Day 5 - 60kms -off to Invercargle

 60kms - 3.5 hours ride time. Horrid!

Today was planned as a short day so that I could spend the arvo at the E Hayes hardware store where there is a great bike and car exhibit set amungst their products including some of Burt munroe's bikes. 

The ride was nice for the first hour and then it turned to hell. Torrential rain so hard you couldn't see the road. There was knowhere to hide out in open farm country so I just had to battle on. To add to the challenge the tyre that Colin gave me couldn't handle the touring punishment and I had two punctures. I arrived at the campground wet and cold only to find they had no  cabins. I put up my tent in the rain and threw my wet gear inside. After a warm shower I walked to town to visit the hardware store. Eager to avoid the wet tent I then went to the movies. 

I got back to the camp around 8pm to find my tent rather wet inside. I dried it with my pack towl and climbed into my wet sleeping bag. The winds were so strong that the tent was constantly blown flat on top of me. The rain and wind eased around 1am and I got a few hours of cold sleep. Worse weather us forecast for tomorrow. Nice. 

Happy times 

Burrs Indian still holds the 1000cc world record. 

Burts road registered bike 

His bike trailers

You know I love a good van 

Day 4 - 117kms - Manapouri to Colac bay

117 kms, killer headwind

I didn't set out to do 117 ks but it was blowing so hard when I got to my stop point that I had to keep motoring. Long day at more than 6 hours on the

Bike. I did make a new friend which was a highlight of the day. I was stopped on the roadside putting on more clothes when he came the other way. He came over for a chat and we were still there 45mins later. He is a professor from Christchurch uni and he has taken time off to ride from bottom to top. 

Lake manopouri looking towards doubtful sound. 

Back up to the snow

Lunch by s beautiful old suspension bridge. 

This land supports 6 sheep to the acre. Unbeleivable

Only 50kms to lands end at bluff

Opted for a cabin as it was blowing and raining. See the spare tyre on the back. Colin kindly lent it to me as mine is failing. Will fit it tonight I think. 

Camp cooking in the rain - video

Day 3 - 86kms - Mavora lake to Manapouri

86kms, 5 hours ride time 

After a wet and cold night I packed up the camp inside the tent while it pelted down outside. I also made coffee and toast in the tent. I didn't break camp until after 9am. It was 7 degrees and miserable as I headed off. Things didn't really improve for most of the day. I just put my head down and slogged it out to Colin's house at manopouri where I had a lovely evening with home and his wife Lila. We ate trout caught by Colin in the lake out front and veges from Lila's garden. What wonderful people. I love kiwis. 

Fresh snow on the hills around the lake made it a killer windchill

Day 2 - 68kms - Queenstown to Mavora lakes

I overslept a bit and woke up at 7:45. Had to pack up in a hurry to get down to the steam ferry. It was a long shot if they were going to let me on as they were overbooked. Turned out all ok

There were also 30 school kids doing a mtb trip in the same direction as I was headed. I met one of their teachers on the ferry. A fantastic fella named Colin who promptly invited me to come and stay at his house at manopouri on my way south. I got off the ferry quick smart to stay ahead of the kids and put my head down into a howling head wind. Bad weather was on the way and I needed to get to camp before the rain. 

This piece of road is the setting of my favourite ever biking photo taken 10 years ago. It features Brendan riding down the road. 

The weather was coming in fast. As I turned away from the lake the wing came onto my back and thing hot a lot easier. I made camp by 3 pm and I was happily all on my own. 

I managed to get set up and have a wash in the lake and cook dinner before the rain started. I crawled into the tent at 6.15. It rained all night. I was in the tent for 13 hours before emerging to snow on the hills all around the lake. No wonder it was chilly. 

Vital stats from day 2

Disaster strikes!

Is it a bad omen for the ride. Thismorning while packing up camp I blew my favourite thong

Wayne emerges like a butterfly

Wayne emerges like a butterfly

He had a lie down in the tent after the big flight. 

Then slowly he comes out of his cucoon. 

And gradually becomes the man he knows he is inside. 

Slowly but surely finding his feet

Until he can stand on his own. 

He told me he is very much looking forward to me giving him a flogging. 

I love Wayne. 

NZ - 10 year anniversary

I'm sitting at the gate waiting for my flight to Queenstown. It's 10 years since Brendan and I did our first tour of the South Island. I haven't booked a flight home, and I've got about a 2500km ride planned. It will be a bit dependent on the weather and how much I miss Lisa and the girls & Calvin. 

I'm doing this ride on my lonesome. Not sure how I'll go. I tend to turn it into a marathon. I'll gunna try and take it easy. 

Home again

Well we couldn't resist the pull towards home. After making it to Peterborough on saturday night we headed off early sunday morning with our eyes on home. 1300kms and 14 hours later we made it. What a big day. Now the clean up

Coober Pedy

We made Coober Pedy yesterday. We are stayed in an underground hotel last night. It was a real blast. We did a mine tour this morning which was also fun. Now we are heading for Peterborough.

Alice Spring R & R

Well we made it to Alice. Very dusty and tired and ready for a couple of days off. We spent some time walking around town checking it out. The camper is uninhabitable with incredible amounts of dust everywhere and a broken door. Looks like we will be swagging it for the rest of the trip

Tanami Desert & Wolfe Creek with Bush Man Mike

Tanami Crossing success

Lisa and I made it across the Tanami desert without significant drama. We popped out in Alice Springs NT after the 1050km desert crossing from Halls Creek in WA. The track was rough and corrugated but we managed a moving average of around 70kms per hour. We had to let the tyres down on the car and the camper to around 24psi to cope with the incredible corrugations. The Camper didn't escape unscathed, with the door breaking off and now held on by cable ties and 100 mile an hour tape. Also there is so much dust inside the camper that it is virtually uninhabitable. The car handled the road with ease, it was bloody amazing. I never thought id say that about the car I've always loved to hate on. We didnt see many other travellers. In fact we only had 1 other traveller going in our direction. The longest distance between fuel stops was 700km. We made it by filling 3 x  20 litre jerry cans and putting them on the roof of the car. Made it with one to spare. We filled up twice at aboriginal communities. That was a real eye opener. They allow Europeans in only to buy fuel. I will put up some photos shortly.

Cool Boat/Car on Cable Beach WA

Check out this cool boat. A must when trying to get off the water in a place where there is 9m tides

Evening traffic jamb on Cable Beach, WA

Here is a clip of the 4WD's lining up to get off the beach after the sunset rush at cable beach.

Spinner Shark Broome Warf

While taking a stroll along the warf at broome, one lucky punter was hauling in the 2.5m spinner shark. Needless to say he couldnt land it as it was about 10m to the water.

Tanami Desert-

Off down Tanami track news in 2days

Moon,star sunset-Cable Beach WA

Can't stop lookin

Biking at the beach

Beach traffic

Afternoon traffic broome style. Leaving the beach after sunset. 

Broome sunset ver2.0

Afternoon ritual. Ride to the beach and have a bevy while watching the sun go down. 

Broome Sunset

We made it to broome for some R&R. Realised everybody in Australia over 65 years old is here too. It's like a retirement home for landcruiser owners. In winter the population goes from 15000 to 45000. It's FUCKED!!!

Anyway we enjoyed the sunset with 20,000 other old people. The rest of then were already in bed. 

Last day at Rocklea

I put ash on the plane this morning and went back to camp to pack up. 4 hours later and very red and sad we headed north. 

Lisa visits Karijini.

I took Lisa to Karijini for the weekend. She was completely blown away. 

Another amazing petroglyph site

Ashlie and Martin found the best collection of petroglyph rock art to date. The images of animals are much more anatomically correct than we have seen before. The carving is incredible into the hardest rock imaginable. We can't work out how it was done. Can you see the kangaroo.  

Another Karijini shot

View from a Swag

I've slept in the swag about 50% of the time. I wake up and there's so much to see that you can't go back to sleep. I have to return to the camper so that I can get a full sleep. I know this selfie is a bit arty but "what the hell". 

Tom Price Speedway - GOLD!!

We went to the speedway at Tom Price on the weekend. Incredible facility with an awesome track. Unfortunately only 8 competitors over 5 divisions. Yep not much going on. Anyway these to clips show that a couple of the 8 competitors really knew what they were doing

Karijini the movie

Here to short clips taken at Karijini on the weekend