I spent a couple of weeks in March riding on the dirt roads in New Zealand on my TE610. I was traveling solo with a tent and sleeping bag, taking it easy, basking in the amazing scenery. A full trip report, with about 150 photos, maps and blog is at: www.advtrail.com. Here's a video: View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_fqzXYhfC0 Some bike photos:
One possum discovered my motorcycle by their hole in the middle of the night, and hissed so loudly it startled me. I had no idea what it was, and only learnt it was a possum after talking to several locals. Everyone had a bit of a laugh. There are no dangerous animals in NZ. Then this little fella came to visit me at Molesworth. Was about four feet away and just watched me.
Had I just seen your pix I would have thought you were in eastern Oregon / Washington. Looks identical.
Yes, I can see Oregon. Also parts that look like the deserts of Nevada, the red earth of Utah, and the mountains of Colorado, all compressed into two tiny islands. Within a few clicks you travel from dry plains: to lush rainforest Some of the more crinkly parts do look distinctly island-like:
John, thanks for sharing the trip I love reading or watching trip reports because... those who can not do, read (or watch)
The terrain in this pic does look alot like the terrain here except we trees and lots of vegetation covering the hills ... Our hills may be on 1500' - 2000' high on Cebu with 3100' the highest ... -- For me at least, its always good to see a report on a land I never really pay much attention to ... So its always educational on some level for me to turn my eyes towards different places for a closer view... You guys are an island .. That top land mass looks an awful lot like Ohau, HI ... Looks even more like the Philippines from this view ... Was there any way non-paved ways to cross that mountain range east to west on the west coast of the lower island? Or you you have to drive around it or use cement? Cool web site and structured very well! I can probably find the answer to my question on there ...
Thanks BobPS and Ray_Ray. If you enjoy maps, http://www.adventureguide.co.nz does a fantastic job listing most of the gravel and 4wd tracks on the South Island, where there are more dirt roads. There are East to West coast passes over the alps, eg Arthurs Pass, but all these are all tarmac now. There are some passes over smaller mountain ranges that are still gravel eg Danseys pass. Many of the scenic and interesting offroad rides are daytrips up a dirt track and back again, so you tend to link these daytrips together with tarmac sections to make a longer ride. There are few opportunities to go long distance on dirt these days.
That web site is very cool also! ... New Zealand is setup to welcome bikers and others from around the world to their somewhat exotic home\country .... -- I've looked at maps of this place here for a few yrs now, and I can totally understand your words on the trips out into the mountains and back out ... Civilization only builds roads where they are needed and IF the terrain allows it ... The terrain on the island of Pinay on the west cost in the Antique province is just about identical to New Zealand with a mountain range dividing the island into 2 types of riding. Yep, your brown rolling hills look just like eastern WA state.
