A day trip to Akaroa on a NZbike hire BMW F650GS
May 20th 2007 06:40
Not much can compare to that feeling of when you sit astride your motorcycle, placing the keys in the ignition and pressing the starter button. At that moment when the engine roars into life, images of your favorite road trip movie spring into mind and your love affair with motorcycles is either born or renewed.
I used to ride a Suzuki GS650 etc in the UK but since moving to NZ, I hadn’t been able to give motorcycles much thought until a month ago when I watched the dvd The Long Way Round with Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman. This follows their adventures on a couple of BMW 1150GS bikes, whilst riding around the world from London to New York via Russia.
I daydreamed about how much fun it would be to own a bike again, but as I had just bought a newer house, I realised it would have to be sometime in the near future.
Then just recently as I was driving past NZbikes/City Scooters shop here in Christchurch, I spotted a BMW adventure touring bike parked outside. ‘This could be a way to enjoy motorcycling again but without the hassles of finding the money at this present moment in time’ I thought to myself. So I enquired inside and was pleased to find out that they have a range of bikes for hire, so I decided on the 2006 BMW F650GS as it was the smaller version of the GS1100 and would be just ideal for having an adventure of my own.
So after the trails of moving to NZ and the years getting established finally behind me, the day arrived that my love affair with motorcycles was rekindled. Brett greeted me as I entered the shop, taking time to go through the hire forms with me before showing me the range of hire clothing to choose from. After kitting myself out in jacket and pants, I went outside to where my bike was waiting.
Brett took me through the controls before wishing me ‘Have a great day’
I moved off and made my way through the early morning traffic, heading out of Christchurch and onto the Akaroa road.
On the Akaroa road
I chose this destination as it’s good for a day trip from the city and has just awesome roads for motorcycling on, with a mixture of straights, sweeping bends and the odd hair pin thrown in for good measure. These are also in good condition, which is a far cry from roads back the UK, which are either full of badly repaired pot holes or nice slightly raised manhole covers which you only notice once you start to get your knee down whilst entering a fast sweeping corner.
For a Saturday morning, the traffic was light and once I reached outside the city limits, I found myself cruising at approx 90km, just below the 100km speed limit. As I cruised along enjoying the scenery, I found myself starting to imagine I was starting my own long way round adventure as I listened to the noise of exhaust note and the thump of the engine.
Cooptown
One of the things I enjoy about motorcycling and its something I had forgotten about until now, is how an approaching biker will acknowledge you as he goes past, you just don’t get that when driving a car.
After taking the opportunity for some photography shots, I started to ascend the tight and twisty road to hilltop, which is a great place to stop and enjoy the view. Although I must add a small word of warning regarding when you stop anywhere, for I received bit of a fright as I parked the bike on the side stand. Why you might ask? Well as I got off and started to turn away, out of the corner of my eye, I saw it starting to move slowly forward. ‘The bike’s moving?’ I thought, before ‘What! The bike’s moving?’ I thought quickly before taking hold of the bars and making sure that the ground was both level and firm this time.
View of Akaroa from Hilltop
Self portrait at Hilltop
The rest of the ride to Akaroa was uneventful and I stopped at the lighthouse for some photos before parking up in the main street next to a nice blue Harley sportster.
There are some nice café’s and places to eat and as it was a lovely sunny day, there were lots of people around. On a nice day Akaroa is a bike magnet and as I was walking back to my bike after lunch, I saw about 6 bikes parked up together. These ranged from the classic café racer style, to sports touring, to custom Harley’s.
On my way here I had noticed a sign saying Kaitorete Spit, so on my way back I made a small detour. The first part of this was just fantastic, amazing straight open road, which made it a breeze to cruise at 100km, but then in the distance I noticed the colour of the road had changed, so I started to slow down as I got closer. This difference was due to the road changing from lovely smooth tar seal to loose gravel but as I thought it wasn’t too far to go, I decided to carry on.
Look at that tarseal!
Even though I was riding in car tyre tracks, I had to slow my speed down to about 30km and constantly keep looking ahead for any problems. This gave me a clearer understanding on how hard it must have been to travel over really rough terrain on a heavier fully loaded bike. And upon reaching the car park and beach entrance, I decided I wasn’t going to risk getting stuck in soft sand so made my way back to Christchurch, via Gebbies Pass and Lyttelton.
Overall a great fun filled day and this is one love affair I aim to repeat as I intend to buy another bike in the near future, so a big thank you, to Dean at NZbike and Brett at City Scooters for organizing the day.
So if you have a bike licence but can't afford one at the moment, then hiring for the day is great fun! 'Go on treat yourself'
Words and photography by Heath Ling
I used to ride a Suzuki GS650 etc in the UK but since moving to NZ, I hadn’t been able to give motorcycles much thought until a month ago when I watched the dvd The Long Way Round with Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman. This follows their adventures on a couple of BMW 1150GS bikes, whilst riding around the world from London to New York via Russia.
I daydreamed about how much fun it would be to own a bike again, but as I had just bought a newer house, I realised it would have to be sometime in the near future.
Then just recently as I was driving past NZbikes/City Scooters shop here in Christchurch, I spotted a BMW adventure touring bike parked outside. ‘This could be a way to enjoy motorcycling again but without the hassles of finding the money at this present moment in time’ I thought to myself. So I enquired inside and was pleased to find out that they have a range of bikes for hire, so I decided on the 2006 BMW F650GS as it was the smaller version of the GS1100 and would be just ideal for having an adventure of my own.
So after the trails of moving to NZ and the years getting established finally behind me, the day arrived that my love affair with motorcycles was rekindled. Brett greeted me as I entered the shop, taking time to go through the hire forms with me before showing me the range of hire clothing to choose from. After kitting myself out in jacket and pants, I went outside to where my bike was waiting.
Brett took me through the controls before wishing me ‘Have a great day’
I moved off and made my way through the early morning traffic, heading out of Christchurch and onto the Akaroa road.
On the Akaroa road
I chose this destination as it’s good for a day trip from the city and has just awesome roads for motorcycling on, with a mixture of straights, sweeping bends and the odd hair pin thrown in for good measure. These are also in good condition, which is a far cry from roads back the UK, which are either full of badly repaired pot holes or nice slightly raised manhole covers which you only notice once you start to get your knee down whilst entering a fast sweeping corner.
For a Saturday morning, the traffic was light and once I reached outside the city limits, I found myself cruising at approx 90km, just below the 100km speed limit. As I cruised along enjoying the scenery, I found myself starting to imagine I was starting my own long way round adventure as I listened to the noise of exhaust note and the thump of the engine.
Cooptown
One of the things I enjoy about motorcycling and its something I had forgotten about until now, is how an approaching biker will acknowledge you as he goes past, you just don’t get that when driving a car.
After taking the opportunity for some photography shots, I started to ascend the tight and twisty road to hilltop, which is a great place to stop and enjoy the view. Although I must add a small word of warning regarding when you stop anywhere, for I received bit of a fright as I parked the bike on the side stand. Why you might ask? Well as I got off and started to turn away, out of the corner of my eye, I saw it starting to move slowly forward. ‘The bike’s moving?’ I thought, before ‘What! The bike’s moving?’ I thought quickly before taking hold of the bars and making sure that the ground was both level and firm this time.
View of Akaroa from Hilltop
Self portrait at Hilltop
The rest of the ride to Akaroa was uneventful and I stopped at the lighthouse for some photos before parking up in the main street next to a nice blue Harley sportster.
There are some nice café’s and places to eat and as it was a lovely sunny day, there were lots of people around. On a nice day Akaroa is a bike magnet and as I was walking back to my bike after lunch, I saw about 6 bikes parked up together. These ranged from the classic café racer style, to sports touring, to custom Harley’s.
On my way here I had noticed a sign saying Kaitorete Spit, so on my way back I made a small detour. The first part of this was just fantastic, amazing straight open road, which made it a breeze to cruise at 100km, but then in the distance I noticed the colour of the road had changed, so I started to slow down as I got closer. This difference was due to the road changing from lovely smooth tar seal to loose gravel but as I thought it wasn’t too far to go, I decided to carry on.
Look at that tarseal!
Even though I was riding in car tyre tracks, I had to slow my speed down to about 30km and constantly keep looking ahead for any problems. This gave me a clearer understanding on how hard it must have been to travel over really rough terrain on a heavier fully loaded bike. And upon reaching the car park and beach entrance, I decided I wasn’t going to risk getting stuck in soft sand so made my way back to Christchurch, via Gebbies Pass and Lyttelton.
Overall a great fun filled day and this is one love affair I aim to repeat as I intend to buy another bike in the near future, so a big thank you, to Dean at NZbike and Brett at City Scooters for organizing the day.
So if you have a bike licence but can't afford one at the moment, then hiring for the day is great fun! 'Go on treat yourself'
Words and photography by Heath Ling
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Comment by Nickoftime's Sanity Corner
as usual a great story and even better pictures...NZ always looks like such a beautiful, serene and tranquil place!
Maybe one day I'll pop down for a vacation!
Take care,
Nick
Comment by Kiwi Author
Conversations from NZ
Kiwi author's short stories
Conversations from NZ
Swept from the Sea (fiction/romance)
Just taken me over 3 hours to compile all three blog posts, so nice to know they are well received. They don't call NZ Godzone for nothing, awesome place and I'm very lucky to live here.
Hal
Comment by Competitionqueen.com
We sold our CBR1000F when the kids came along a few years back. Miss it terribily.
NZ sure is Godzone..... especially South Island.. just picture perfect, congrats on a great place to live and ride.
Comment by kiwiauthor
Thanks for that and yes once you have a bike, that urge is always there in the background. Must admit I like the street fighter style of bike and used to get a mag in the UK called Back Street Heroes, never seen it for sale over here. Once I get my scanner, will post pics of my old bike before and after I restored it.
Cheers
Hal