A few people joined me and Jo and John and Linda Glasswell for the trip to the Annual Rally. It was great to see Peter Z, John H, Tony O and Richard C from Auckland. Stuart came over from Nelson for the ride too. Justin joined us at Geraldine.Our first day was pretty short, just the ferry trip from Wellington and the ride over Redwood Pass before heading down through Molesworth Station to Hanmer Springs for the night.Stuart - Molesworth StationPeter and Richard - Molesworth StationPeter – Molesworth StationIsolated Flat – Molesworth StationGot time to zip down to the old swing bridge for a look.Our second day was a bit longer, leaving Hanmer early enough to get through Pyramid Downs, Okuku Pass and the Lees Valley before winding down the inland route (SH72) to stop at Geraldine for the night.John G – Okuku PassBit of a traffic jam on Okuku Pass as well!Leaving Mt Lawry Station just before crossing the Okuku River onto Lees Valley Road. No dramas at all in the river.First stop from Geraldine was the obligatory group photo at the Richard Pearse memorial in Upper Waitohi.From there we headed across Mt Gay along the ridge on Rockwood Road down to Cricklewood. Limestone Valley provided entry to the Mackenzie Pass and a couple of left turns soon found us on the Hakataramea Pass Road. After gas at Kurow, we shot down Danseys Pass to the pub for lunch and arrived in Cromwell for the Rally proper around 5:00 pm.Nice short ride on Saturday. Justin took a few people through the Ida Valley to meet Jo and me in Omakau for lunch. Jo rented a CRF230, an ideal little bike for a trip over Thompson’s Track. I had a go on Rick’s Super Tenere. Pretty fast bike, but pretty big too! No pictures of that though sorry, I was also tail end Charlie for the day, which meant I didn’t have to open or close any of the 21 gates. 🙂Sunday was great. We started off with about 16 bikes for a cracker run over the Hawkesburn to Clyde before heading into Alexandra to Galloways Road. From there it was to the Old Dunstan Road, which I must say was in great nick.Obligatory group shot at the top of the second half of the Dunstan.Gorgeous road on the way downAfter a coffee in Middlemarch we headed up for a look at Macraes mine. One massive hole in the ground! We heard that for every gram of gold extracted they have to move 400 tonnes of ore.All of a sudden the Rally was over. John, Linda, Jo and I headed north up the West Coast on the Monday. Was a glorious day, as you can see from this shot over Lake Hawea.We spent the night at Westport. On Tuesday, John and Linda and I headed to Murchison and over the Maruia Saddle before heading back into Hanmer Springs to meet up with Jo (she was back on her 800S by this stage so takes a road option).Nice view of the Matakitaki River from the Horse Terrace Bridge.Maruia Saddle RoadJohn G crosses one of the three fords on the way up Maruai Saddle RoadJohn Hoy joined John G and me for the ride over Rainbow Station on Wednesday morning. Linda elected to join Jo on the Kaikoura coastal route.St James Station.The two Johns at Lake TennisonIsland SaddleJohn H – Rainbow StationJohn G – Rainbow StationWairau River – Rainbow StationGreat week, good company, it’s never a dull trip south that’s for sure!