South Island itinerary (and a day in Auckland) (fit in, hotel)

[pch1013]

Hello C-D Kiwis,

I'll be in NZ next month for what I hope will be a memorable motorcycle adventure, and I'm posting this itinerary so you can tell me what you think. I'm flying into Auckland, arriving around 11pm, then spending the night at the airport Novotel. The following day (the 5th) I'm flying to Nelson to pick up my rental. It's due back in Nelson on the morning of the 15th, so I basically have 10 days on the bike.

I plan to spend the first 2 days being a hippie in Takaka, and exploring Golden Bay a bit, after which my plans are totally up in the air. But I've been contemplating something like this, weather permitting:

Day 3 - Buller Gorge, West Coast, spend the night at the old hotel in Ross
Day 4 - see if I can ride all the way to Wanaka via Haast Pass, maybe stopping off at one of the glaciers
Day 5 - maybe start the day by riding a bit down the Mt. Aspiring road, then ride to Glenorchy, spend the night there or back in Queenstown
Day 6 - to Te Anau
Day 7 - organized tour to Milford Sound? Spend the night in Milford? From what I've been reading, the accommodation options in Milford are not ideal. The other option is to spend a second night in Te Anau, which might be a nice break.
Day 8 - head back up towards Christchurch, spend the night someplace along the way (Fairlie?).
Day 9 - ride back toward the north end, possibly with a detour to the Banks Peninsula, overnight in Blenheim or somewhere around there
Day 10 - ride back to Nelson, return the bike, fly to Auckland... where I will have a ~10-hour layover, so suggestions of what to do there are welcome.

I won't be traveling with a tent, but I will have a sleeping bag, so cabins (like the ones in holiday parks) would be an option.

Is this too ambitious? I really don't want to miss seeing Milford Sound, but if that means having to rush through the rest of the trip, it might have to go onto the "next time" list. I'm accustomed to 500-600km days in the saddle, so although I know the roads in NZ are mostly of the narrow and/or twisty variety, I can definitely ride more than the 200km per day that are recommended by some moto tour operators.

I look forward to reading your thoughts.

[shustr]

G'day mate,
your plan is generally fine although my guess is that you might be tired of such schedule. Riding 600 km per day in NZ can be longer than in US, and you would want to stop at nice spots for some photos anyway. If possible at all, make sure you have some time gaps for a rest, otherwise you might be overwhelmed with impressions and got tired what can be dangerous (tourists confuse which side of the road to drive on quite often). :-)

Banks Peninsula is nice place to ride in clear conditions, give it half of day at least.

[Battleneter]

Doesn't sound overly ambitious, 10 days is a decent amount of time for the SI in general, but you know depends on the kind of person you are and what exactly you have planned, you can certainly get to all those places in 10 days.

I would suggest tyring to fit in Hanmer Springs 1.5 hrs North of CHCH, nice natural hot springs and pretty area in general, had plenty of good weekends there :P

[Samuel,J]

Originally Posted by pch1013

Hello C-D Kiwis,

I'll be in NZ next month for what I hope will be a memorable motorcycle adventure, and I'm posting this itinerary so you can tell me what you think. I'm flying into Auckland, arriving around 11pm, then spending the night at the airport Novotel. The following day (the 5th) I'm flying to Nelson to pick up my rental. It's due back in Nelson on the morning of the 15th, so I basically have 10 days on the bike.

I plan to spend the first 2 days being a hippie in Takaka, and exploring Golden Bay a bit, after which my plans are totally up in the air. But I've been contemplating something like this, weather permitting:

Day 3 - Buller Gorge, West Coast, spend the night at the old hotel in Ross
Day 4 - see if I can ride all the way to Wanaka via Haast Pass, maybe stopping off at one of the glaciers
Day 5 - maybe start the day by riding a bit down the Mt. Aspiring road, then ride to Glenorchy, spend the night there or back in Queenstown
Day 6 - to Te Anau
Day 7 - organized tour to Milford Sound? Spend the night in Milford? From what I've been reading, the accommodation options in Milford are not ideal. The other option is to spend a second night in Te Anau, which might be a nice break.
Day 8 - head back up towards Christchurch, spend the night someplace along the way (Fairlie?).
Day 9 - ride back toward the north end, possibly with a detour to the Banks Peninsula, overnight in Blenheim or somewhere around there
Day 10 - ride back to Nelson, return the bike, fly to Auckland... where I will have a ~10-hour layover, so suggestions of what to do there are welcome.

I won't be traveling with a tent, but I will have a sleeping bag, so cabins (like the ones in holiday parks) would be an option.

Is this too ambitious? I really don't want to miss seeing Milford Sound, but if that means having to rush through the rest of the trip, it might have to go onto the "next time" list. I'm accustomed to 500-600km days in the saddle, so although I know the roads in NZ are mostly of the narrow and/or twisty variety, I can definitely ride more than the 200km per day that are recommended by some moto tour operators.

I look forward to reading your thoughts.

There are some very good NZ motorcycle forums. You could try asking on one for advice from people who know what they're talking about. Kiwibiker used to be good.