When we were given a year's notice to attend a family wedding on the North Island of New Zealand, we decided to make it a long holiday and also tour the South Island on a Harley-Davidson. On the Internet, we found South Pacific Motorcycle Tours just outside Christchurch and immediately booked the only Ultra-Classic Electra Glide in their fleet – as the pillion rider, I insisted on having this type of super-comfortable touring Harley. Looking through a coffee-table book on New Zealand, my husband worked out a rough route and then I did the detailed research about activities and places to stay. We set ourselves an accommodation budget of NZ$110 per night ($74) - in New Zealand this gives you a wide variety of options from small bed and breakfast establishments to good motels, and then low-cost and charismatic hostels which attract mainly young travelers. In Christchurch, we were given a warm welcome by Mike and Carole Lester and we spent a night in the bed and breakfast accommodation reserved for their motorcycling clients. While my husband was given a briefing and taken on an introductory tour on the gleaming red Harley, I checked out the eight-day weather forecast on the internet for Milford Sound – it is on the south western corner of the Island and we wanted to be there on a sunny day to enjoy kayaking in the renowned fjord-land scenery. Amid derisory comments that the weather forecasts are notoriously unreliable, I planned our ten-day tour around the three days of sunshine predicted for Milford Sound. We planned a rough figure-of-eight route, which would take us from Christchurch to Alexandra in the dry Central Otago region and then a big loop around the far south of the island. On our first day, we learned a lesson about visiting the South Island in the summer: you need to plan ahead and book your hotels early – I spent two hours trying to find a hotel within our budget in Franz Joseph and failed! In the end, we settled for a historic motel that used to be a Maternity Hospital in Wharatoa, a small town before Franz Joseph on the west coast. The bike experience Motorcycling in the South Island of New Zealand is as near perfect as you can get with that great sense of being ‘on the open road' all the way: fantastic scenery with great variety, good roads with lots of hills, bends and little traffic, charismatic roadside cafes and restaurants with good food, very friendly people (locals and tourists), good accommodation en route, efficient and helpful Tourist Information Centers, and reasonably good weather. New Zealand also has virtually no litter anywhere – they love their country and keep it looking pristine. We found the distances in New Zealand very easy to cope with after our long distance rides in the Middle East – and I felt a lot safer with the 100 kph speed limit! With most of the country's population being on the North Island, the South Island has miles and miles of open farmland (sheep, dairy, deer, or fruit) and scenic nature and conservation reserves. It is also less affluent, and we passed lots of remote farms with battered looking farmhouses and picturesque broken down barns. Some of the houses in the villages were very small and quaint and reminded me of those on the Caribbean Islands. At Bruce Bay overlooking the Tasman Sea, we saw several cars parked and people stooped over what looked like a series of tribal Maori sculptures along the stretch of beach road. These turned out to be sculptures built by passing travellers, constructed out of various sizes of rounded stones and pebbles on the beach, and pieces of driftwood. The ride from Haast to Wanaka, in the late afternoon sun, took us through forests, mountain meadows, and on a road that twisted and turned along the edge of the beautiful Lake Hawea. New Zealand has lots of rivers and we soon got the hang of the ‘one way system' to cross the many single lane bridges. We passed several cyclists, heavily loaded and obviously touring the island the tough way. Even though it was the height of the summer tourist season, there was very little other traffic on the road. Our journey along Route 38, the Crown Ridge Road was another special ride. A famous stopping point is the Cardrona Hotel which looks neglected on the outside, but inside is alive and well with large, manicured gardens and good food. It dates back to 1863 and is part of an old gold mining village. There was a steep and exciting ride down to Arrow Junction, with a series of tight hairpin bends, and great views down the valleys beyond. Sights and sounds Arrowtown is an old gold mining town that has been restored and turned into a major tourist attraction. Not so popular with local New Zealanders, it is nonetheless an attractive place to visit with lots of cafes and boutique style shops selling high quality merino and possum knitwear, and gift items. Our Harley attracted lots of attention and we park outside The Gold Shop, which happened to be owned by a motorcycling enthusiast who offered to look after our gear for us while we wandered around. It was a very wet day as we drove via the The Caitlins towards Invercargill, a town made famous by the motorcyclist Burt Munro and the film about him called “The World's Fastest Indian.” It was a Sunday, and all the fuel stations we passed were closed. By 6.30 P.M. we knew we didn't have enough to get us to Invercargill. As if in answer to our prayers, a country garage with three fuel pumps appeared unexpectedly in the murkiness ahead. It was obviously closed, but a car was parked in a driveway and there was a house at the back. My husband knocked on the door to ask for help. The owner of the Mokotua Garage came out, cheerfully topped up our tank, and sent us on our way. The following morning, we set out to see Burt Munro's legendary Indian motorbike. In 1967, Munro broke the world speed record for under 1000cc motorcycles at Bonneville, a record that still stands today. We eventually found it in a fascinating local hardware shop-come-museum called E. Hayes and Sons Ltd. Hayes (now the third generation owner), who collected vintage motorbikes, had known Munro and bought the famous Indian off him; this, and the other bikes, were all scattered randomly about his shop. The road from Te Anau to Milford Sound is renowned among motorcyclists and we had plenty of time and perfect late afternoon light to enjoy the ride. We rode alongside a river, and then through glorious, wide alpine meadows with lots of wild flowers; then along tunnel-like sections where the trees met overhead, and finally the steep, twisting road down the mountains into the bowl of Milford Sound. As we arrived at Milford Sound Lodge and switched off the Harley engine, there was a blast of noise reverberating from millions of cicadas in the forest. Here, we could only get shared accommodation in a dormitory as it was booked up a year in advance. Like gap-year students, we slept in bunk beds, and our room-mates were a young Irishman with very smelly feet, and a girl from Prague. Our neighbors that night were four Japanese girls who shrieked with laughter and giggles until about 10.30 P.M. and then suddenly went quiet, like chattering birds after nightfall. Just as the weather forecast had promised, we had a clear blue sky and sunshine at Milford Sound. By 8.30, we were on the waterfront with a crowd of other people, being instructed on the skills of kayaking. We set off in a groups of five kayaks, ours with a young girl from Zimbabwe as our guide, and were out on the water for five hours. There are other less strenuous ways of seeing Milford Sound - large leisure cruisers, overnight sailing yachts, light aircraft and helicopters – but we thoroughly enjoyed the kayaking. On our way to Twizel, we stopped at Omarama for fuel and lunch. Already, lots of Harleys on their way to the Christchurch rally were in the car park and riding pillion on one of them was a striking blond lady with very long, bright green fingernails. We got into conversation with her and it turned out that she and her husband were Americans. It was an extraordinary and very visual moment to find myself talking to a man who had been among the firemen rescuing people in the Twin Towers during the 9/11 disaster in 2001. Another highlight was our ride from Twizel alongside Lake Pukaki to Aoraki, with spectacular views of snow-capped Mount Cook and the Southern Alps. We had set off at 6.30 A.M. and although it was a gloriously sunny morning, it was very, very cold! Several times, we had to slow down for huge flocks of merino sheep being driven down the road by sheep dogs and drovers. Once back in Christchurch, we rode around the City and outskirts with 700 other Harleys – mostly characterful ‘baby boomers' with an average age of about 58! Lots of spectators came out to watch the spectacle and it was fun while it lasted, but we far preferred biking by ourselves. We spent our last afternoon touring around the mountainous Akoroa Peninsular, winding our solitary way along steep and narrow country lanes. Our 3,070 kms journey around the South Island of New Zealand did not disappoint in any way. lt is a very hospitable, unspoilt and outstandingly beautiful island. Suffice to say that this is one of the ten places you must visit before you die. I would highly recommend going on a motorbike as we did because you are out in the fresh air the entire time, enjoying the elements, and smelling the pine forests, flowers, cut grass and farms on the way. There are numerous other options though which include: trekking, cycling, car hire, low cost (and very cheeky) camper vans (mostly hired by young travelers), large luxury camper vans, coach tours, and escorted tours. Travel tips If you are travelling in the New Zealand Summer (November to end of February), book flights and accommodation well ahead. There are many alternative ways to get there, but we recommend Cathay Pacific, as they fly direct from Jeddah to Auckland, with stopovers in Dubai and Hong Kong.
