Top of the South Adventure - Day 3

Thursday 28th March

I had another big day planned for Thursday - this time over the hill in Golden Bay exploring more little back roads.  So the ride started off with a quiet pootle over to Motueka for fuel before tackling the mighty Takaka Hill - sometimes its very nice when your adventure bike comes with a 1,000cc V-twin...

In Takaka I turned to East and made my way through Pohara on then took the badly storm damaged Able Tasman drive through to Totaranui.

After a wee wander around and cruising up and down the only road it was time to retrace my steps back to Takaka and then head further on up the road to Collingwood to top off the tank and get some snacks.

From Collingwood I carried on further North until I got to Pakawau where I turned off to begin a proper adventure.  Pakawau Bush Road pretty quickly turns to gravel and then according to GoogleMaps it turns into Dry Road.  Dry road gets very interesting (and not just because of the recently graded roads), it takes you into an area called Westhaven and riding through here you have to cross a number of causeways - zoom in on the below map to see:

View Larger Map

Here's a few pics I took on the way back out:

Eventually I caught up to the grader (what is it with this trip and graders?) and the road got better with some nice fast gravel that the DL seemed to enjoy immensely.  And then I came up against this:

It was easily negotiated and after letting some guys through on quads I was on my way again.  I ended up passing the quads and eventually came across another little obstacle.

Anatori River

After bravely crossing a very small part of the river (see below) I baulked at crossing the main flow - it was probably more than possible on the DL but being on my own I decided that dropping the bike in the middle of a river would not be a good idea.

The quads caught up to me and had no such qualms:

Maybe next time I'll be there with a bunch of others and will be able to explore further South but I had to settle with a few more pics and then turning back for the return trip.

On the way back I decided to turn the GoPro on again and also to stop and take a few more pics:

After more good riding and another close shave with a grader I was finally back out on the main road where I turned back towards Takaka and my last little side trip.

This side trip was to visit a check point from a previous TT2000 - one that we chose to avoid then - the Cobb Dam.  This meant taking Cobb Valley Road which follows the Takaka River upstream to the dam and while the scenery is pretty spectacular, the road is very narrow - check out the video of my return trip below.

Back out at the road it was finally time to turn and head back to base for the night, but first of course, Takaka Hill needed to be dispatched once again - bummer!  I have some video of this so I may upload this once I have checked that it is postable...

Another fine day's touring (approx 420km) done and dusted!  The map below is from my GPS track as GoogleMaps could not plot the route out to Cobb Dam - strange as it knew where the damn was and the road is even sealed!

Top of the South Adventure - Day 2

Wednesday 27th March

Wednesday was to be one of the greatest days I've had on a motorcycle.  But before we get started, first some history: as a family we lived in Nelson for around 9 years and have a number of relatives in the Marlborough region - including down in the Sounds.  Naturally enough we spent a bit of time in the Sounds hauling in blue cod and otherwise enjoying a magnificent little part of the world.  But it's been over 20 years since I've been down there...

My day started with breakfast with my nieces and I hit the road at about 8:30.  First up was a great little strop over the Whangamoas and into Rai Valley for fuel. Next up was a short hop over to Okiwi Bay.  Last time I was down here a good portion of this road was still gravel but now it is just a nice, narrow, winding bit of tarmac that drops down into a beautiful bay.

After the compulsory photo stop it was time to make for "The Pass" and time to flick the GoPro on.

Once again most of the road was tar and although there was plenty of sheep on the road they seemed more intelligent than the ones up my way and new how to get off the road quickly.  The road eventually runs into gravel at the Elaine Bay turn-off and there was actually a roading crew out working on it.  It got a little interesting at one point when I was riding along on a recently graded bit (keeping to my side of the road) and I had to cross a large berm left by the grader - no worries for the mighty DL though...

There was also plenty of opportunities to stop and take more photos.

My next stop was most definitely a compulsory one - at the start of the driveway down into Okuri Bay.  My Uncle Alan and Aunty Peg used to own the farm here and we used to come down regularly to stay in the very basic (but very fun) bach on the farm.

Okuri

From Okuri there was just more delicious gravel and fabulous scenery to look at - I think I only stopped once more for pics before finally dropping into French Pass.

Now it was time to retrace my steps and go a visiting.  Uncle Alan still lives in the sounds although now in Cissy Bay so off I went...

Cissy Bay/Te Towaka

After passing another grader (for the first of 3 times) I dropped into Cissy Bay and found Uncle Alan's place.  I then got to spend nearly 2 hours having a great old yarn with Uncle Alan before heading off in search of more sights.

Cissy Bay

Riding up past the grader again I turned off to make the run out to Port Ligar for more fabulous scenery.

A gate prevented me from getting right out onto the peninsular so instead I dropped down into Bulwer and some more views out across the bay.

Basically at the end of the road I now was forced (it was a real chore I tell ya) to retrace my steps all the way back (and past the grader again) to the French Pass road.  At the turn-off I went left to start the ride back to Nelson and then had my next bit of excitement.

But before the hike back to Nelson I decided on one last side trip down into Elaine Bay.

By the time I climbed up out of Okiwi Bay again I was starting to run on empty so pulled over in Carluke for a quick drink and a nibble.

This fabulous day ended with another great squirt over the Whangamoas and into Nelson where a nice dinner was ready as I rolled up the drive - most excellent!

View 2013 Top of the South Adventure - Day 2 in a larger map

Oops, GoogleMaps doesn't think you can get right out to French Pass.  Here's the map from my GPS: