Teatime
Registered user
Pros and cons of travelling and camping by Motorbike in NZ;
I am just back from 3 months in New Zealand, most of it touring on my 2008 1200 GSA (3,500 mile +). I did both Islands mostly camping to save money. Before I go on, I should say that I had two objectives with the trip firstly to enjoy the great NZ roads on my bike but secondly to see the country on foot. I also was, very happily, joined at times by my daughter who is living and working there.
First the vast majority of tourists in NZ travel by Camper Van, so sites are often primarily for them with tents as an afterthought.
Hotels v Camping
Pros;
Cheaper than Hotels/ Air B&B, especially if you are in NZ for a while.
Better scenery,
More likely to meet and chat with people, which is a plus when you are on your own
Cons;
You are carrying more gear on the bike so less enjoyable on the roads.
Less comfortable
Pitching the tent, and particularly taking it down and packing all the stuff up soaks up a lot of time as does time taken on cooking and ablutions!
Camping sites;
What are called DOC (Department Of Conservation) sites are cheap $15 - $20 often in knock out locations but with limited facilities expect “Long Drop” toilets and no drinking water.
The best quality sites are the Top 10 sites these have good clean toilets and showers and kitchen facilities, but are more expensive $35 - $45 / night and often in the middle of towns in non-scenic locations. Watch out that some sites have kitchen facilities but do not offer crockery, cutlery or kitchen utensils.
Riding in NZ
NZ Drivers, are, generally, not used to traffic or overtaking, give them plenty of room and don’t expect them to know you are behind them. Same applies to Camper Vans but in spades, bear in mind that anybody with a driving license can arrive in NZ with limited driving experience in their home country and are given the keys to a vehicle much larger than they are often used to, to drive, often, on, what is to them, the wrong side of the road. Give them a huge berth particularly when parking your bike where campervans are likely to reverse into it. (it happened to me!).
Truckers; NZ is a road transport country, there are some huge double trucks out there, sometimes they play to their own rules watch out!!!
On the road, my best tip is always to take the overtaking opportunity and work up to the head of any, moving, queue on the road. Although some cars, particularly locals who know the road (in their Toyota Hilux), may be faster than you on the open road, you usually come up against a Truck, Campervan or Horse Float (yes, not box, float. Don’t ask me why!) that only you can easily overtake and then have the road to yourself. With that said there is little point in doing more than 105kph on the road, you will miss the fantastic scenery and you will get a ticket(s!).
No shortage of gravel in NZ, watch out for surfaces that superficially look fine but actually have a small line of gravel in the middle of the lane, this can catch you out when you cross it in the bend. You will ride on gravel even if you avoid the ones that are actually gravel, roadworks can give you long distances of extremely poor surfaces.
Roads except close to Auckland, Wellington, very, very quiet, on some roads you can go hours without seeing another car, surfaces generally very good (but see above) and very few potholes.
Police very, very proactive on speeding and drink driving (expect night time road blocks)
People very friendly, particularly all bikers. (They wave rather than nod, except Ape Hanger Harley riders, (often gangsters in NZ!) wave at them anyway!)
Beer
Great beer, always Google “craft beer” in any town you are headed for, you will often find a tap room in a small brewery selling great (but not particularly cheap!) beer.
Opening times;
Often a moveable feast in NZ, Cafes generarally open 9 am to 2.30pm, pubs and bars open at 3 or 4 pm. Great pies are available and I found the coffee extremely good quality.
Scenery is absolutely knock-out and very varied, I was rarely bored, even the massive Glacial Plains (say around Ranfurly) are overwhelming for their “big Skies” and horizon to horizon views.
Paid for stuff I thought was good;
Boat trip Tauranga, Saw a pod of 100+ Dolphins, awesome
Boat trip Bay of Islands, Sailing ship R. Tucker Thompson, great day out.
Boat trip Milford Sound, We got a transfer in a Mini Bus with a great guide from whom we learnt a lot about NZ life. But, don’t believe anybody who tells you parking at Milford Sound is prohibitively expensive. Yes, if you park next to the Ferry Terminal it is $10 / hour!! But 5 minutes’ walk away at the fishing pier there is loads of free parking.
Albatross tour (Otakou Peninsular near Dunedin)
Boat trip Whale watching, saw a sperm whale and two species of Dolphin (Kaikoura)
Kauri Museum, super interesting
Renting E-Bikes to tour Waiheke Island
Treaty Grounds
Paid for stuff I thought not so good;
Monteith’s brewery Greymouth, paid $40 for a brewery tour but it is not actually a working brewery. That said the guide was really nice and some beer was included in the price so I am not complaining that much!
Great walks
Tongariro crossing (Tough day walk with Spectacular Volcanic Scenery you won’t see in many other places in the world)
Isthmus peak (Near Wanaka, Tough climb, spectacular views)
Rakiura (Stuart Island), we did a fantastic 3 day walk here.
Great Roads (not an exclusive list just the ones I particularly remember);
Coramandel – Thames
Picton-Nelson
Nelson -Westport
Wanaka -Queenstown (Via Crown Hills)
Stuff you will need;
Shorts
Insect Repellent,
Top Quality Rain Gear, (New Zealand is not so green for nothing)
Washing Powder,
Sunglasses,
Swimming stuff, Seas Lakes and Rivers are super clean. Nothing like a dip in a crystal clear lake after a big walk.
Stuff you don’t need;
Don’t take too many clothes, you can book into a campsite or accommodation with laundry facilities when you need to, and, if camping, you need to leave space for food, drink, salt and pepper, cooking oil, tea bags etc. I would recommend 5 pairs; socks, T-Shirts, undercrackers.
The Sleeping bag and mat I bought specially were very comfortable but too big for walking with.
Odd Bits of advice;
Don’t forget you can’t take a gas cylinder on planes
If you have a fortnight or less don’t try and do both Islands, (unless you are happy just to spend all of every day on the bike) and don’t forget you will be battling fatigue and jetlag for several days (minimum) when you get off the plane.
Petrol stations often have pre pay pumps, these can be awkward when you are trying to fill up, often, not always, during the day, when they are manned you can just lift the nozzle and fill normally.
I took a Travelex Cash card which I would pre-load from my UK account with NZ $ however, this would often incur extra charges as a credit card!! Don’t know how you get around this, as the alternatives are carrying loads of cash or opening a NZ account!!
Take a power pack to charge your electronics. (Don’t forget you need to take this on carry on, on the plane).
Interisland Ferries (Main Ferry company between North and South Island) do not provide Tie Down Straps you need to take your own!!
If camping don’t try and save space with a small one man tent especially if you are a big guy like me, take a chair too if you can find space.
I flew Air China ,Auckland via Beijing, the flights were too cheap to ignore, but then with 3 months in NZ I had plenty of time to recover.
I shipped my bike out, this was miles cheaper than hiring and also meant my stuff was shipped with it too. This would have been fine but turned into a disaster for reasons beyond my control that I won’t go into here.
=========
Moved in ‘Trip reports’
Richard
I am just back from 3 months in New Zealand, most of it touring on my 2008 1200 GSA (3,500 mile +). I did both Islands mostly camping to save money. Before I go on, I should say that I had two objectives with the trip firstly to enjoy the great NZ roads on my bike but secondly to see the country on foot. I also was, very happily, joined at times by my daughter who is living and working there.
First the vast majority of tourists in NZ travel by Camper Van, so sites are often primarily for them with tents as an afterthought.
Hotels v Camping
Pros;
Cheaper than Hotels/ Air B&B, especially if you are in NZ for a while.
Better scenery,
More likely to meet and chat with people, which is a plus when you are on your own
Cons;
You are carrying more gear on the bike so less enjoyable on the roads.
Less comfortable
Pitching the tent, and particularly taking it down and packing all the stuff up soaks up a lot of time as does time taken on cooking and ablutions!
Camping sites;
What are called DOC (Department Of Conservation) sites are cheap $15 - $20 often in knock out locations but with limited facilities expect “Long Drop” toilets and no drinking water.
The best quality sites are the Top 10 sites these have good clean toilets and showers and kitchen facilities, but are more expensive $35 - $45 / night and often in the middle of towns in non-scenic locations. Watch out that some sites have kitchen facilities but do not offer crockery, cutlery or kitchen utensils.
Riding in NZ
NZ Drivers, are, generally, not used to traffic or overtaking, give them plenty of room and don’t expect them to know you are behind them. Same applies to Camper Vans but in spades, bear in mind that anybody with a driving license can arrive in NZ with limited driving experience in their home country and are given the keys to a vehicle much larger than they are often used to, to drive, often, on, what is to them, the wrong side of the road. Give them a huge berth particularly when parking your bike where campervans are likely to reverse into it. (it happened to me!).
Truckers; NZ is a road transport country, there are some huge double trucks out there, sometimes they play to their own rules watch out!!!
On the road, my best tip is always to take the overtaking opportunity and work up to the head of any, moving, queue on the road. Although some cars, particularly locals who know the road (in their Toyota Hilux), may be faster than you on the open road, you usually come up against a Truck, Campervan or Horse Float (yes, not box, float. Don’t ask me why!) that only you can easily overtake and then have the road to yourself. With that said there is little point in doing more than 105kph on the road, you will miss the fantastic scenery and you will get a ticket(s!).
No shortage of gravel in NZ, watch out for surfaces that superficially look fine but actually have a small line of gravel in the middle of the lane, this can catch you out when you cross it in the bend. You will ride on gravel even if you avoid the ones that are actually gravel, roadworks can give you long distances of extremely poor surfaces.
Roads except close to Auckland, Wellington, very, very quiet, on some roads you can go hours without seeing another car, surfaces generally very good (but see above) and very few potholes.
Police very, very proactive on speeding and drink driving (expect night time road blocks)
People very friendly, particularly all bikers. (They wave rather than nod, except Ape Hanger Harley riders, (often gangsters in NZ!) wave at them anyway!)
Beer
Great beer, always Google “craft beer” in any town you are headed for, you will often find a tap room in a small brewery selling great (but not particularly cheap!) beer.
Opening times;
Often a moveable feast in NZ, Cafes generarally open 9 am to 2.30pm, pubs and bars open at 3 or 4 pm. Great pies are available and I found the coffee extremely good quality.
Scenery is absolutely knock-out and very varied, I was rarely bored, even the massive Glacial Plains (say around Ranfurly) are overwhelming for their “big Skies” and horizon to horizon views.
Paid for stuff I thought was good;
Boat trip Tauranga, Saw a pod of 100+ Dolphins, awesome
Boat trip Bay of Islands, Sailing ship R. Tucker Thompson, great day out.
Boat trip Milford Sound, We got a transfer in a Mini Bus with a great guide from whom we learnt a lot about NZ life. But, don’t believe anybody who tells you parking at Milford Sound is prohibitively expensive. Yes, if you park next to the Ferry Terminal it is $10 / hour!! But 5 minutes’ walk away at the fishing pier there is loads of free parking.
Albatross tour (Otakou Peninsular near Dunedin)
Boat trip Whale watching, saw a sperm whale and two species of Dolphin (Kaikoura)
Kauri Museum, super interesting
Renting E-Bikes to tour Waiheke Island
Treaty Grounds
Paid for stuff I thought not so good;
Monteith’s brewery Greymouth, paid $40 for a brewery tour but it is not actually a working brewery. That said the guide was really nice and some beer was included in the price so I am not complaining that much!
Great walks
Tongariro crossing (Tough day walk with Spectacular Volcanic Scenery you won’t see in many other places in the world)
Isthmus peak (Near Wanaka, Tough climb, spectacular views)
Rakiura (Stuart Island), we did a fantastic 3 day walk here.
Great Roads (not an exclusive list just the ones I particularly remember);
Coramandel – Thames
Picton-Nelson
Nelson -Westport
Wanaka -Queenstown (Via Crown Hills)
Stuff you will need;
Shorts
Insect Repellent,
Top Quality Rain Gear, (New Zealand is not so green for nothing)
Washing Powder,
Sunglasses,
Swimming stuff, Seas Lakes and Rivers are super clean. Nothing like a dip in a crystal clear lake after a big walk.
Stuff you don’t need;
Don’t take too many clothes, you can book into a campsite or accommodation with laundry facilities when you need to, and, if camping, you need to leave space for food, drink, salt and pepper, cooking oil, tea bags etc. I would recommend 5 pairs; socks, T-Shirts, undercrackers.
The Sleeping bag and mat I bought specially were very comfortable but too big for walking with.
Odd Bits of advice;
Don’t forget you can’t take a gas cylinder on planes
If you have a fortnight or less don’t try and do both Islands, (unless you are happy just to spend all of every day on the bike) and don’t forget you will be battling fatigue and jetlag for several days (minimum) when you get off the plane.
Petrol stations often have pre pay pumps, these can be awkward when you are trying to fill up, often, not always, during the day, when they are manned you can just lift the nozzle and fill normally.
I took a Travelex Cash card which I would pre-load from my UK account with NZ $ however, this would often incur extra charges as a credit card!! Don’t know how you get around this, as the alternatives are carrying loads of cash or opening a NZ account!!
Take a power pack to charge your electronics. (Don’t forget you need to take this on carry on, on the plane).
Interisland Ferries (Main Ferry company between North and South Island) do not provide Tie Down Straps you need to take your own!!
If camping don’t try and save space with a small one man tent especially if you are a big guy like me, take a chair too if you can find space.
I flew Air China ,Auckland via Beijing, the flights were too cheap to ignore, but then with 3 months in NZ I had plenty of time to recover.
I shipped my bike out, this was miles cheaper than hiring and also meant my stuff was shipped with it too. This would have been fine but turned into a disaster for reasons beyond my control that I won’t go into here.
=========
Moved in ‘Trip reports’
Richard
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