South Island, New Zealand: 10 days on two rented DR650s

[StumpyFingers]

Very nice,
The scenery does nothing for me
Except make me feel like I wish I lived there and not here.

[Rubberchicken]

Day 9. Wednesday, april 15.

Queenstown, again.

Right.

The tyres should arrive "this morning", so we have breakfast and then get there somewhere around 11ish. No courier, no tyres yet. Figures.

Hang around for a while, come back at 1. No tyres she says, and an offhand remark about them not getting fitted today anyway. Wait, WHAT? Their mechanic only does mornings, apparently. The kid behind the counter is a bit of a blunt instrument it seems, as somebody else needs to point out the freshly delivered tyres sitting next to the counter. Oh, those. They got delivered just 5 minutes ago. Right...

At least we've got tyres now. How hard can it be to find a place with a couple of tyre irons around here? It's not. Alpine Auto it is, then. Load everything onto the bikes, and off we go.




We quickly get the tyres fitted, and then we're finally on our way again towards the Crown Range.





(Not a lot of pictures, too busy enjoying the road.)

Then Wanaka which is familiar ground as well, on to Tarras...




And finally the campsite at Omarama. It's getting late already, and we get there in darkness.

Long day tomorrow. Final day, and quite a bit of distance still to cover...

[Rubberchicken]

Day 10. Thursday, april 16.

Omarama.

Gray day. Which makes the almost green hue of Lake Pukaki stand out even more:






Blue skies ahead. Our little workhorses have been excellent all the time, even if the choice in tyres wasn't.



Onwards, to Fairlie, Geraldine, and then the scenic inland route past Mayfield, towards Rakaia Gorge.






A final spectacular looking bit of New Zealand before things get boring again towards Christchurch, the end of our trip, and a bit of weather just to see us off:

[Krtek]

Funny how that rain in the last picture never actually materialised. At least, nowhere near us.

Ah, sweet memories.

[Robster]

Nice write up...looks like you had a fantastic trip despite the disintegrating tyres

Nice looking bikes too...why doesn't Mr Suzuki sell the 650's over here I wonder?

[FatFergie]

Fantastic. I hope you keep those happy memories. It brings back so many of our trip there a couple of years back: the speed limit signs on the beaches, the bridge we saw with a maximum weight limit of 40 tonnes, the ones you share with trains, the ever changing weather ( we went from low 20s and sunshine to sub zero, snow and ice in a couple of days ).

We dealt with that rental company in Queenstown as well and laid back is one way of describing their attitude .

And we didn't get to Milford sound either as my wife keeps reminding me. We may have to go back.

[Rubberchicken]

We dealt with that rental company in Queenstown as well and laid back is one way of describing their attitude .

I quite like them, even if they initially thought I was a wee girl and had lowered the bike for me.

I mean yes we had some dodgy tyres, but they did everything you can reasonably expect of them in the circumstances. I'd recommend them.

And we didn't get to Milford sound either as my wife keeps reminding me. We may have to go back.

A familiar lament.

[FatFergie]

I quite like them, even if they initially thought I was a wee girl and had lowered the bike for me.

I mean yes we had some dodgy tyres, but they did everything you can reasonably expect of them in the circumstances. I'd recommend them.

No, not your rental company.. the ones who couldn't see your replacement tyres and couldn't fit them 'til the next day.....

[phil w]

Great stuff Michel Looked a blast in a place that for most will never see

[Rubberchicken]

No, not your rental company.. the ones who couldn't see your replacement tyres and couldn't fit them 'til the next day.....

Oh, them. Yeah, they seemed a bit, well...