Here I sit at a cafe on Takapuna Beach, finishing up a coffee that I can actually make if I wanted to, also being served, a job that I now can do. What is missing is an actual bar, now that I know how to do that too. Gazing over at my dream motorcycle from time to time, having instant flashbacks at all that I have seen on two wheels during my time here. Realizing that I have done this all on two normal and healthy feet again considering I arrived with a cane and barely able to walk. Seven whole months in New Zealand, and only a few more to go.
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While New Zealand is a fairly small sized country, there is so much to do and see that even a few years is simply not enough, not to forget how many off the beaten path places there are to see. Even known places seem to be out of the way as most places are isolated with unsealed roads, something I will admit, got extremely frustrating on my cruiser. During my travels here, I did have to sacrifice seeing a good amount of things due to the reality of simply not being able to do it all. Yes I will have to admit, its overwhelming. But, I did it. That’s it! I fucking did it!
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Another dream come true. Or shall I say, dreams come true. It surely was my recent dream to come here but to add onto that, my dream to come here and explore New Zealand a less traditional way. My own way; on a motorcycle. Doing this had its disadvantages, it got lonely. And despite many long hours on the road, I did all that I could to couchsurf. If that did not work, I socialized with as many people as I could. Even sharing the fact that it’s lonely on a bike. The pleasure of popping on music on a radio and talking shit to another person(s) in a vehicle just isn’t there. It’s also quite obvious that riding a motorbike puts you out in the elements. Not sure if you are aware but New Zealand’s weather can be quite unpredictable. When it rains, it fucking spits like hell!
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Some of the hardest times I faced and had to overcome on my motorbike were those two very things, loneliness and learning how to handle myself in bad weather. But despite taking cover in 1.5 ft wide shelter and sleeping in a wet tent, the positive experiences far outdo those negatives. While I had no one to ride with, the wide panoramic views you get on a motorcycle here are just simply out of this world and no GoPro or adventure cam can capture this at all. This country has such an abstract landscape it’s like something out of a dream. Farms within a valley surrounded by mountains and riding along blue sea in a matter of 20 minutes (Golden Bay for example.) Rolling hills to high mountains in the Southern Alps. Blue Lakes of Pukaki to Emerald Green Bays in the East Cape and Northland.
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Getting rained on along the “Wet Coast” of South Island was intense. However, the calm before and after the storm was like something out of a dream. Orange sunsets over Wanaka while gazing at a storm in the mountains. Riding through Haast Pass as the storm remains pending above, revealing low lying rogue clouds just several yards from me and my bike. Riding parallel to Glaciers, numerous lakes, and nature preserves before being greeted by Bruce Bay and writing love notes to my girl on white rocks.
New Zealand is intimidating when it comes to hitting the road knowing how the weather can turn. But just like those many days before I hop on my bike, many of those days were spent, taking my chances, preparing for the worst, but anticipating the best, and that was always the case, because I set my mind to be that way. Altogether, I’ve surfed the dunes at Te Paki, watched the sunset at Cape Reinga, bay hopped in the Northland and East Cape, hiked LOTR locations at Tongariro to Roys Peak over Wanaka, walked the steepest street in Dunedin, enjoyed wine in Blenheim, learned to bartend and make coffee in Picton while enjoying the Marborough sounds on those days off, had a motorbike partner in Akaroa catching a sunset over the Banks Peninsula, got lost in Canterbury Plains, rode the eery Forgotten Highway to lane splitting in Auckland’s “terrible” traffic, enjoying Maori wood carvings, to enjoying both Cathedrals of New Zealand (Cathedral Cave & Cathedral Cove), roaming former mining settlements in Karangahake Gorge, getting help from locals in Waipukerau due to a dead battery, dinner buffet of a lifetime in Queenstown, going back in time in Napier’s Art Deco city, feeling small in the Milford Sound, gaining perspective of when the ground shakes in Kaikoura and Christchurch, to reaching the end of the road in Bluff.
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What a mouthful and that doesn’t even say all that I have done. I may be in Auckland, living a quiet life in a home I am housesitting in, taking care of plants, cats, and cleaning up from time to time, working in a local bar to have a little social life yet preparing for my next journey, saving up as much as I can before I go. But I am still here and I still have my bike. The journey is almost over, yet it isn’t. But to reflect on all that I have done, I freaking did it! What I will do next, I will freaking do that too. 🙂
