During the whole journey, my Royal Enfield ran like a clock. The motorcycle was at home in the twisties and the gearbox made it easy-work in the remote hills.
BHPian sandeepmohan recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
11,000km update. This came up pretty fast. I am going to contradict myself with this update after writing about a certain distance that I could cover comfortably with this motorcycle, as mentioned in my last update. I ended up riding 780km. In a day! This update is less about the bike and more about the journey I took.
There was no plan. It was a Saturday. Woke up lazy. Looked out the window. It was going to be a bright and sunny day. Prepared some cereal and took it easy. The previous day, my wife said we had no plans, we’ll take it easy and if I wanted, go for a ride. I was tripped. It’s not often she says this. That too, I get the entire day to ride. Summer in New Zealand means I have daylight till ~ 9:30 pm. It’s great for riding. I checked the weather. The wind was no more than 16kmph. It was going to be a warm day too. By about 10am, I was ready to hit the road. Strapped my Trip Machine bag, opened up all the ventilation slots on my jacket, fired up the bike and headed out.
Like I said, I had no plan, no specific direction or destination. One of the things I like to do is explore New Zealand’s lost, forgotten and neglected railway network. Kiwi Rail runs and owns the network and it’s far from busy. The railway lost to the road. Trucks move most of New Zealand freight. I think the move was political. For whatever reason, the Government did not invest or care enough for NZ rail. Maybe there is a legit reason behind this as much of New Zealand is rural and you cannot build railway lines that are not going to be used a lot. That’s a wasted investment. As a result, trucks dominate the road. Like me, if you are into trucks, you’ll actually love it. Except for one thing. When those multi-trailer semis pass you, you are hit with the equivalent of a tidal wave of air, you could get thrown off or lose control of your motorcycle. I tighten my grip a little on the handlebar when these trucks pass, as they are doing no less than 100kmph! On the positive side, the variety of trucks on the road is amazing. There is everything from modern Scania, Volvo, Isuzu, UD and then the more interesting ones like Mack, Freightliner, Western Star, International and Kenworths. If you like trucks with an attitude, there ain’t anything better than American. The best part is how well these drivers maintain their trucks. I’ve rarely come across a filthy truck. These machines are a sight to see. Some are tastefully done, some have excess chrome that stands out. After sundown, they look like a Christmas tree on wheels. Beautiful to look at.
We did a couple of road trips by car last month and I recall we passed a few points of railway property. One of the tracks was beside a river and I remember the water was blue. It was a beautiful setting. I did not stop at the time. I decided that this would be my first stop. The town was called Patea. A good 264km from home. The ride started slow with some weekend traffic to deal with at Otaki. This is a regular choke point on weekends and long holiday breaks. It reminds me of the days when you’d aim to clear Hosur, whenever you headed out of Bangalore. That first toll would be an absolute nightmare. It’s a lot more civilised here. Vehicles just stay on their lanes and nobody overtakes if there is a traffic pile up. For us folks on motorcycles, we jump the line. Where it was safe and there was enough space to pass, I just went beside the long line of cars to get ahead. Eventually got out of Otaki and things were smooth sailing after this. I noticed a lot of vintage cars heading in the opposite direction. Spotted the iconic DeLorean too. It’s the second one I have seen in New Zealand but this was the first one I saw running on the road. It was quite a sight. Flawed as a car it was, the design holds up to any modern-day car. Possibly better looking than most of them. I spotted a Triumph Spitfire, Citroen, several MGs, old Rolls Royces. There were many I could not identify too. All of this kept me entertained and kept my mind diverted from my rear end which was starting to feel sore too soon.
My first pit stop of the day was Bulls. It’s a major stop for folks travelling to Auckland as the usual McDonalds and a few other eating joints are around. State Highway 3 runs right through the town and you clear bulls in less than 1km distance. I decided to pull over at Esbighs Eatery. I’d stopped here once before and they had some nice vegetarian cutlets. They sell meat too. The store is located at a corner and was once a Shell gas station. There is no indoor seating. A few sheltered benches outside is all. Makes for a nice car and truck spotting location as everything passes right in front of you. I’d not met the owner last time as his daughter served me. This time, I met him and we got chatting. The obvious question was, where was I headed and I told him I was riding without any real destination of sorts. He nodded positively, that’s the way to do it, man. In the kiwi expression “Easy As”. We then got on talking about our life experiences, his attempt at doing Auckland Wellington in a Mazda 323 in a flat 7 hours. Takes the same time or more today! He sold books, worked at a Hi-Fi store. He’d experienced life in a way that I never could and this little eatery was his retirement purchase. We then got on talking about the recent volcanic eruption in Tonga. What’s interesting about it was, there was satellite imagery that indicated 2 hours ahead of the eruption that the land was sinking. Nobody could act fast enough and Tonga is pretty isolated. A rescue flight would be several hours away if they ever wanted to start evacuating people. Then we went onto Climate change and his take was, the world is overreacting. In his view, this was just nature doing its own thing and the change is cyclic. We have to deal with and adjust to this change. I didn’t argue on the matter. We then went onto my half baked itinerary and he confirmed it was going to be a long day. I had time on my hands so was not too bothered. We shook hands, I topped up on gas and resumed the journey.
The road leading to Patea is the same stretch of road where I ran out of gas. This time, I could enjoy this section of the road better. The road is arrow straight in places and then goes up and down with a lot of long sweepers. Once again, those vintage cars kept passing and I am sure I crossed around a hundred. The road offers spectacular views of the Cook Strait or the Tasman Sea as the coastline is not too far off the highway. Traffic was sparse too. I reached Patea and headed for the railway line. As usual, it had seen better days. There was a goods shed which appeared abandoned. There was one loop line too. It’s an active line but probably sees no more than half a dozen freight trains in 24 hours. The Patea River runs alongside the line for a good distance. The line also services New Zealand largest milk producer Fontera and this is one of their factories. Fontera is the Amul of New Zealand. As usual, most of the milk leaves the factory in modern Volvo trucks. There was not much to see or do here so I decided to move on to my next stop which was Hawera.
I went to Hawera only because google maps showed me the station had a fairly large railway yard. After getting there, I noticed that the main station building was now a liquor shop. The yard lines were covered in shrubs. There was nothing worth seeing here. What was more interesting to spot was an old Foden Truck. Looked like it was headed for the scrap yard. I’m not familiar with this brand of truck. Turns out it’s British.
I decided to get some lunch at Hawera. Explored some of the main streets of the town and realised this was a fairly large town compared to the many in between that I passed. Went to a bakery and had a steak and mushroom pie. A pie is a kiwi favourite. It’s New Zealand’s version of the vada paav. You get it everywhere and it’s a meal by itself. Not a healthy one if you eat it all the time. This particular bakery did not make their pie’s very well so I walked out disappointed. It is rare for a bakery here to screw up a pie.
After lunch, I had to figure out what to do for the next leg of the ride. Do I head back home or explore some more. It was 3.30 pm. I decided to take a call on extending my journey after riding back to Whanganui. It took a little over an hour. After reaching Whanganui, I was in two minds on whether I should explore State Highway 4. It was 4.30pm and I wanted to get back home before sundown. We have a New Zealand map hung on the wall at home. The map suggested this road was going to be a twisty one and who does not like twisties. I’ve got the perfect tool (or motorcycle) for it too. The highway runs alongside the Whanganui River for some distance and then turns inland, goes up a hill and down again to the plains. My plan was to ride to Raetihi, head East and then back southward and towards home. It’s a bit of a loop ride. A calculation on Google maps suggested I had the right amount of time. I can be home by 10pm. I did not want to ride too long after sunset. Worse case, I could pull over and stay at a motel. This road hardly had any traffic and I enjoyed every bit of it. The hills, gorges and some of the views from the road were breathtaking in the evening light. I pulled over to soak in some of the sights, even though I knew time was not on my side. You can’t waste an opportunity like this after you’ve come this far. I was supposed to ride upto to Raetihi, head East from this town to join State Highway 49 and then onto State Highway 1 at Waiouru. I changed that plan a little when I discovered a turn-off sign that said Waiouru (A military base camp town) via Fields Track at Kakatahi. This would be a gamble but I thought I will give it a go and if the road turns bad, I’ll turn around. Fortunately, the road surface was chip-seal and I could ride without a problem. It was narrow, unmarked, remote and in a distance of 56km, I passed 4 cars! It did start to sink in that I am absolutely alone in this area and I should take it easy, which I did. Fortunately, some farmhouses started to dot the road every now and then so I knew there was some help available which was not too far, if I ever needed it. I doubt if the area had cell phone reception. This stretch of road was the slowest part of the entire journey. Speeds not exceeding 70kmph as it was narrow and winding. What amazed me the most was there were schools in this remote part of the country. New Zealand is a small country and one thing they’ve made sure of is that no child is too far away from a school.
I was feeling relieved after reaching or joining State Highway 49. This is an alternative to the main trunk route used to travel between Wellington and Auckland. I was back in familiar territory. I reached Waiouru at 7pm and pulled over for a quick stop. It was dinner time. I decided to push it and eat at home. Sent a text to my wife to tell her where I was and resumed my journey. The route back was all too familiar, having done it several times by car and a couple on the motorbike. For what is still the holiday season, the highway was deserted. I made one restroom stop at Hunterville and a fuel stop at Levin. From here on, it was non stop back to Wellington. The roads were empty for the last 375km! I reached home just after 10pm. The schedule was spot on. I discovered a part of New Zealand I had never seen or ridden on and I managed to squeeze in some forgotten relics of the New Zealand railway. I was quite wrecked from the journey. Every bit of my body was stiff, exhausted. I went straight to our bedroom, jumped into my shorts, gobbled up some dinner and went straight to bed. It felt as if I was getting off a wooden slab seat of what used to be found on 2S Class (or cattle class as I call it) and going into the cool and comfortable confines of First AC in a Rajdhani. If you’ve ever done unreserved travel in summer and the TT suddenly offered you 3A, you’ll know what that feels like.
The bike ran like a clock. The engine ticked along just fine, unstressed. By New Zealand standards, it was a warm day and that toll was more on me than the bike. I had every ventilation slot wide open, which I had to shut later in the evening as the air started to get cold. The Interceptor is a fun little (by its profile) motorcycle. The bike was at home in the twisties and the gearbox made it easy work in those remote hills. It’s a lot more fun to ride this bike, constantly flicking between the gears versus just going flat out on a highway. Every gear shift lets you explore the engine and its capabilities. Those shifts bring along some intake and exhaust pops (or farts. Not sure what to call it) which makes the ride entertaining. It’s these simple pleasures that make riding a motorcycle memorable. There is no better way to travel and see the countryside.
This road looks rather non-descript. It’s called Speedy Road. From a previous ride, I had noticed a couple who were also on a motorcycle, turn off the highway and head down this road. I did not follow them. Made a note of the road name. For this ride, I thought I will give it a go. It’s a bypass road for the town of Sanson. As the name suggests, it is indeed a road to test the “speediness” of your vehicle, which I did.
What is left of Patea station. A loop line and an abandoned goods shed seen in the distance, with the Patea river running alongside.
Hawera and a yard that no longer exists. It’s also the point where the railway line from the Fontera milk factory joins the main line.
A Foden truck headed for the scrap yard.
A Fontera milk carrier and some other examples of trucks that carry milk in New Zealand. These trucks are always going flat out on the highway, even with a full payload. The control these truck drivers have is superlative. 99% of New Zealand highways are single lane. If you ride anything below a Harley Davidson or a Honda Goldwing, the wind buffeting hits you hard and almost immediately after the truck passes you. One must take extra care.
St. Marys Anglican Church, Upokongro (Whanganui District)
This photo does not do justice to how pretty this location was. State Highway 4, Kakatahi
Fields Track which was the chip-seal rode I took. You’ll notice that it isn’t specifically marked or highlighted on Google Maps. It won’t tell you to use this road if you plot a route. The width of the road is all you can see on the far right of the photo. An SUV can fit. Two vehicles cannot cross each other unless one pulls over to the side. It’s a narrow path.
Whangaehu Valley Road. Back on familiar territory after clearing Fields Track. Mount Ruapehu spotted in the distance, with the top covered in clouds. In Winter, that hill is usually covered in snow.
Keyword: Rode 780 km in a day on my RE Interceptor 650 in New Zealand