Ride to the Annual Rally, Flock Hill, South Island (part 2)

[Dave Ross]

#1605

Friday 7,2006
The destination for this day was Flock Hill. We had one of two options depending on the weather. In case of rain, head towards Christchurch and on to Flock Hill. Should be the weather be reasonable, do the Lewis Pass, have lunch in Greymouth then on to Flock Hill via Arthur’s Pass.

As we were trying to cover a reasonable distance, yes the weather didn’t disappoint, not many photos were taken along the way. Tommy took some, so I’ll pinch those of their website if I can find them.

After breakfast at the Backpackers, we met up with Tommy and Rosa again for the ride to Flock Hill.

The riding was great and the scenery fantastic, but no pictures until Reefton. We had to stop near the top of Lewis Pass, as it had started to rain and it was bloody cold. Out came a jumper and the covers for the tank bags. Basically we were in the clouds and the drizzle continued until we descended on the other side.

I had ridden past the petrol station at Hanmer Springs. Now the warm glow of the petrol light kept me company as we were riding through the drizzle. It was about 56 km to Springs Junction and I figured that if they had bothered putting that on a sign there must be petrol there. Thank god there was. What was even better, Rosa had some warm tea in a thermos and was sharing it around. The petrol was slightly above Auckland prices, as was to be expected, so I didn’t fill up all the way, saving myself a few cents in the process.

At times it was a bit like riding through a green tunnel, quite pretty. The drizzle had pretty much stopped by now and it was an easy ride into Reefton. I hadn’t expected it to be such a neat little town. I have no idea what people do around there for a living, but they had done a good job presenting their main street. We stopped log enough for a quick steak pie, before continuing to Greymouth.




It didn’t take long to get there, and once again I was pleasantly surprised. For some reason I had expected those West Coast towns to be a bit run down and dreary looking, Greymouth wasn’t anything like that. Maybe the warm temperature and the sunshine had something to do with it.



We did one loop through town and the parked in front of a building that must have been the local newspaper printing press. Through the tall glass windows you could watch a print run go through, that was quite fascinating to watch.

We proceeded to walk around, taking some photos before settling in for lunch while admiring the street scene. A neat little town. I suppose having a railroad from Christchurch to Greymouth does have a positive effect on tourism.








[img]http://www.2aufweltreise.de/januar2006/1045.JPG[/img]


Soon it was time to fill up the bikes with petrol again and do some shopping before the final leg to Flock Hill. We took the road past Lake Brunner, had a brief stop at Moana and then carried on. As we started to gain some altitude on the road to Arthur’s Pass we could see the rain clouds up ahead. It was time again to cove the tank bags. Halfway up the Pass it started to rain again. Despite the rain, we made good progress. I had a little slide where the road crossed the railway track at an unfortunate angle, but regained traction before I could think oops. As we approached the steeper bits we were stuck behind a campervan for a little while, they always seem to pop up at the least opportune places.

Even in the rain the scenery was quite stunning, but we didn’t feel like stopping and didn’t do so until we pulled up in Arthur’s Pass Village. I should have taken a photos of the little baches they had there, but I didn’t.



http://www.2aufweltreise.de/januar2006/1047.JPG

The rain had stopped again and the scenery was getting better by the minute. Around every corner was a stunning view. As we approached Lake Pearson we could see a sign “Flock Hill Lodge�, we had reached our destination.



We met Garry, who runs the Lodge together with his wife Heather. Garry promptly informed us that we had no bookings, but after a while we were able to sort it out. Garry pointed to the back of the lodge and said: “follow that fence line to the bunkhouse�. Soon we spotted other bikes and it became obvious, that although we had arrived early, we weren’t the first.

Gerda and I inspected the bunkhouse, and I could immediately tell that the accommodation was deemed unsatisfactory. As we went to check on Tommy and Rosa who, you guessed it, were setting up their tent, we met Sue and Maria. On finding out that we stayed in the bunkhouse, they confirmed Gerda’s assessment of the facilities. Women seem to look at things differently.





Thanks to Malcolm and Sue and due to the general mix up with the accommodation we were able to upgrade our room for the next two nights. However, it was bunkroom for one night. It wasn’t too bad, I thought.



Anyway, while this was going on, bikes kept arriving and there was talking to be done. You could tell which group had done the Molesworth by the dust coating their bikes. It wasn’t long before Bernd turned up to complete the world traveller contingent. He proceeded to set up camp next to Tommy and Rosa. The German contingent kept growing.

Soon it was time to cook dinner and we set up in the kitchen to cook and later eat. I suppose we were a bit unsocial at the time, but it was a good time to catch up on all sorts of things. Bernd, Tommy and Rosa were all form roughly the same part of Germany that we came from. The first night at Flock Hill ended with lots of talking and a carton of wine.

[img]http://www.2aufweltreise.de/januar2006/1048.JPG[/img]



for part 3 http://forum.bmwor.org.nz/viewtopic.php?t=164

[Jim Young]

#5702

First class Alex,

You are making me want to do the South Island now !!!

[Author]

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