Whenua Maori NZ   Motorcyle Tour 16 d

Arrival Day ° 0km

Welcome to New Zealand. Gathering and accommodation at the hotel in Auckland, a small "self-assembling” on the hard ground, and out to stretch our limbs after the long flight. Dinner together in the evening, and we will review the upcoming two weeks. It’s definitely not a bad idea to arrive in Auckland a day early, to help recover from the time difference.

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383km ° 5h 9m ° b,d

Yesterday we drove up the coast of Australia’s side; today we drive down on the coast of South America. Today's main destination is the “Nordkapp of New Zealand”, Cape Reinga. Northland is known for its green, lush greenery and long magnificent beaches; the home of the famous 90-mile beach is also here. However, we cannot take our rental bikes there. We end the second longest driving day of our trip to the small and nice Orewa just north of Auckland. 

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249km ° 3h 43m ° b, d

Today our kilometers are very moderate. But still, there are two main destinations for the day: visit Hobbiton, the famous city from ‘Lord of the Ring and Hobbit movies’, where to we take on a bus from the gate of Hobbiton. In the evening, we have a unique Hangi in Rotorua, which is a Maori dinner that is full of dancing and singing. Rotorua is the heartland of the indigenous people of New Zealand.

Maoris!

Motorcycle tour New Zealand

509km ° 6h 46m ° b, d

Surprise surprise. Today is a beautiful driving day again! Today the bumpy land, or hills, grows around us and the curves expand. Taupo, on the shore of Lake Taupo, is an excellent place for coffee with a view!

After Taupo we pass the active volcano, Mt Ngauruhoe. The best curves of the day are between Featherston and Upper Hut at the end of the day! And the end of the day in New Zealand’s friendly capital, the city of Wellington! 

Motorcycle tour New Zealand

505km ° 6h 54m ° b, d

Today the snow topped Alps of the Southern island are coming to our left hand side after Westport! 

Our halfway stop and also an great lunch stop is Punakaiki Pancake Rocks. Yes, you can have here a pancake, but here are also real pancake rocks rising from the sea. One of the unique sights in New Zealand!

From pancakes our journey continues to the picturesque Fox Glacier which is our destination of the beautiful driving today! 

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Day off!

Day off. Tour Queenstown and its surroundings as you wish. If you decide to move around on your motorcycle, a 'mandatory' destination is the historic Arrowtown of gold miners. It's also a very nice place for a slow breakfast!  Queenstown is also known as the adrenaline center; here you can find the world's first commercial bungee jumping venue. And many other thing to get your adrenalin run! :)

Motorcycle tour New Zealand

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467km ° 6h 27m ° b, d

And a great driving day again! :) ... 1st highlight of the day is the most famous Hardware Store in New Zealand among bikers! When you are there, you know why! From Invercargill's hardware store we drive to the remote Slope Point, which is the most southern point of South Island... and with awesome views. It's also a turning point for us. From Slope Point we turn towards north east! And stunning Otago Peninsula. Tonight we have also special program. When the sun is setting we go to Royal Albatross Centre to see Blue Penguins! They return every day from the sea at dusk :)

Motorcycle tour New Zealand

376km ° 5h 29m ° b, d

As a cherry for the top of a cake, we have today Akaroa as our tours cherry. Our last stunning place on the tour is Banks Peninsula with amazing roads in the middle of amazing views! You love it! When we are back in Christchurch it's time to say bye bye to our bikes and you start to miss NZ roads already! In the evening farewell dinner!

Motorcycle tour New Zealand

391km ° 6h 11m ° b, d

Getting our motorcycles in the morning and we head towards the Northland. During the morning, we will also do a little touristic nature trip and visit the Muriwai blue-footed booby bird colony. Later in the afternoon, we ride on one of the most spectacular roads of the northern part of the island, as we wiggle through the Waipua Kauri Forest. At the end of the day, we shut down our rides in Kaitaia.  

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426km ° 5h 43m ° b, d

Today is a day that is only getting better all day long! We start with our tour's only motorway part when we cross Auckland. After an hour or so, we leave the highway, drive to the Thames and our 3rd part of the day is literally bikers amusement park. In New Zealand, they call it Coromandel Penisula! Before Tairua, the destination of the day we will take a break at Hot Water Beach! And if you want, you can have a hot bath on the beach! You just dig you bath tab yourself... yes, there are shovels!

Motorcycle tour New Zealand

Day off!

Rotorua as you like... you might like to take a bath at a termal open air Polynesian Spa. An other very interesting place to visit is Whakarewarewa, a living thermal village.

Motorcycle tour New Zealand

107km ° 1h 48m ° b, l

Today you can sleep long, visit the best museum in the country (museum te Papa) or take the cable car to the roof of the city! At 1:30pm you need to be back at your bike. Our ferry to South Island is leaving at 2:45pm! We arrive to Picton at 05.55pm. Sunset is in Nelson at 9pm. On the ferry we take a late lunch. So no company dinner tonight, but there is many places to have an evening snack or a late light dinner!

But immediately after Picton harbor, we have probably the most fun motorcycle ride of 32 km on the whole tour!

Motorcycle tour New Zealand

327km ° 4h 24m

In the morning you have time for a helicopter flight up to the Mount Cook glacier if you feel that it's a good idea! When we are ready, we continue to the south! Towards the less populated “Lapland of New Zealand”. Today’s destination is Queenstown, which is intertwined around Lake Wakatipu. Measured in kilometers and hours, our day today is very humane. So, in the late afternoon we still have time to go around Queenstown.

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405km ° 5h 23m ° b, d

The journey continues, to what might be the most wonderful place in the whole country... or one of them, the Fjordland National Park and its Milford Sound, where we do a 1,5-hour Fjord Cruise. Night in Te Anau, which is not familiar from TV. And as you might already guess, we have the most beautiful driving day also today! From Milford Sound boat cruise everybody who wants, can drive back to Te Anau, "free falling" with own speed :)

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432km ° 5h 16m ° b, d

Also today, the scenery and roads are anything but boring… which means that the best biking day ever again! 

The Bikers of New Zealand do not even know what a boring road is! From Portabello we follow the beautiful coastline to Oamaru wherefrom we turn inland towards turquoise Lake Pukaki and continue to Mt Cook Village which is in the middle of magnificent scenery! Our last address today is small and nice Lake Tekapo village on the shores of turquoise Lake Tekapo! 

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Departure day!

Time to fly home... if you do not stay in Christchurch for an extra night... if you don't go Kaikoura and say hello the whales... if you don't visit relatives in Australia... if you don't go to Tonga for a week... if you don't do something else! :)

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