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Part One: Getting to the RallyJohn Posey, my good friend from Oklahoma, USA, called me just before Christmas to let me know he was visiting for a few weeks (his wife’s family live in Christchurch). I hadn’t seen John since we shared digs for a week over the 2003 BMW Ultimate Safari. When I suggested he joined us for the trip to Pukeora,then head back down for the Yamaha Safari the following weekend he just couldn’t resist. With his wife’s blessing (I’m assuming), John hired a new F800GS in Christchurch and made his way to Wellington for New Year’s Eve. Ross Williams, Marlborough Area Rep, arrived on his GSPD the following day. The three of us set off early Friday 2 January for the Rally. Jo joined us later at Pukeora after dropping the kids off at various kennels and catteries. Our plan was a route to take in North Range Road off the Pahiatua Track, part of Turakina Valley Road and the Gentle Annie. We made quick time getting over the Rimutaka Hill but held a reasonably sedate pace through the Wairarapa due to the incessant presence of our Highway Patrol friends.A brief stop at Mt Bruce introduced Mr Posey to the Takahae and allowed for a quick coffee.
The alterations to the Mt Bruce complex look fantastic and the coffee is way better than the last time we stopped there. Heading north we fired off through Mangamaire before heading up the Pahiatua Track to the beginning of North Range Road. 
The route is a 4WD track that goes all the way through to the Manawatu Gorge and provides stunning views of the Manawatu district, back to Pahiatua, south to the Tararuas and north to the Ruahines. 
Riding under the massive blades of the wind farm turbines slowly chopping up the air is an experience in itself. These things are huge!A short run through the Manawatu Gorge bought us into Ashurst. At this point I’d normally be thinking about gassing up but I was having so much fun I wasn’t really thinking about petrol. Heading out it wasn’t until Colyton that my reserve light started flashing. I figured I’d make it to Hunterville so didn’t worry too much about it until the on-board computer was telling me I had 0 kms left - at Rewa. Not much I can do about that so just kept going until we cut back to Hunterville on the main drag. I have a 13lt tank, at Hunterville it took 12.75lts to fill it and I’d managed 253kms from Wellington.We enjoyed a quick lunch at Hunterville and, just prior to heading out, ran into John and Jan Forsyth on their KTM990 returning from a night up at the Chateau. John Posey, Jo and I had spent New Year’s Eve with the Forsyths so it was quite serendipitous to see them again in such a short space of time.It was starting to heat up a fair bit and I was keen to get moving so we headed west to Rataiti and onto Turakina Valley Road travelling up to Colliers Junction. The odd abandoned vehicle provided some light entertainment; they obviously don’t get too many opportunities in Oklahoma to act the goat.
Onwards east to Taihape you travel through Mataroa, a lovely little place and once known for the Country Women's Institute (CWI), or Women's Institute as it was named up to 1952, which was set up to provide country women with support and education. It encouraged home crafts and cultural work, such as music, drama, and arts and crafts; took an active part in rural events, such as A&P shows; provided community services, such as charitable donations, housekeeping for sick members and hospital visiting; and acted as a training ground for women in local body politics.By the time we got to Taihape it was getting really hot. Following a brief stop to take layers off we headed across the Gentle Annie. I wanted to do this road again as in 2008 came news that it will finally be sealed. The road works have begun and I dare say that within two years there will be no gravel left on this route at all. In some ways this is a shame, though it has been a torturous, narrow, winding road since pioneering days, with 60km in gravel that doesn't make it any easier for some motorists. But you are rewarded with wonderful views of the backblocks, where high country stations run to the tens of thousands of acres, and travelling west to east - the best way to go – a panoramic vista of Hawkes Bay opens up in front of you.Unfortunately some of the “tiger country” aspect of the trip has lost its adventurous feel, as bends get straightened out and plantations of pines at the Hawkes Bay end have covered the rugged, rocky ground where no sheep could ever get a feed. It is, by reputation, a challenging route and what a nightmare journey it must have been in the old days when it was plagued by mud, frequent landslips and heavy winter snowfalls. This route was famously traversed by missionary William Colenso in 1845 when Taihape was merely a bush clearing called O Taihape, the Place of the Hunchback, and he took the word around the central North Island.In 1867 the first sheep arrived at Erewhon Station and a rough route was started from Napier, reaching Kuripapango and Moawhango by 1883. All the wool from the Taihape and Karioi areas was taken to Napier, initially by teams of bullocks pulling a dray, later by draught horses, though even they took a staggering 10 days to make the journey.We headed up SH 50 after a right turn at Fernhill. Again, I wasn’t giving much thought to petrol and it wasn’t until we whipped past Tikokino that I realised there were more kms to Waipukurau than I had in the tank. Fortunately the nice lady at the Ongaonga General Store, despite it being closed, was easily found and more than happy to open up the bowser to help out. I’d managed 270 kms on 13lts since Hunterville.
We arrived at Pukeora around 6:00 pm in time for a swim to wash the dust off and hook into drinks and nibbles. We’d covered just over 530 kms and had a great day out.Part two: The Annual RallySaturday started off fine and just as well, the Gymkhana track would have been a nightmare if it was wet. As it happened six brave souls took on the challenge laid out by the organisers with a vociferous crowd of onlookers egging us on. John Glasswell took it on. ….
…… but it was Gordon Evans that managed two clear runs to give him the trophy. It was good fun and, fortunately, all over before it started raining.A few of us (John G, Colin, Dan, Ian and I) took off to meet up with a local rider, Mark Bramley, to take a ride along the Tukituki embankment and up the river. Dan wisely enough chose to ride his DR and Mark was on his KTM530EXC. The rest of us on bigger BMWs didn’t know what we were in for and it proved challenging to say the least. 
All was going well though until a short river crossing where things came unstuck for most in more ways than one for Captain Colin.
Plenty of hands to help get the bike back on dry land though.
The result; an hour or two in the rain mucking about trying to get Colin’s GS going, a tow to the stop bank on a short leash while Dan headed home for his trailer, 60kms in about four hours (most of it in the rain) and a bit of a wash out (pun intended) for the day really. Must say, it was an awful lot of fun though.Somewhere along the line I’d managed to fracture the gear shift level on the HP and wasn’t at all pleased at the prospect of missing Sunday’s ride if it broke in two. Figuring Max was the sort of guy to have a decent shed on the estate, I asked if he had a welder. Sure enough, he produced the keys to his shed and told us to lock up after. We found a single phase arc welder along with all the necessary bits to do the job. Henry got stuck in to do the repair so the afternoon was not completely wasted - and we had it done in time to make it to an excellent dinner.Sunday came out much better and, after breakfast, the Concourse de elegance was held in bright, sunny conditions. Jimmy Liu was the winner on the day, his K1200S in pristine condition
Barry Richardson, who made a valiant effort to shine up the Cruiser, took out second place.
Again, one of the local riders, Warren Welch, put together a route for a few GS riders to undertake. There was plenty of good gravel on the likes of Wallingford Road and through the forest on Te Uri Road before we regrouped at the beginning of Tahuokaretu Road.
Following this we headed along Birch Road East toward Porangahau for a lunch stop (at the pub of course). After lunch it was an easy jaunt up and across Hill View Road back to Waipukurau We covered about 240 kms during the day and many thanks go to Warren for making it so enjoyable.Dinner on Sunday night was great and the party went for quite some time so I’m told.Monday morning we had breakfast and said our goodbyes – another very successful rally completed. John and Linda Glasswell joined me, Jo and John Posey for the trip back to Wellington via a stop at Te Manawa and the “Motorcycles Unleashed” exhibition in Palmerston North. 
John G had a shot on the Superbike simulator. He said it was hard work, although Jo did manage to squeak in a slightly better time with her ride.
We only stopped one night at home because Tuesday morning we headed south for the Yamaha Safari at Hanmer Springs.Part Three: The Yamaha SafariAn uneventful ride on the Arahura (although those guys need to get the system they think is best for tying bikes down sorted, that humungous chain they insist on dragging out to attach tie-downs to is just silly) got us into Picton around 1:30 pm on Tuesday. John, John and Linda headed off to Nelson over Queen Charlotte Drive while Jo and I headed off to Blenheim to get Wayne Brock to fit TKCs to the KLE at Motocare Yamaha. While this was going on we ducked out to visit Ross Williams who had come back from the Rally on the Sunday, sadly he had to be back at work do on the Monday. Back to Wayne’s place and the tyres were sorted so off we headed to catch up with the others at Tahuna Beach Holiday Park where we were staying the night.Wednesday morning we headed up to Collingwood. We made a brief stop for coffee at Motueka where we ran into Paul Swift heading back south on his HP2 hen is was on to Takaka and that gorgeous hill.
Jesus, you just feel like turning around and doing it all again.We arrived in Collingwood without too much fuss, dropped the gear off with Allan and Anne at the Beachcomber Motel and headed off to explore Cape Farewell (the northern most point of the South Island) and Wharariki Beach for the afternoon. It was a fantastic ride and on the way back we enjoyed coffee on the deck of the café at Port Puponga affording great views out over Farewell spit.
The Beachcomber is a great place to stay, as the name suggests it’s right on the sea and, as Collingwood is so small, walking distance to everything you need, including the pub which put on a great meal.
Thursday morning we headed south for a night at St Arnuad. Back over the hill and just before you get into Takaka you can’t miss the turnoff for Pupu Springs, or Waikoropupu as its full name is. This is probably Golden Bay's most famous attraction, and its story and mysteries are still a fascinating one. Looking down at the Takaka Valley from the top of the Takaka Hill you should notice the flat valley floor is separated sharply from the steep hills to the right and rather less sharply from the Tasman Mountains to its left. Several million years ago earth movements caused the two hilly blocks to rise, while the wedge- shaped area containing today's valley was lowered. The marble rock of the Takaka Hill is famous for its cave system, underground rivers, sinkholes, and associated features. A huge system of flooded chambers exists in the buried marble under the valley. Overlying the marble is a thick layer of sandstones which do not permit the passage of water through them, and act as the ‘cap rock' over the waters within the marble. In the Waikoropupu Valley the surface river has eroded down through this cap rock to a point where the underground water, at great pressure, has been able to burst through and emerge as springs. The water from the main spring is a constant cold temperature of 11.7°C, clear and slightly salty. The flow is not constant; it varies from 7 cubic metres per second during droughts to a maximum of 21 cubic metres per second. The springs system is the largest in New Zealand, and among the 100 largest springs in the world (it ranks about 90th).It’s a gorgeous walk around the springs, it talks about 30 minutes and well worth it, even in motorcycle gear in really hot weather!!
It was time for breakfast at the Dangerous Dragon in Takaka, totally recommended. Onwards, and further south a right turn in the middle of Motueka heads you off along Motueka Valley Highway. This is a great road to travel on a motorcycle. It is not long, but it is beautiful and dotted with little communities like Pangatotara, Pokororo, Woodstock and Tapawera before you reach Kohatu, the junction with SH6. We elected however to take a more “straight ahead” approach and shot through to Golden Downs and onto Kerrs Hill Road which then joins Tophouse Road to take you to St Arnaud.We had booked into the Nelson Lakes Motels, and very comfortable and apportioned they are to. John and Linda dropped their gear off and headed off to Blenheim to swap Linda’s F650GS Dakar for a CRF230 Honda that she was going to use on the Safari.They got back in time for dinner and a walk down to Lake Rotoiti. Just gorgeous!!
Friday we headed off for the trip through Rainbow Station following the course of the Wairau and Clarence Rivers to Hanmer Springs. It started off a bit murky but within an hour it was back to the hot and sunny weather we’d been used to for the last week. The Rainbow was in good nick and I can’t imagine a nicer place to go riding to be honest.There are a couple of old cottages along the way.
There are a few fords.
It’s only about 120 km from St Arnaud to Hanmer Springs and, at a reasonable pace, takes about 3 hours. The cold beer on arrival at the Heritage Hotel was just as good.
John Posey decided not to do the Safari after all and we arrange for a farewell dinner that night. He headed back to Christchurch, via the West Coast to drop off the rental GS and head back to Okalahoma on the Tuesday. Was fabulous travelling with John, he is a much laid back man.Saturday was Day One of the Yamaha Safari. There were around 150 bikes involved in this event, mostly Yamaha WR250 and 450s , all manner of Suzukis and KTMs of capacities between 250 and 530 although I did spot a 950 Super Enduro. Lots of BMWs involved though, including Jules on his HP2 and quite a few Dakars. John had arranged to try out a new F800GS, leaving his 1200GS parked up at the hotel for the weekend. Nice work if you can get it.The route for the day was basically south west of Hanmer involving a short but reasonably technical crossing of the Hanmer River and a run over the Amuri Range on private land to Waiau, nothing too difficult to begin with but enough to get a sweat up. From Waiau we headed across more farmland, some loose shingle roads and over Random Spur Road (the paper road where Dean had his mishap) before a pit stop in Cheviot. I think I had my camera but as it happens we had such a huge distance to cover the thought of stopping for photos was not top of mind. I hate that!!From Cheviot it just got boring really. A ride out to Gore Bay, then through to Motunau Beach on long, dusty gravel roads before heading inland again through Greta Valley and onto Waikari for gas and Hawarden for lunch. We split the route after a really generous lunch to head back to Hurunui on the Lake Sumner Road where we had a quick stop for coffee before zipping back into Hanmer Springs for a shower and beer or two before dinner.Day two (Sunday) would turn out to be just as long as day one and basically consisted of going 180 kms up the Molesworth, having lunch at Ron and Sue Small’s place, Blairich Station and coming back again. To be fair, there are only so many directions you can go from Hanmer Springs and, while there were some great loops involved off the main Molesworth route, it took a long time to get to them. One of the loops was across Muller Station in the morning however I elected to stay with Jo, John and Linda on the main route and we were having a bit of fun. It was nice to be able to stop every now and then and not get caught by the sweep crew, like we had been the day before.I love the Molesworth, and so does my bike!!
Jo was doing very well on her KLE500.
Lunch also meant fuel for the bikes. There isn’t any between Hanmer and Blenheim so organisers had arrange for fuel to be available at three points on the route, one being Blairich. It was compulsory to buy, and it was expensive – roughly $5 a litre for me. The logistics of gassing up everyone at the same time were a challenge but, funnily enough, it all worked out and no-one got too unhappy about things. Lunch was brilliant.
Jo had some errands to run in Blenheim and opted to leave us at this point and travel back to Hanmer via the coast. Sadly she missed the best part of the way back which included the run up Altimarloch on the Blackbirch Range (if you felt like it) and a diversion we had an option to take at Castle River, which took us across the pylon track exiting back onto the main Molesworth route down near Acheron House. It was basically a two rut 4 wheel drive track with a few river crossings and a pleasant change from the dusty girth of the Molesworth road. Even better, at the point where we skirted the Muller Station deer farm in the middle a couple of enterprising young ladies were dishing out muffins and cold lemonade at $2 a can. Good on ya’ girls.
Back in Hanmer, contemplating over a couple a beers the fact that all we’d felt like we’d done for the day was the Molesworth both ways, we couldn’t help noticing that not one of the people taking part in the Safari could stop grinning. There you go then, better the Molesworth than something as tawdry as being at work, eh!!Dinner was, again, great!!Monday, and bugger me is it cold. After several weeks of hot (up to 40 degrees on one day) sunny weather here I am putting the liners back in my gear. Linda opted not to ride today, a couple of huge days on the little 230 had pretty much done her in and she decided to endure the spa at the hotel instead.Heading out over Jollies Pass it was about 3 degrees with a bit of that misty stuff that coats your visor. Sadly, it was still dry enough for the bikes in front to generate a truckload of dust. Bad combination and worse if you try and wipe your visor as a few people found out. Today, we’re basically heading up the Rainbow, hoping over the Parika Track, dropping down to Lake Rotoroa, cruising over the Braeburn Track and heading into Murchison for lunch. After lunch it’s a trip up Mt Murchison for those brave enough, then back across Parika Track the other way into St Arnaud and back down the Rainbow.It all went to plan for most of the day. We had a great ride back up the Rainbow and the further north we got the hotter it was getting. John was enjoying the F800GS.
Jo was still having fun on the KLE.
We made it to Lake Rotoroa.
And we had another stunning lunch in Murchison.Here’s where a few of us deviated though. Craig and Kim had had enough and did not want to go back down the Rainbow. I felt the same, having already done it both ways in the course of a few days. Why bother when we had the option of the Maruia Saddle right next to us. I know the Safari organisers had considered the Maruia Saddle but figured the guys on the chook chasers would not like the additional seal in getting back to Hanmer over the Lewis Pass. Too bad, that’s why you’ve got a large dual purpose bike - isn’t it? So, off we went. Jo has never done the Maruia Saddle she was impressed. This is such a great ride.A quick stop in the Lewis Pass provided the only photo opportunity of the afternoon.A stop at Maruia Springs for a cuppa finished up what was a pretty good adventure. All that was left to do was trundle into Hanmer Springs for the grand dinner to close the event.Tuesday was gorgeous and a leisurely breakfast ensured we got to say goodbye to all those heading back home until we see them again at the next event, often the next Safari. Jo and Linda decided they would head off to Blenheim via the coast so Linda could swap the CRF for her Dakar. John and I decided we might as well go up through Molesworth Station (we’d only done it twice this weekend) so arrange to meet the girls in Blenheim at 3:00 pm. John said goodbye to the F800GS, which headed back to its home with Rodney in Christchurch (in fact I think he’d sold it already), and loaded up the 1200GS ready for the trip.At our own pace, with no dust from people in front, very few other vehicles on the road at all, the trip up was fantastic and took us just on four hours, in Blenheim well before the girls.
The crossing back to Wellington and the Aratere was very calm. We were home by 10:00 pm and, although John and Linda still had another couple of days to get home, we were all ready to plan the next trip.
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