Sweet As, Bro!!... NZ South Island 2016

[glitch]

The wide, flat valley floor makes for a quick run towards the gorge of the Ashley River, the
sort of exit-way back into the Canterbury Plains.

No idea what they were spraying... probably that spiky gorse stuff, I guess.
Some neat, tight, close-to-ground flying there

Let's twist agaiiiin...

And just when you thought you were by your self, sweet lonesome....
Also makes you barf into the helmet at the thought of a lamb-shank-dinner tonight... the bloody stench is brutal.

Just above the main, sealed road and there's the checkerboard of the plains.
BigKev is leaving us here, a bit of a bummer.... but he'll be joining again for another couple of days soon. We've grown used to him real quick! :scull:

With not much further to go and shadows growing long again, the incredible colour and quick flow of the Waimakariri are a calling for some mucking around on the riverbanks, getting some glam-shots of the bikes and just generally enjoy something that just doesn't exist in Oz.

The short stretch into Springfield on the footsteps of the Arthur's Pass is a breeze, the first door knocked on yields a couple of neat cabins/rooms and the bike-hire "field-mechanic" shows up on time to look after Eivind's troublesome XT ignition lock, that more often than not refuses to budge when the key is turned.


The first lots of washing get done, Faz starts a fire in the little Potbelly/ Coonara and Eivind abstains from booze for a night, swapping to alcoholic cider instead.
We've got it all sussed, no worries


They don't come sweeter than that...

Don't play coy, guys...

"Sorry, out of Ribeye steaks...how about a Porterhouse instead, I got some neat cuts in the fridge"

NO SHIT!!

Ahhhh, this is like home....

 

[dougman1]

Heck those steaks were ginormous eh!
Not to mention delicious and wholesome. The accom in Springfield was top notch too.
So the moral of that story was if you have a Yammy XT 660 and the key gets difficult to turn in the ignition, just pull it slightly back towards you (sitting on bike) and the Spring in the ignition barrel will decompress enough to allow you to turn the key and start the bike without fuss.

 

[twowheeler]

Good job you missed that semi.

Enjoying the great pics

 

[farawayman]

Now Glitch didn't start at the beginning. He neglected to tell who it was that slept in that first morning and who was nearly left behind because they wouldn't get out of bed, and who was trying to break the door down and wake the silly bugger. So Glitch spill the beans who was it?

We're going to ride those hills



Day one

 

[ant]

Oh my lord. Why wasn't I on this trip?

 

[John_Johnny]

Awesome widescreen photos. My daughter, Jazzy, got a new phone that does panoramic shots. I borrowed it today and took some but they don't look as good as yours Dave. Mine are too narrow.
I would've loved to be on this nz trip. Anyone want to volunteer the TOTAL amount they spent? I need to do some budgeting.

 

[nev]

Awesome widescreen photos. My daughter, Jazzy, got a new phone that does panoramic shots. I borrowed it today and took some but they don't look as good as yours Dave. Mine are too narrow.
I would've loved to be on this nz trip. Anyone want to volunteer the TOTAL amount they spent? I need to do some budgeting.

Dave,
Those photos are really, REALLY outstanding. The top of that pass looking down towards Culverden is a very well photographed spot. Really brought back some vivid memories of our 2012 ride when I saw those photos. It was also our first top on that ride.

John,
The photos are narrow because you're stringing too many photos together (probably in 16:9 format too which is already a narrow format. I find the best results to be holding the camera in portrait mode (9:16) which will make the photos twice as 'tall'. The only thing is because you have twice as many photos to stitch together, you will increase the chances of the panorama having imperfections. (or just take narrower panoramas)

 

[John_Johnny]

.... I find the best results to be holding the camera in portrait mode (9:16) which will make the photos twice as 'tall'.

Ahhh. Yes! That's it! Thanks Nev. I was holding the phone sideways like I do for normal pics. Also I kept turning until the camera said it was processing which was 360°. My daughter just showed me how to turn the panorama scanning on and off for whatever distance you choose. Doh!

 

[glitch]

Now Glitch didn't start at the beginning. He neglected to tell who it was that slept in that first morning and who was nearly left behind because they wouldn't get out of bed...

Dunno ....never heard of the stupid plick.

You've got a bag of sweet shots there!

Loooove this one

 

[glitch]

Good job you missed that semi.

Enjoying the great pics

Thankfully easy enough to spot by the huge dust-cloud, but boy, it got tight, with the panniers on etc

Oh my lord. Why wasn't I on this trip?

Mainly due to a lack of available bikes....only 6 of them (3XT's + 3DR's) on the South Island. When the ignition-lock issue cropped up with Eivind's XT, the service guy came out to Springfield with the only replacement bike they could offer for a couple of days until they'd sorted the problem with the XT.

A near new F800GS....that nobody wanted. Too big, too heavy, too much work on those kind of roads/ tracks.
Luckily the key issue was solved on the spot, as Doug said.