Pearls On Wheels

Refreshed and ready to ride north. Team kiwi say good morning to Big Kiwi and her chick Then head north. Mist ahead Which will soon rise and let us through into A glorious clear day. To the Clocktower Cafe At Greymouth Nextdoor to the pounamu shop crowded with tourists. Blue skies, green pastures They Tasman sea tumbling ashore Steadily wearing away the rocky coastline We pass Punakaiki by -  Nowhere left to park. So we take a coffee break at Charleston. Through the Buller gorge The river, deep and mysterious Masking her hidden power Murchison for a cuppa At the Beeches On to St Arnaud and a  photo at Lake Rotoiti. Sweeping swathes of vines  In the setting sun welcome us in the upper Wairau We are nearly there A warm family welcome and roast chicken At Koromiko end the ride. A wonderful day on the road. The West coast with her best clothes on One of our favourite rides.

On the road  It’s chilly but fine today Three cheers for the heated jacket. Things I have learned today The road through Haast Pass continues to enthrall Meeting friends along the way is a blessing Audio books with softly a spoken male narrator don’t work for me on the bike But Kathryn Ryan, FM RadioNZ comes through loud and clear on my new Shoei helmet Cat Stevens, the Seekers, Dusty Springfield all keep me entertained. The BlogTouch App work much better on my iPad Than using blogger.com High speed SD cards really make a difference when downloading pics My driver is right in the groove The traffic is well behaved... It’s  is wonderful to be on the road. Lake Hawea Haast pass forest Lichen plumped up by recent rain - near Hell’s Gate, Haast Haast River Nature’s landscaping just north of Haast Bridge With Chris Eden who rode from south of Haast to meet us. There is magic being with people like Chris who know what riding round the world is about. We hope to see Chris again - next time i

Panniers are packed. 3.7kg for me including my pearls. 3.0kg for Dick. We have some new gadgets A gLocalme for international data roaming A new iPad which I am training to do the blog posts New maps are  loaded on the Garmin Audio books are loaded. We have had our service checks  Now it is the Redhead’s turn She is scheduled  for a service, new tyres, crating and shipping. In Auckland  Tomorrow we ride north  Via the west coast. The weather looks good We will cross the Cook Strait  On Anzac Day Look out for bikes. It might be us. We are ready...                     

In the beginning... From Stirling Point, Bluff The southern-most tip of the South Island, NZ Here is a map of our tentative   Proposed plan .   It is essential to have a plan but we know that anything can happen to cause changes.  We leave NZ for Tokyo on 8 May and ride in Japan for two weeks, then go by ferry to South Korea. We'll ride there for a week and then take a ferry to Vladivostok and ride north west. But first we will be riding north to Auckland in the days following Easter.   Along the way we are gathering memories of this beautiful country. The lakes, the mountains, the food, the people. We are blessed.  Mitre Peak, Milford Sound.     Fiordland National Park Te Wahipounamu-South West New Zealand World heritage area   Lake Hauroko, Fiordland National Park. Lake Monowai, Fiordland National park. At Lake Manapouri. Blue cod for me and a beer for my driver Autumn is on its way, and so are we.