Sea to Mountains NZ - Clint & Rosie's 2014 South Is Adventure

That's kind of how it felt lying in the hut, wondering if the shredded remains of my motorbike would get me home or not.

Of course you could always push your bike all the way back to Lilybank road, then call the AA

So after hearing the keas hanging around the hut, and chewing on the solar panel all night, we got up and went outside to inspect the damage. Amazingly the bikes didn’t have a scratch on them, the keas seemed to prefer the taste of the 4WDs. We put the seats and the luggage back onto the bikes as the sun rose





Then, it was back the way we had come



But that was no problem, scenery like this deserves to be seen twice



Finding the track was a bit harder going downstream, so there was a bit more boulder hopping than the previous day. Fortunately the sun had reached the valley floor and it was nice and warm for us to splash through the river







The moment we got back into phone coverage, this happened:



The guys were actually lining up access to the Orari gorge, so our ride could flow seamlessly from one adventure to the next. With land access sorted, it back down Lilybank road



For a coffee stop in Tekapo



From there we headed deep into the hills, to find Blue Mountains Station



And the Orari river



The Orari gorge track is a farm track that links up a shortcut from the Tekapo-Fairlie road, through to Geraldine.





Most of it was fairly straightforward, but there were some short steep scrabbly sections to keep it interesting. And some interesting rock formations



Eventually the farm track turned back into a gravel road



Then we were back onto the long straight sections of tar on the inland scenic route to Mayfield where we stopped for a pint and to farewell Mike, who was heading back to Rangiora.

We got back to Stavely in time to get the bikes packed up for the trip home, before we were invited out for dinner – Clint’s sister’s friend had more Oamaru blue cod than they could possibly eat themselves, so we were asked to go and help :dg Naturally it would be rude to decline such an offer, and the local blue cod proved to be excellent quality.

Next up... Lees Valley, and the loooong ride back to Rotorua

Great report, pics and route intel

Sadly, by Saturday it was time to start heading home. We said our goodbyes to Clare and Brad, and started north along the inland scenic route to Oxford where we turned off to the more inland, and far more scenic, Lees valley road. We wound our way up into the hills through the Ashley gorge, until we crossed the Ashley river. Extra marks to people who can spot the dot-motorcycle



Past the gorge, you come into river flats again



And cross the Ashley river again



Once again, there was the promise of danger



Which started out with a pleasant ride through farmland



Before coming to the dangerous and unfordable Okuku river



At higher flow rates the Okuku definitely lives up to its reputation, but it was nice and low when we went through.



But that didn’t stop me from dropping the bike in the gravel on the far side though. I did drop my bike a bit during the trip, but I always avoided dropping it in the water

We then wound our way over Okuku saddle



and rolled into Amberley for a very nice lunch at the Nor’wester Café, accompanied by Emersons and Three Boys beers. A quality beer list always gets the Rosie and Clint ADV seal of approval.

From Amberley, it was State Highway One time. But it wasn’t all bad, the Kaikoura coast was as scenic as ever



After a soak in the hot tub at the Sequoia lodge backpackers, we had regained enough energy to stroll into downtown Picton to farewell our holiday with a delicious meal of local mussels (to make a change from all the blue cod we’d had recently).

Bright and early the next day, we were back on the ferry, watching the south island (and our holiday) disappear behind us



Then it was the long haul back up the highway to Rotorua.

Thank you for sharing.

As always, great RR

Cheers

Josh

Thanks Mate, your website was most useful for the planning of the trip!

To anyone that wants to check out the places we went on this adventure, most of the routes, & a lot more cool stuff around the South Is, are detailed on Josh's website: http://www.adventureguide.co.nz/ This is a great piece of work with maps, gps files, pictures, route info & more. It's really professionally done & is very easy to use.

Cheers
Clint

+1 on adventureguide.co.nz website. Major effort and resource.

Bastards

Be away Satan and Sataness

As usual, simply stunning photos and reports. You two should become ambassadors for New Zealand ADV tourism

As for me, I slumming it around NZ's cousin Tasmania for a few weeks

Catch up with you guys later in the year

Chris

Great pics, thanks!

Thanks to Rosie and Clint.
A great RR
gives me a kind of feeling homesick viewing those pics from places i ve seen some months ago
Black Spur Hut great entrance there is nothing cpmparable in Middle Europe

I missed Port Ligar but did the French Pass







I love NZ!

i'm in the stans right now (check my RR) , yes very similar for sure but more snow here, and the biggest surprise, more sheep even had a shepard stop me and ask if i wanted one slaughtered to carry along for the ride!!!

might be stealing that GPS track from you when i get there

...and to show how small this ADV world is and pure coincidence the Captain on that ferry between the islands is new, the old one is riding the Bartang Valley, on his DRZ400, just bumped into him a few days ago in Khorog, Tajikistan

Thanks Andreas, I bet a lot of visitors to the Clarence pass right by the side track to Black Spur without realising it's there. Keep an eye out for the big black rock outcrop & the little sign on the cliff on the true left.

Hi Paul, I sure have been following your RR! You actually hardly need a GPS track to check out the Clarence reserve, it's all well signposted. Can help with access outside the open weekends if you need it though. For GPS tracks etc our man Josh (who built the advguide site) has just launched a new website: http://www.remotemoto.com/ which has detailed info on just about every interesting road or track in the South Island.

Cheers
Clint