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**saralou** · #**3001** 16 Mar 2018

Part way we stopped in Pongaroa for a drink at the pub and to chat to some Canadian cyclists. From here there is a 60 km loop road into AA beach. All but 20 are paved and the rest is good gravel.

Screen Shot 2018-01-21 at 22.28.06 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE2360 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE2361 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE2370 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE2371 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**3002** 16 Mar 2018

Arriving to the beach we had a snack and while we were watching the waves a furry sea lion hopped out onto the beach.

IMG_1929 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

North Island NZ 1-83 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

North Island NZ 1-80 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

North Island NZ 1-81 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

North Island NZ 1-84 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**3003** 16 Mar 2018

This is how you tow your boat in New Zealand!

IMG_1920 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_1921 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_1936 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Riding back to the 52 from the north we had to retrace 15 km and then made for the Pa Valley and then the Mangaone Valley roads and arrived to Pahiatua at 630 to the home of HU Hubb members John and Sarah.

FILE2392 (1) by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE2398 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**3004** 18 Mar 2018

Sarah and John have traveled a lot of Europe by bike 2 up and want some advice on crossing Asia to bring their BMW back from the UK where they bought it. They served up a huge steak BBQ for us and their kids Ben and Rebeca and we talked into the night.

North Island NZ 1-85 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

North Island NZ 1-86 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

North Island NZ 1-87 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**3005** 18 Mar 2018

Today the plan was to go to Castle Point (voted the best beach in NZ) and the weather looks clear for star tonight.

Screen Shot 2018-01-21 at 22.32.28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We headed back to the 52 and south 64 KM to Masterton for groceries and supplies. We then took the Castle point road to Langdale road and wound our way to the beach.

FILE2409 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**3006** 18 Mar 2018

The problem is it is a holiday weekend Saturday and as we expected when we arrived there are no spots and no where to free camp. We had a picnic lunch and retreated to Masterton in the 30 degree blazing sun.

North Island NZ 1-88 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

North Island NZ 1-89 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We found a great motocamp just at the city limit and it has a nice grass field, amazing showers, and the best stocked camp kitchen we have ever seen. It was a 10 minute walk into town to get some cold

. Then we had to hide in the shade a the sun was like a laser. Small world as Sarah's dad used to manage this park and she has even lived here.

IMG_1942 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_1943 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**3007** 18 Mar 2018

What a comfy quiet night we had! It is only 70 km to Poriruia, but we made it into 263.

Screen Shot 2018-01-21 at 22.35.01 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We set out from Masterton to Martinborough on the small roads thru the farms that gave way to vineyards on the NZ wine route.

FILE2426 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE2436 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_1946 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

From here we continued south to the lands end at Cape Palliser where we stopped for a snack and then had to back track as there is no exit here.

FILE2441 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE2467 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE2477 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE2480 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE2488 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_1948 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

North Island NZ 1-90 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**3008** 18 Mar 2018

It was after 2 and we made for Greytown (voted prettiest town in NZ) for lunch. We cruised the quaint main road and parked where there were several restaurants. We went into a nice deli to order and not 5 minutes later Sarah and Rebeca who were here for some shopping and saw us ride by! SMALL world. Crazy to meet 2 of the few people we know in NZ. Now we rode over the famed (for the number of deadly motorcycle crashes) Rimutaka road. It is a nice windy mountain road that guys on donor cycles try to race across and crash all to often. We managed all right at normal people speed.

IMG_1950 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE2575 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

North Island NZ 1-92 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

North Island NZ 1-91 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**3009** 18 Mar 2018

Arriving to Mike’s home he had one side of the garage open for us, cold

s ready, and he cooked us up a fantastic

can chicken dinner. We went over the south island map with him as well and he added quite a few local aid bits! We also booked our ferry tickets today. We had to go with 3 days from now in order to not have to go at 9 am or 8 pm. We booked with Blue bridge as they allow 2 motorbikes to be booked on one reservation, they had a 130 pm opening for the 3.5 hour crossing as opposed to 9 am or 5 pm), and it was 50$ cheaper. They are north sea ferries and not as nice as the ones run by the competition Inter-island.

North Island NZ 1-93 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

North Island NZ 1-94 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

It is not very nice out today so for our tour in the city Mike took us in the car. We headed into Wellington city and visited the Te Papa national museum, lunched on the waterfront at Mac’s, then drove over to visit the NZ first world war memorial and museum. We headed back to Mike’s so Sara could cook us up dinner.

North Island NZ 1-95 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Giant Squid!

IMG_1954 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**3010** 18 Mar 2018

It is supposed to be a much nicer day today and we set out on the bikes just after 9.

FILE2598 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Leaving Porirua we did take the motorway until Johnsonville and then turned off onto the Ohairu Valley Road.. This is a very narrow and curvy road thru farm lands. We took a detour off to visit Makara beach.

FILE2607 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_1964 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

North Island NZ 1-96 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**3011** 19 Mar 2018

Next we crossed over the west of the suburbs to climb the steep road to the “wind turbine” lookout. This has a panoramic view over the city from the west.

IMG_1967 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

North Island NZ 1-97 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

North Island NZ 1-98 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**3012** 19 Mar 2018

From here we rode down to the sea on Happy Valley Road and to Owhiro bay. The road here skirts the seaside and ends at the airport. Here we had a great lunch on the deck of the Spruce Goose and watched the planes take off and land.

FILE2657 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE2669 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

When you continue on the coast road you actually ride under the runways and along the coast with views of the harbor.

North Island NZ 1-99 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**3013** 19 Mar 2018

There is a steep and narrow switch back road to the lookout at Mount Victoria.

North Island NZ 1-101 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

North Island NZ 1-100 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

When we came back from enjoying the view Lulu would not start! Now when we arrived back from Vietnam there was a starting issue, but since then the bike started but there was a delay of a second when the starter was pushed. For the last 2 days it did not seem to be running “normally” or at least seemed to lack power, but the voltage meter was 14.

We tried to jump the bike-no, we swapped out the battery from the 800-no, we jumped it with the new battery and started. So either the regulators or the stator! We luckily were less than 5 km and mostly downhill to get to Mikes shop Boyle Kawasaki. Glad it did not die on the hill like it did in Quito when I broke my toe!

Screen Shot 2018-01-23 at 22.27.07 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Screen Shot 2018-01-23 at 22.27.41 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

What nice guys. They immediately offered help, tested the battery (all good), offered to fix the bike, offered us a trailer….and

. In the end Dan and Mike rode back home and picked up Mikes car and trailer and then came back for Lulu and Sara.

IMG_1971 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**3014** 19 Mar 2018

Arriving home Dan got to work. First he swapped out the regulator and no luck.

IMG_1974 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_1975 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Next we open the engine and the stator is burnt totally and the wiring burned thru. Inside the case there was a 4 mm glob of what looked like solder freely floating (forgot to take a picture unfortunately). Poor job on the manufacture! It has only been in use since Kazakhstan (22,000 km ago!!). Not much we can do so we installed the new one and it is working well we think. The voltage reads 13.8 when riding, but 14.0 when in neutral. This is a new regulator and is Dan’s battery. The 650 was always 14.1! We shall have to see.

IMG_1978 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_1979 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_1980 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

IMG_1981 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
Thanks so much to Mike for saving us in a bad situation! This bourbon is well deserved .

IMG_1983 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

**saralou** · #**3015** 19 Mar 2018

Today we are heading to the ferry across the Cook (as in Captain) Strait to the South island, but the sailing is not until 1330.

We headed out just after 7 and made for Mike’s favorite coffee and scone spot for breakfast. We then rode out to the Eastbourne Bays and then back and over the hills to the Wainuiomata Coast.

Screen Shot 2018-01-24 at 22.22.36 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

FILE2712 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr