It has been a long while since my last post, to catch you all up, I moved back to New Zealand, started building again and I’m loving it! I will get around to writing a bit of a summary post at some stage, but for now, here is my Xmas trip.

A couple of months ago a good friend of mine Sarah asked me if I would be keen to join her for a tiki tour around the south island with her friend Bry by motorbike, it did take me a full 13 seconds to make my mind up, then it was all go. I just needed a rough date for departure to book the ferry and a rough date for the return, once that was sorted I figured the rest would just happen!

It has been a very full on year for me, packing in all sorts of challenges and learning experiences so a break was well needed and what better place to go than the stunning south island of New Zealand?! I left Auckland on the 24th of December heading down to Papamoa to spend Christmas with my parents at the beach as per tradition, the sun came out in a big way roasting us to a crispy golden. It was an early night for me Christmas evening as I was up at 5 am to gun it down the north island to Wellington to catch my afternoon ferry, and they rains came.

I have done my fair share of riding in the rain, south east Asia rain can be like a psychotic fireman with a serious need for keeping things damp for 6 months of the year. How ever, it is never fun riding in the rain no matter how much you do it, especially on New Zealand roads where all you want to do when on two wheels is get your knee scraping the ground on every corner. I managed to get down to the ferry in time and caught up with fellow motorcyclists who were doing a trip down to Queenstown, they had also ridden through Vietnam so we did some reminiscing on the madness that ensues on the roads there. Ah how I miss it.

I spent my first night with good friends of mine in Nelson who welcomed me with a warm blanket and food to eat, exactly what I needed after a long day in the cold. The next day the sun was out in full strength and it was off to the beach for some skim boarding/ falling on my already sore (from the motorbiking) backside. Good fun!

Next stop was to see family in Westport, it has been 4 years since I last caught up with them on my last motorbike trip around the south island so it was really nice to see them all and some new second cousins that have been produced in the subsequent years. On the way to Westport I popped into Takaka to see a friend I met at a Yoga teacher training I did recently, what a place! It was like being at Woodstock, bohemian vagabonds with their arts and crafts and awesome paraphernalia I was in my element and the best part was the road to get there heading over Takaka hill, 25km of pure awesomeness made road. The smile on my face was immovable as I winded up and over the hill basking in the sunshine and enjoying the glorious view of the Golden bay area.

It was a long haul down the west coast the next day, 9 hours on the bike to get to Queenstown to catch up with Sarah and Bry. The roads again are stunning, too much to take in with such a limited amount of time, I really wish I had more of it this trip to spend months exploring every hiking track, every beach, every summit, one day soon I’m sure. It was good to catch up with the girls down there we stayed at one of their friends places Rob who turned out to be an amazing chef cooking up a storm for us vego’s like you wouldn’t believe.

To be continued…