What better way to celebrate our marriage than combining my favorite things; motorbikes and travel (plus the mrs ). I’m planning at trip to NZ. It will be a 2 week self guided tour on a GS or an XR with the mrs riding pillion. The idea is to ride around south NZ while also fitting in some activities; whale watching, kayaking, exploring etc.... I’ve spoken to a reputable tour company (very well reviewed) who basically sort everything out; bike hire, luggage, pre planned routes and accommodation. It's not cheap at circa £6k (mid tier accommodation) but this is a once in a lifetime trip for us. If this was a Euro trip or something a bit closer to home I would use my own bike, plan the routes and accommodation myself. The initial plan was just to rent a bike and plan everything else, but the more I’ve thought about it - finding the best routes, accommodation, and getting stressed with the mrs when we’re lost in the NZ outback - the more attractive the “package/self-guided” tour sounds... I’m interested to hear if anyone has experience touring in that part of the world and/or using a motorcycle touring company?
Well sadly I know feck all about touring and touring companies in NZ, but if it's with a reputable company you should be right, don't overdo the travel tho', leave plenty of time for "other" activities eh!
No help apart from hearing from others that VFR New Zealand are a good outfit, though maybe not the bike you're looking for. Please let us all know how you get on, an NZ bike tour is on my bucket list,
We are currently in 'talks' of making this trip next year. Traveling with more decorum and a fair bit slower in a campervan.
I did four weeks round n and s island a couple of years back. Used hire car but prebooked motels in advance. Didn’t try to travel too much -150 ish miles per day and two/three days in each location. Did Auckland, bay of islands, coromandel peninsula,Napier, rotorua,Wellington, picton , Blenheim , kaikoura, hanmer hot springs,punakaiki, greymouth, Fox glacier, lake wanaka , only a day in queens town, te anau, Dunedin, lake tekapo and then flight out of Christchurch. Then on to rest of trip ! I’d do that again if I could. Enjoyed it ( avoided invercargill obvs.)
A good few years back me and a friend hired an absolute wreck of a car from some dodgy block in Auckland and travelled both North and South Islands, camping in a tent over six weeks, good job the car was a wreck because it didn't feel too bad taking it off road for a bit of rallying!
What’s the weather like in February. I appreciate it’s very changeable but I’m now wondering if there is a good chance I’ll be riding in the wet most of the time?
Great idea. Me and the missus did this about 10 years ago in a hire car, three weeks.... with view to a possible move to Nz. Great holiday location or to raise a family. For us it was too quiet (early 30's & 40's). May be when we retire fully.
I'm lucky to have some very good friends in Tauranga - East Coast, North Island. 3 of my visits have taken in some of the South Island. 10 days in 2001 I hired an XT600 in Christchurch and made my way to Milford Sound and back via Frans Josef and Greymouth, accomodation was the tent I took with me, or cheap campsite cabins. A subsequent trip was with my friends in their Camper Van, and the most recent one was 2015 with my Girlfriend, we hired a car planned the route and booked hotels/motels a few weeks beforehand. All my trips have been between Jan and April. Take good waterproofs, you are likely to encounter some rain. I appreciate that you want a hassle-free experience, so there is good reason to go with the fully organised tour, but I prefer the flexibilty of the DIY option. PM me if you want to chat in more detail. If you have any time for North Island, go to Whakatane and take the trip to White Island.
Not if you are going to live in it.(I think) It's to stop people buying houses as rentals and investments, we are very short of housing here in NZ.
Feb. is usually quite warm/hot but sometimes we can get storms as well, beware of the sun here, at the height of summer you can get burnt in 10 - 15 minutes.
I’ve now booked a self guided tour of the South Island, 14 nights and 13 days riding. I’ve booked 4 nights in nice hotel in Queenstown and the rest of the accommodation will be motels, they all seem fairly decent. My steed will be a 2017 GS1200, fully loaded with panniers and a top box + backrest to keep the mrs happy. Now for some riding gear. I’m thinking some fairly basic summer WP textiles and maybe a WP over suit in case things get really wet. I’m also looking at the scala freecom 4 for comms. I’m very familiar with European touring on sportsbikes, but any pearls of wisdom for taking the mrs away on more of an “adventure” trip would be more than welcome - I’m thinking forgetting the comms system could be a good start
From experience of a 28 self drive tour of New Zealand my wife and I did back in Jan/Feb this year. most of the motels have self service washing machines and tumble dryers, so you can easily wash clothes thereby reducing what you take out with you. You'll probably need water proof oversuits at some point, the west coast is particularly wet. I'd suggest that if you fancy a stop and see a cafe, stop or even turn around if you've ridden past, there may not be another one for many miles. The roads are generally in good condition with very little traffic. From my experience, most cars were driven at the speed limit so it's not frustrating when you can't overtake, as indicated by solid yellow lines on your side of the road. Have a great time!
Out of the main centres fill with fuel when you can, stations can be quite a distance apart, weather is very changeable at times, the West Coast of the South Island gets up to 4 metres of rain per annum.
