NZ Touring Pics by Shaggie (reloaded)

Hi folks

As i might have mentioned along the way, until Nov 06 I was the Tour Director for NZ operations of a US based motorcycle touring company.
I met some absolutely fabulous people whilst on tour and have now some lifelong friends amongst the guests.
My intention is to (one day) have my own tour business eventually providing bespoke tours from single days to multi-day trips.

Most of the guests where from the US with a few from the UK and one from Canada.

Anyways, I hope you like the pics - there may be even some ones from my normal weekend riding with the 'lads' too



Top of Takaka Hill, Nelson region, top of the South Island. Major sportbiker road with LOTS of twisty riding!
Me on the 1150r (my tour-supplied bike) and Tom Loftus on the RT - Tom as you may know is a 5 time veteran of the IBR and
paid me the biggest compliment after the rac...er....'spirited ride' up the hill - "don't you EVER brake?"
- i nearly couldn't get my helmet back on, I was smiling so much!
(as an aside - Tom had me good on the return run up the other side of the hill - as i
had thought, he'd just been toying with me the first time 'round! )

1 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

Milford Sound road between Te Anau and the Homer Tunnel (pic to come), Fiordland, South Island

2 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

The Homer Tunnel - started in 1935, progress was pretty slow with pumps required
to remove 40,000 litres of water an hour (Fiordland gets massive rainfall - measured
in METRES a year not inches). Tunnel is single lane with a kink in the middle so you
can't see the other end - it's a bit freaky! The traffic lights only work in the summer -
high avalanche danger in the winter preclude cars from queuing up.

3 by Shane Doig, on Flickr


Lindis Pass - McKenzie Country, South Island. This area is one of extremes, hot
in the summer (up to 110F) and cold in the winter (down to 5F in the winter)

4 by Shane Doig, on Flickr


Abel Tasman National Park, Nelson region, top of South island

5 by Shane Doig, on Flickr


Winter shot of The Church of the Good Shepherd on the shores of Lake Tekapo,
McKenzie Country, South Island

6 by Shane Doig, on Flickr



Summit Road, Banks Peninsula, South Island overlooking Akaroa (our Sunday
morning coffee destination informally known as the Akaroa GP) - my Superhawk
and Jim's RT

7 by Shane Doig, on Flickr


Not many roadsigns like this anywhere else in the world! (Credit: Steve Morgan, guest)

8 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

Lake Wakatipu from the streets of Queenstown, South Island

9 by Shane Doig, on Flickr


Downhill from the Homer Tunnel towards Milford Sound

10 by Shane Doig, on Flickr


Dansey's Pass, Otago, South Island (Credit: Steve Morgan, guest)


11 by Shane Doig, on Flickr


Road to Glenorchy at the top of Lake Wakatipu - highly recommend the
Dart River Safari's jetboat trip up into LOTR filming territory - awesome!

12 by Shane Doig, on Flickr


And here's a panorama.....Castlepoint and lighthouse -40.902540, 176.227989

13 by Shane Doig, on Flickr



More to see if anyone's interested - hope you enjoyed these!

Cheers

S

Cheers mate

just off to work but tonight after work, I'll upload some more!



S

Hell yes..................

could you please remove this thread. The last thing we need is a heap more septics coming down here and clogging up the roads. Oscar needs room to move around by himself and clear his head space.

a couple more:


Steve's pic of the Lewis Pass Hway just north of Maruia Springs

(Photo Credit: Steve Morgan , guest)


14 by Shane Doig, on Flickr


On the road back from Mt Cook - NZ's highest mountain at 12316feet - alongside Lake Pukaki -

15 by Shane Doig, on Flickr


Pelorus Sound overlooking Moenui and towards Mahau Sound, Marlborough Sounds, top of South Island.
A true drowned valley system the Marlborough Sounds is a major holiday destination for thousands of NZers every year. This being my home province and with psuedo uncle and auntie having a holiday home (or 'bach' pronouced batch) here since before my parents were married meant i was 'here' (top right just above the Transalps mirror) most weekends of my childhood - the best place!
altho i MAY be biased!

16 by Shane Doig, on Flickr


A Transalp hiding in the trees on the way to Milford Sound

(Photo Credit: Steve Morgan , guest)


17 by Shane Doig, on Flickr


A New Zealand delicacy - whitebait! best done as seen here in a pattie of eggs and salt and pepper
and WHITEBAIT - small fish about the length of your little finger and about one third diameter -
caught mostly on the west coast of the South Island during a very short and strictly
controlled season - it reaches over NZD100/kilo - we normally try to have one 'feed' a season
but only can usually afford maybe 100 or 200 grams(if we're feeling REALLY extravagent!) -
this pattie was cooked for Steve at the Blackball Hilton -i'll see if I can rustle up a pic of the
hotel so you get the idea - and was a bargain at the price......YUM YUM YUM

(Photo Credit: Steve Morgan , guest)


18 by Shane Doig, on Flickr


Here's another pic of the Church at Lake Tekapo

19 by Shane Doig, on Flickr


The historic Cardrona Hotel on the Crown Range road between Wanaka and Queenstown -
the oldest continously operating hotel in NZ - originally opened 1863! Edit: The Thistle
Hotel in Wellington now competing for the title - part of the hotel built in 1850 still stands
but most was destroyed by fire before being rebuilt....

20 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

A great place for a refreshment stop - here's the refurbished outside area at the back

21 by Shane Doig, on Flickr


here's the Blackball Hilton - actually that's not true - it's official name is now 'Formerly
the Blackball Hilton' cos Paris's family lawyers threatened them with a huge lawsuit if
they continued using the Hilton name - this in the town of Blackball with a population
of 30ish on a good day..... some people eh?

22 by Shane Doig, on Flickr


We took a helicopter ride up onto the top of one of the glaciers near Mount Cook - I
think this is Fox Glacier. Glaciers in NZ are unique as they are situated in areas which are catagorised at rainforest!

23 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

25 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

24 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

You want more folks? Can ya handle it?

S

No, I can't handle it. Outrageous photos with a grub shot thrown in as well. You're killing me.

And I'm going back to work today.....

More please.

beautyfull places man....keep riding!

Gorgeous!!!

Thanks for the report, fantastic pictures. I must go there one day.






...............hang on I already live there

If anyone is heading this way PM me, wife and I enjoy meeting fellow bikers. I will put photos on this site soonish, am busy taking pictures on my province - Taranaki.

thanks for the kind comments folks - got to pop away for a couple of days to see my ol' ma down south - will post more as soon as i'm back!

Keep smiling!

Looking forward to your future posts. Thanks for the great photos.

Thanks for the awesome photos. Got to ride the north island a bit in 98, been trying to get back ever since to do the south island. What a fantastic place.

Spent 2 weeks in NZ in early April 2006 with my wife and two kids. Was immediately struck with what a fantastic place to be riding two wheels, even in the meters of rain. I've been all over, and NZ is still the most beautiful (IMHO) and my favorite. Can't wait to get back. Thanks for the gorgeous reminders. Too bad the job didn't work out; must have been one of the best jobs in the world - most days!

Shag - I realise you're in SI, but if you don't show a photo of tree ferns, you ain't shyte...

bio - who never should have left the Devonian ferns and horse tails

Yup gonna try and pm it to you but could you pm me with your email addy as well in case i can't?

Cheers

S

Hi all!

Due to my ISP going down on my at the worst possible moment, here's my second go at getting the next series of pics to you.......

First of all, I'd like to say Gidday and thanks to my mate Steve in Chicago for unknowingly contributing a few of the pics in this thread - you're da man Steve - here's a pic so i can make him WORLD FAMOUS!

26 by Shane Doig, on Flickr


Anyhow, on with the show!

Readying for departure at our Auckland hotel

27 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

Huka Falls, Lake Taupo, centre of the North Island. NZ's largest lake at 622 square km's in size. Huka Falls is the outlet of the lake and can flow up to 250,000 cubic metres of water a second!

28 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

Hi Greg and Cyndee!!!! From CA, Greg is a recently retired Motor Officer with the CHP

29 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

The famous (and rightly so) Mussel Boys restaurant in the tiny seaside hamlet of Havelock in the Marlborough Sounds. Just around the corner from my Marlborough Sounds pic overlooking Moenui mentioned above. Greenlipped mussels are grown in marine farms in the Sounds and processed only 200m from this restaurant - so fresh fresh fresh! Note the two rugby teams battling on the roof! The New Zealand All Blacks are CRUSHING the UK Lions team....again....

30 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

A typical lunchtime feast!

31 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

Here's Carolyn from CA enjoying the solitude of Onetahuti Beach in the Abel Tasman National Park. Carolyn and her hubby Mike and I enjoyed a 60 minute water taxi ride from Kaiteriteri to here, thence to walk about two hours back to Bark Bay where we lounged on the beach for about 45mins before the taxi picked us back up again for the ride home - just fabulous!

32 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

32a by Shane Doig, on Flickr


The whole area of Golden Bay is overall very shallow which presents interesting challenges when the tide is in but still too shallow for the water taxi to make it into the beach - especially here at Marahau!

33 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

Punakaiki - pancake rocks - a small part of a peculiar limestone rock formation on the west coast of the South Island. Covering quite a large area with a brilliant walking track and viewpoints for tourists - well worth the walk!

34 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

From Wiki:
Punakaiki is a small community on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand, between Westport and Greymouth. The community lies on the edge of the Paparoa National Park.

The Pancake Rocks are a very popular tourist destination at Dolomite Point south of the main village. The Pancake Rocks are a heavily eroded limestone area where the sea bursts through several vertical blowholes during high tides. Together with the 'pancake'-layering of the limestone (created by immense pressure on alternating hard and soft layers of marine creatures and plant sediments),[1] these form the main attraction of the area.

The Pancake Rocks are presently explorable by a number of walkways winding through the rock formations, parts of these wheelchair-accessible and others carved into stairways up and down the rock faces.[1] State Highway 6, the only through road on the West Coast, passes through the town.

Sunset from our rooms! Right on the beachfront!

35 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

A great place to soak off the miles......on the Lewis Pass between Westport and Christchurch (Photo Credit: Steve Morgan , guest)


36 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (Photo Credit: Steve Morgan , guest)


37 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

Back of beyond! (Photo Credit: Steve Morgan , guest)


38 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

From the top of the Crown Range road overlooking Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu in the far distance - you can even see the airport runway from up here! Just after the Cardrona hotel mentioned above....

(Photo Credit: Steve Morgan , guest)


39 by Shane Doig, on Flickr


Fox Glacier carpark

40 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

Fox glacier - you can walk right up to the base/leading edge of the glacier....we didn't tho - we had the best roads in NZ to carve up!

41 by Shane Doig, on Flickr

Fiordland (Photo Credit: Steve Morgan , guest)


42 by Shane Doig, on Flickr



Take care and best wishes!

S

I made them flash movies and panned through a frame.

I'll upload some later