This was a week ago now :O. Was meaning to post before then, but have been a bit busy and all. Also couldn't be arsed. But now I can, so that makes it all better.

I'm planning on a long (4000+ km) trip at the start of next year. To help plan this, I really needed to know what sort of kms I can feasibly do in a day. So I decided to do an overnight trip up to Cape Reinga. For the non-New Zealanders, this is the northern most point of New Zealand, and is spectacular in that it is where the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean join, in a visible line of turbulence and bubbles. I've done the trip several times in a car, so I knew it was about 450-500 kms each way. To make it a bit more interesting, I would take the scenic route up the west coast, stay the night at Kaitaia, then come back the direct route straight down SH1. So the pannier bags went on, the normal bike stuff went in them, a change of gruds, socks, and a tshirt (more for aiding in chain oiling than for spare clothing). Warm stuff? nah. Its nearly summer.

So. A few days before, my mate hears of my intented trip, and asks if he can tag along. He's recently bought a 2008 Ninja 250, first bike, and loves riding it once a week. So far he'd done 300 kms on it, and has all his kit except boots (when buying his gear, he said at the time "I won't need those... better spend the money on a better helmet"). I'm a bit hesitant at first, but then think 'meh, should be fine'.

We set off, taking SH1 until the turn off to the scenic west route, after 150 kms of boring highway. The west route took us through Dargaville, the Kumara capital of the world (for those not in the know, Kumara is like a soft and really sweet potato.) From here, we cut north, following the west coast. The forests around Tane Mahuta were spectacular both in the 30kms of continuous twisties, and the giant Kauri Trees, with their immense trunks and wide canopies. By about 2pm we had reached Opononi, a quaint northland town, famous for a dolphin called 'Opo' that tragically became very tame and comfortable around humans, often swimming with the children and generally being cool, until it was found washed up on some rocks, killed by some unknown fishermen.

Here there are some immense sand dunes, fueling one of the most successful of Opononi's tourist activities: Sandboarding (another adventure).
Here's a pic from the hill.



Carrying on, a while later we hit Rawene, a town that seems as though it solely survives on the fact that all tourists are forced to spend at least 20 minutes in it while they wait for the ferry to take them across 200 meters of water. That said, we had a pleasant lunch here in a renovated boat shed/cafe. Once aboard the ferry, we had some more time to kill (a very welcome break from the unaccomodating kawasaki saddles).



5 minutes later, we were back on terra firma, and because the ferry man was a nutjob, we were let off last, so we spent the next 10 minutes passing caravans and crazy tourists. Back on SH1, we had a nice stretch to Kaitaia, with a pleasant suprise of some more twisties that would have been hell in a car, but a bikers dream come true.

Finally in Kaitaia, we found the backpackers, dropped off some gear, and told the keeper we'd be back in 3 hours. by this stage it was 5ish, so we were well on track for a finish time of 8. On the way out of Kaitaia, we stopped for fuel, and just as we were leaving, my companion dropped his bike. Very controlled and elegant, but still a clear drop. Seeing him in my rear view mirror, I stopped, and went to hop off, promptly dropping my bike. As we rode out of the station, I could hear the laughter from the locals watching these two noobs from the city screw up thier bikes.

20 kilometers from the cape, we hit gravel. I had forgotten about that one. The last 20 kilometers was infamous for it's particular car destroying coarse metal track. I had no concerns about my bike handling it, but I think it freaked my companion out a bit:



Finally we got to the Cape. It was as beautiful as I remembered it, especially in the late afternoon, with only the occasional cloud in the sky to remind you where the sky ended and the ocean began.




We took photos, talked to a couple of other bikers, then jumped back on the bikes, to which by now we had a very uncomfortable familiarity to the saddles, and carried on down the road. about 5 kms later, I head a 'cadosh' from behind, and was just in time to see in my rear view mirror a ninja come to rest on its side, my mate wedged underneath it.

Biking back to him, I pulled the bike off him, got it up right, and told him 'all good dude, just the fairings!' to which he replied "awesome, but can you look at my ankle?" Looking at the ankle, I deduced that bone sticking out of the skin was not normal, and that his leg was probably broken. Combat first aid kicked in, got him in a nice position, and then said I'd be back in 5 minutes with the ranger (we had seen him having a smoke up at the Cape).

On the way, I stopped a polish girl driving back and asked her if she could stop and keep my mate company while I fetched the warden. I didn't know if she would stop or not, but I figured he'd enjoy the company if she did.

I found the warden harassing some gypsies who wanted to stay in their van overnight. Once we got back to my mate, we found out the wardens radio wasn't working, so I jumped back on the bike and went 20kms before I found the first farmhouse and used their phone to contact the emergency services. With that done, I phoned the tow people, then went back to the scene. By the time I got back, 4 other bikers who turned out had done the excactly same route 2 hours behind, had stopped and started the usual 'I remember when I....'



We waited 1 1/2 hours for the ambulance to arrive. They treated him, gave him the gas, then proclaimed they couldn't move him and called in the rescue helecopter, which arrived 20 minutes later, and took him to Whangarei hospital. Shortly after the chopper left, the towies arrived, and we loaded his less than impressive looking bike on the back and waved him away. The 4 bikers had stayed around, so we rode as a group back to Kaitaia. Reaching Kaitaia at about 1am, with my bike threatening to cut out from lack of food, and me from lack of fuel, we found a 24 hour petrol station, and as we filled out bikes and refuelled ourselves, we discussed events. They carried on to where they were staying the night (about an hour or 2 down the road), and I went off to find the backpackers. Not surprisingly, they were closed. Crap. So I phoned my partner back in Aucks, and told her I was off to Whangarei (about 2 hours ride) to visit Binny. Realising there would be no petrol station open between Kaitaia and Whangarei in the early hours, I resigned myself to the fate of a 5 hour bike ride at 60kph, in a vain effort to make the 160 km ride with one tank of petrol.

I had nearly gotten a quarter of the way, when I felt my phone go off. Not bothering to pull over, I stopped in the middle of the road and answered it. My wonderful partner had phoned 5 motels in Kaitaia, and had found one that answered. Joyously I sped back to Kaitaia, found the motel, got the keys, parked the bike, and crashed out. Time: 0330.

The next morning I was on the road by 9am, with a hearty bacon and egg meal in me. First stop was to pick up our luggage from the backpackers, where he attempted (unsuccessfully) to charge me for the night (despite me not staying there). I then rode to Whangarei. There I visited my mate at the hospital, who had had an even more epic night than me, with 3 operations, a metal plate, and 4 xrays involved.

Once he was happy reading my 'Motorbike Maintenance' book (the best reading I had in my luggage) I left him and went home to Auckland (a two hour ride again. That night I duly went to a Masquerade Ball with my partner (wasn't missing out on that!). The next day me and another mate (quickly running out of healthy ones!) drove back up to the towies, about an half an hour further than Kaitaia. We paid the towies, thanked them for the stella effort, and I jumped on the scratched up ninja and biked the 450 kms back to Auckland. On the way back, I had a small chuckle as I saw the odometer click over to 1000 kms.

Finally got home. Added up, I had done 1624 kms in 3 days, 1180 on my klx alone. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I took my car for the next couple of days to work...

 

Red = Going up with buddy

Green = Coming back by my self


Day One:



Day Two:



Day Three:

 

Wow what an adventure. It's not a great idea to take a newbie on a long trip as you found out, you really need to do some short day trips with them first to see if they can handle things. You did a great job helping him out. Poor Ninja it was a nice looking bike.

 

wow... sounds like a crazy trip. Too bad for your buddy.

 

nice ride report! sorry about your bro tho

 

yup. lesson learnt - i rekon you need at least 2 months of good riding before even thinking of a trip.

Also. Kids, remember your boots. They are important.

 

Yeah good boots are a must I reckon! I love my SIDI Canyon's, so damn comfortable and great for adv ridin!

So how's your mate doin Sam?

 

He's doing good, only 4 more weeks in a cast!

He got the quote for the repairs yesterday. $3100.

My jaw is still dragging on the ground... Its still completely rideable! How much do fairings cost!

On the bright side, he did get full insurance, so theres only the excess to pay.

 

$3100!!!!!!! They're takin the p*ss!!!!!!! Sounds outrageous if the bike is still completely rideable! Thank god he's got full insurance then! Well when he's back fit and the bike is sorted, tell him to flog it and buy an adv bike!

 

wadaya mean! the ninja is an adv bike!* :P


*apart from the street tyres, the lack of power at anywhere below 8k rpm, and the difficulty of putting on panniers... oh and its dislike of gravel.