Day 8 - Akaroa wins again.
Day 7 concluded with a nice Thai Meal in the Village and settle in to an early night at the Peppers Resort in Lake Tekapo.
It was a great day and the conditions were close to 'perfick'.
Day 8 unfortunately didn't follow suit.
Grey, overcast, back to being a bit windy and in parts the co-pilot said "the type of rain my mother would describe as 'teaming'".
Subsequently, we didn't get the cameras out at all on day 8 - but I do have some nice grabs from the evening before.
As for the day's ride, we just headed back to Christchurch via the shortest direct route with the intention of making it out to Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula for the first time.
Easy, straight running out to the East coast above Timaru, trying to skirt the worst of the weather, with a stop for lunch at Pleasant Point. Worth stopping for the name alone - and the food at the Railway Cafe is good.
Also worth noting were the four - yep four - highway patrol cars in or near Fairleigh. 3 marked - one Mufti.
Hunker down, turn up the iPod, hit the cruise control where suitable - there were some long straight stretches today - and we made it to the Akaora turnoff in good time.
Twice before on our tours of the Mainland we have ventured that way, and twice before we were beaten back by sheer filthy weather, and for the third time in as many attempts I said f*** this, and headed back to the city.
Entirely shrouded in fog and persistent rain. So we had a stop at the Pub at Little River and made our way back to Town to return the bike. From there it was by Taxi to the Airport and we're home wading through gigs of pics now.
What a place the Southern Alps of New Zealand are. It's no wonder that vast tracts of them are World Heritage listed. It's humbling, it's epic, it's an amazing experience to sit outside in a fantastic arm chair and watch it all roll by.
And that's what the bike is. It's a delightful big arm chair for two. It goes around the 70kph posted corners at 100kph easily, 2 up, with all my cameras and gear and chargers and batteries and 2 dozen Kiwi Rider Hats and a heap of Victory Brochures in the 'Trunk' - and it does it with supreme comfort. In the way it handles, brakes, and the way it hauls arse past back to back tour buses - or the way it just purrrrrssss along and the torque of the thing in sixth.
It's ornate, it's extensively blingy and the logos on the side panels are illuminated. It's both illogical and sensible, fascinating, we found it captivating and highly desirable, remarkably efficient and....damn I wish I could afford one, Captain.
Bliiiiing!
Thank you:.
Co-pilot. 30 years a double act.
Victory Motorcycles. Man you guys are turning out SOME vehicles. Elaborate hand gesture of thanks. It was run-in by the book, had an early oil and filter change and I checked the oil this afternoon and it's like honey. So's the rest of the bike.
Venture Southland. Put the trip together for us. Thanks Kerryn. I'm telling all I can what a great place it is to visit.
NZ. The people who came and said g'day, and the ones we met along the way. Some mighty fine folks ride motorcycles dontchaknow.
More summary later. Going to sort some pics - looks like I got some good un's - Burt's Nephew Lee:
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