Test Run

South Island, New Zealand is one of  THE best places to ride a motorbike with great roads and even better scenery so we decided to have a test run with all our gear over the Christmas holidays.  We love riding in the South Island and any excuse is a good one.

On the way down we took some back roads around Raglan to brush up on riding gravel roads.

Rode through the Molesworth which is a 4WD road across a farm station.   Was a bit wet which added to the experience.  I crossed my first, and second, water crossings but unfortunately no pictures of those.

Because it is a working farm station, we had to open and close gates as we went through.

Back on the main roads, this is Arthurs Pass which is the road between Greymouth on the West Coast, and Christchurch.

A West Coast beach on a calm day.

Jackson Bay on the West Coast.

Back in the North Island, in the Hawkes Bay, one of the longest place names in the world.

After about 4-5000 km, a variety of roads and all sorts of weather conditions, we feel confident our set up will work well for our trip ahead.