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  #1  
Old 11 Oct 2006
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Motorcycle Touring Atlas of NZ
Hi there,

I just got this book out at the library and thought I'd recommend it to anyone coming to New Zealand. I've only had a 10 minutes browse through the maps but it gives a biker's perspective on roads in New Zealand. A lot of the featured roads wouldn't have occurred to the standard traveller or myself as a local as they're secondary roads. Can be great for touring $30 NZ.

http://www.mapsdownunder.com.au/cgi-.../ZNANEW06.html

It's also on Amazon.com I think.
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  #2  
Old 11 Oct 2006
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Thumbs up Great book
I will also put my 0.02c worth in too. I agree, pretty much essential for motorcycle touring in NZ, even for locals. I have the earlier version, and both have their good points.

Regards

Nigel in NZ
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Old 11 Oct 2006
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I've been thinking about buying this too, which is written by the same author (Peter Mitchell) who wrote "Great Escapes: Motorcycle Touring in New Zealand", see: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1...=3PGAEOI03BBIZ

Can anyone reccommend "Great Escapes: Motorcycle Touring in New Zealand" alongside PM's Motorcycle Atlas? - as I'm thinking about buying both publications at the same time (now on my Amazon 'Wish List')

Thanks

Keith
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Old 11 Oct 2006
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The "Motorcycle Atlas" is effectively a revision of the "Great Escapes", but renamed to conform to the new publisher's (Hema's) similarly named motorcycle atlas of Australia. It adds a number of extra routes, updates the ones from the "Great Escapes", and includes better maps of the country. I have both books, but would really only recommend buying the latest one.

I do have a couple of 'negatives' about the atlas. First is that most of the roads used for the routes and shown in the maps do not include the road names. It would be much easier to ensure you're on the correct route if you know the names of the roads you're supposed to be on. The map sizes probably restrict the number of roads which can be named.

The second is that some of the maps apparently are fairly old. One of them is for the South Auckland/Waikato area, where HW22 south of Tuakau is shown as a State Highway. It is a number of years since it was demoted from State Highway status.

Of course there are also some good riding roads which do not appear in any of the routes, but that is probably unavoidable if you want a book of a reasonable size.
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Old 12 Oct 2006
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Good advice
Thanks fellas; that's cleared-up a few issues and queries for me.

So I'll just pull-the-trigger on: "New Zealand Motorcycle Atlas" : and forget about "Great Escapes".

Trouble is that there's a 4-6 week dispatch waiting period at Amazon.co.uk (obviously not a popular publication in the UK), but as I'm not leaving Blighty for AKL Int'l until Wed-29-Nov I still have enough time to acquire it.

Big J - Nigel - and artig: I'll be down your way from very early December until Sun-08-Apr '07; I hope we can meet-up somewhere on NZ's road system(s) from time-to-time.

Cheers

Keith the Pom
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Old 12 Oct 2006
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Post Script
Just done it. I should be okay to receive delivery too. Here's the confirmation from Amazon.co.uk:

----------------------
Dispatch estimate for these items: 10 Nov 2006 - 24 Nov 2006
Delivery estimate: 11 Nov 2006 - 27 Nov 2006 1"New Zealand Motorcycle Atlas"
Peter Mitchell; Map; #21.94

Sold by: Amazon.co.uk
-----------------------

Thanx again fellas

Keith
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Old 12 Oct 2006
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Looking forward to meeting up. Make sure you get in touch beforehand so we can go for a ride. There's a bed and a here for you.
Cheers!

Nigel in NZ
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Old 13 Oct 2006
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Hi there
I will be travelling around parts of NZ in December meeting family and the like before heading overseas in Jan.

Would love to meet up if you care for company.

By way of context though I am 23 and ride a VTZ250. I'll be trying to camp a bit and see how things work for a bigger ride - won't have proper bike/repair gear until I get to USA. Might be a bit slower on the gravel! That said if there's an opportunity to cruise or you want a , drop me a line. I keep up with pretty much anyone who isn't on Ducati on the open road. Also the family has a small house in Arrowtown. We are pretty busy around Christmas but I may be going down about Dec 10 if you want accomodation.
Josh
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Old 13 Oct 2006
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Josh - I would love to meet-up with as many riders as possible when I'm down under (from Sat-Dec-02 -to- Sun-Apr-08).

However, I'll be without a motorcycle for maybe the first couple/three weeks of my 4+ months' stay. Indeed, my first priority is to checkout a few Honda XL650 Transalps that I've identified. Hopefully I will have bought one before Christmas.

Then it'll be time to hit the road.

Keep in touch.

Regards

Keith
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Old 16 Oct 2006
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Smile Motorcycle touring atlas
I must agree that this book is a "must have" especially for motorcycling visitors to NZ.
In fact I rate it so much I provide a copy to use to all customers for my motorcycle rental business - see www.backroadsbikes.co.nz - to be returned, of course.
As I operate from Dunedin and Peter Mitchell lives in Dunedin, it made sense to use the best local authority going, and, he's a really nice bloke as well.

I have just recently finished a 2700 km figure 8 trip around the South Island, using this book as a guide and found it to be right on the mark.

Enjoy the best motorcycling island in the world during your stay.
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Old 16 Oct 2006
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Howiezowie
I must agree that this book is a "must have" especially for motorcycling visitors to NZ.

Enjoy the best motorcycling island in the world during your stay.
a) Thanx for your input Howie. Then I have indeed made a wise purchase

b) I agree. South Island is THE #1 m/c destination in the whole wide world. North Island is probably a close #2. And take it from me, Scotland, especially the NW coastal region, gets the #3 award.

[just an opinion, of course]

Now where in the world would win the fourth prize :confused1:
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