Not as rough as our place after the Bushfire!

I am of down South for a week back on the 16th. So no Inet contact till then.

Look forward to see you Jack when you are in Perth.

Graelin

Was great meeting both of you yesterday. A long ride but a good one with good company.

Mike Guzzi lemans MKIV and myself got back to Perth at 10pm!! 696 Kms for us and many of those twisty ones.

Wish you all the best for the trip, you guys are an exaple of those realising a dream.

A early moring stop at Serpentine Dam

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1..._/IMG_3838.jpg

Intersting publican at the Mumbellup Tavern intersted in your bikes!!

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1..._/IMG_3843.jpg

Graelin

Subscribed.

Ride safe, have fun, post lots of pictures.

You guys are not doing my pocketbook any good! Just got my R1100RSL back on the road recently and now thinking about a Corbin seat on it. Have not been riding much as have been working overseas most of the time.

Is a GS really needed for trips like this or would a RS do? Not real big on off roading.

Excellent thread BTW.

Joe A

I ride an R1100s and its fine for this kind of trip.

Sealed roads on main routes so no need for the GS. Rental GS are not permitted on unsealed roads anyway.

Some more pics of the first day of the ride.


Quindanning Old English Inn

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Graelin

Have fun. And remmember don't go too fast in case a kangaroo bounces onto the road.

Fantastic trip and was great to meet Graeme and Mike.

Just did the Great Ocean Road and it was...great.

Snowys today then on to Sydney. Christchurch NZ on Friday hoping to meet up with Bill D.

Just west of Apollo Bay, before the road gets very twisty
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1265067266.jpg


The 12 Apostles:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1265067338.jpg

Will post a few more pics when I get better connectivity. My quote about Australia: "Australia is behind and ahead of the US in all the right things."

Try to get to Milford Sound if you go as far as Christchurch. You will never forget it...

Anxiously awaiting more pictures.
Ride careful, and enjoy every minute of it.

I totally agree about Milford Sound.

Do you guys think you may get to Wellington. My landline phone number is 04 (that's the area code for wellington) 3871774.

Good to see you're having fun!!!

I'm looking for a place to hang out for 2.5 days. Very scenic, camping or caravan park, 2 hours or so from christchurch. Is that milford sound? Thks for any suggestions. J

If you do not go to Milford, you will be really pissed at yourself later.

When I was there they had something like 15 miles of hiking trails and lots of places to hang out.

Very scenic does not even come close to describing it.

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Kaikora Kaikoura New Zealand Accommodation Attractions – Kaikoura Information and Tourism is north a couple of hours and on the same coast. Good lobster, whale watch boat tours, mountains in the background etc. Milford is a days ride from Christchurch unfortunately.

Milford Sound is astonishingly beautiful. And yet, it's a 10 hour drive--so I'd have about 2 hours to look at it.

I think it will be Kaikoura---more later.

Snowy River/Mtns today.

Btw, if you all would like to read some well-written blogs about this trip, visit www.moorethink.com

Jim is my buddy on the trip, NY Times bestselling author, emmy award winner--great, great writer and observer of the human character, of which there are many here. Jack

I am so jealous!

I went there first in 1980 with my Father. We grabbed a rental car and drove both islands, taking two weeks for the trip. Frankly except for Weiheke Island outside of Aukland, the North island was a letdown. Its ok but completely overshadowed by the South Island.

The South island is in many ways heaven on earth. Go see it sometime while you are still young. No matter how old you are when you get there you will be mad that you did not go sooner.

More pix--Snowy Mtns and Alpine Nat'l Park. Jim and I wound around the mountains for 100+kms on very narrow tracks with sheer drops. Got a great video that I'll upload in a day or 2.

Scenery was outstanding and beer and breath were flowing later that day.

Wallace Craigie Pass, 894 meters. You can see the little dirt strip of path we followed up:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1265236600.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1265236634.jpg
Jim on the right, me on the left
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1265236665.jpg
Real men take the dirt road on the left. Best to empty your bladder deliberately prior to embarking, though.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1265236708.jpg

Yep, the North Island is fairly much the same from one end to the other (just a whooooooole lota sheep farms). The far north is quite nice - a bit like Waiheke Island. The south is quite impressive, big mountains, big rivers, and the roads must have been designed with a 911 in mind.

Enjoy Kaikoura, if that's where you end up going to.

I had been wondering how you guys were going, what a great trip you have done.

Jims such a good writer and obsever, I had a look at the link to his site and very impressed with what he has acheived.

Was a pleasure to have met you for too brief a time.

Graelin

Thanks, Bill, for the Kaikoura suggestion. Beautiful place, absolutely stunning. A few more tourists than I have encountered on the Oz trip but enjoyable nonetheless.

A couple pix from where I'm staying.

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Back to Sydney for a couple days then home, finally. It appears they didn't miss me at work, so I may pull my daughter from school and take the family back over. Regardless, I'll be bringing them over in December during winter break. It's been an outstanding journey--the people in Australia are fantastic--the place really is "Pleasantville", kind of like the US in the 1950s-60s but with greater technology. The people really care--care about the land and each other. You'll see very little litter, and very little graffiti.