealand healthcare system! I checked into the emergency room and was taken back to an ortho specialist who examined me immediately and ordered x-rays. I had multiple x-rays of my knee and ankle, including a second series of my knee when the first set showed a suspicious marking - all for the grand total of $0. That’s right, it was completely free! New Zealand has something called the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) that covers accidents for anyone, including foreign travelers. I didn’t even need to submit a claim to my travel insurance. The radiologists determined I had either a bone contusion or a small hairline fracture of my fibular head, but either way, it was very minor and all of my other bones were intact! Relieved and in love with New Zealand for yet another reason, we left the hospital and headed toward the Banks Peninsula.

The Banks Peninsula is a peninsula of volcanic origin that is full of endless rolling hills, bays, and twisty turns. We had the roads all to ourselves as we made our way to a campsite on the outer part of the peninsula. We enjoyed a gorgeous sunset over the water as we set up our tent for the last time on the trip.

The next morning, we explored more of the winding peninsula roads and even flew the drone. We saw more motorcycle riders this day than all of the other days combined as the peninsula is a very popular weekend getaway spot for riders from Christchurch.

Sadly, it was time to return my T7 rental. After switching all of my luggage over to the Brutale, we rode the coastal road back up to Picton.

The following morning we took the 7:30 am ferry to Wellington. The seas were much calmer this time, and we spent the entire ride chatting with our friends Mick and Jane.

Back on the North Island, we rode the remaining four hours to Billy’s place in New Plymouth. During the last hour and a half, we experienced some of the worst wind of our entire trip. With slightly sore necks, we arrived safely at Billy’s home and enjoyed an evening of chatting with him and his family.

The next day was spent packing and organizing all of our belongings in preparation for our flight back to the US. That night, we were about to leave for Tim’s place to return the Brutale, but the bike was stuck in limp mode and wouldn't accelerate. Luckily, this happened in Billy’s driveway rather than on the road, but it turned out that the bike washing we did earlier in the day had wet a few external connectors that are sensitive to water (apparently a known problem with the Brutale). We ended up returning the bike a little differently than planned, but the connectors had dried by the time it arrived at Tim’s place and he was able to start it right up!

The next morning, Billy and Barb drove us to the airport and we had breakfast together right at our gate (Fun fact: there is no airport security for domestic flights in New Zealand). We then said a sad goodbye and boarded our first of three flights. It was a smooth 24+ hours of traveling and shockingly the cheap bags we had purchased in Greece arrived in one piece.

And just like that, our whirlwind adventure had come to an end. As we enjoyed the holidays with Brian’s family in Florida, we spent some time reflecting on just how lucky we are for all of the once-in-a-lifetime experiences we were able to squeeze into these past eight months. Now, however, it is time to return to “normal life” and begin saving up for the next trip!

Until next time,

Brian and Erin