The Spyder: The Spyder: - Wing World Magazine Archives

Lake Pukaki
made available to us.That evening, the Chapter
and tour participants had a great dinner
together.
Onward
The next morning, our group was on board
the inter-island ferry for a 3.5-hour boat ride
to continue our tour on the South Island of
New Zealand. With overnights stops in
Greymouth and Haast, we spent two days on
the West Coast of this island enjoying its beautiful
views and taking walks along the beaches
of the Tasman Sea. One of the trip
highlights there was a jet-boat trip,
with lots of white water and beautiful
mountain and water views, up the
Waiatoto River.
Back on the bikes again, we turned
inland and were met and guided by
Chapter Member Jim Faulks, who was
raised near (and still lives in) the beautiful
lakeside town of Wanaka, which
several of us resolved to return to visit
another time. Jim got us to
Queenstown, where we spent two
nights.We spent the days exploring the
city and waterfront of Lake Wakatipu
and took a trip on a coal-fired
steamship to a large sheep station
(ranch) up the lake.
Leaving Queenstown, we drove to
another gorgeous lakeside town—Te
Anau.We stayed there two nights, with
the off day spent driving a beautiful 70-mile
mountain route to Milford Sound, where we
took a two-hour boat ride on the sound.The
place is a combination of Norwegian fjords
and Swiss mountains, and it was just beautiful!
From Te Anau, we worked our way
Southeast toward Gore, the southernmost
point of our trip, and only 40 miles from
Invercargill, the home of Burt Munro (subject
of the true-story motorcycle film “The World’s
Fastest Indian”).We didn’t make it there to see
the museum commemorating him and the
beaches where he rode, but we vowed that
next time we will! (By the way, if you haven’t
seen this film, get to a rental store and get it:
It’s a classic.)
Back to the Start
We then continued north toward
Christchurch and were hosted to a beautiful
afternoon at the farm home of NZ-A
Members Stan & Eunice Weir near Ashburton.
From there, we made a quick trip into central
Christchurch. And though we, personally, are
not “city people,” this is another place several
of us vowed to return to. Its architecture,
cleanliness and friendly people make it a very
nice place to visit.
Moving on again to the North, we
overnighted at the nice Pacific Ocean town of
Kaikoura. The following day, we were again in
Milford Sound
Picton for the return ferry trip to Wellington
and the North Island. In Wellington, we had
been invited to the home of friends of one of
our good friends back home: This man was a
former Prime Minister of New Zealand, and
we arrived at his doorstep wearing jeans and
road clothes! Typical of New Zealand people,
this was just fine with he and his wife, and they
hosted us to a memorable evening at their
home and a Wellington restaurant.
Continuing north, we stayed toward the
Western part of the North Island with
overnights in New Plymouth and Te Awamutu
enroute to Auckland, where we spent a couple
of hours touring an underwater marine museum
featuring live penguins. We then rode on
north of Auckland to Warkworth, where
Chapter Member Brenton Faithfull and his
family joined us for dinner. He had arrived in
his bus and treated us to a post-dinner tour of
the beach and harbor area, then took some of
the group into Auckland to be part of the
Chinese New Year celebrations.
Local police officer Russell Rawiri and his
wife Diane and fellow Chapter Members Verne
& Debbie O’Dwyer and Wayne & Dale Painter
joined up with us the next morning for these
last couple days of riding.And they showed us
the roads only the locals know as we explored
the Kauri tree forests, beaches and hills of this
part of the country—all of which we can only
describe (again!) as absolutely beautiful.
Our last night on the road was in
Paihia on the East Coast Bay of Islands
and was probably our favorite place of
the whole trip. But there certainly
were a lot of close runners-up!
Leaving Paihia on March 5, we
returned to Auckland for a final dinner
with our new-found friends and on the
following day folks started off for
home. But not us—Chapter Members
Paul & Marguerite Story each took a
day off from work and spent the whole
day showing us Auckland. It was wonderful!
That night, we attended with
them a meeting of the Ulysses Club—
the largest motorcycle club in New
Zealand, with over 6,000 members.
The next morning, we left New
Zealand to continue our little odyssey
with a two-week visit to Australia to visit family.
But we enjoyed—and will always look back
fondly on—our “Muster Down Under” tour.
Advice for Your “Muster Down Under”
(or Any) NZ Tour
To get down to what you should know
about a trip like this—whether you’re planning
one yourself or going with a tour—here is
some important info.
This specific tour itself was $150 per day
(US dollars) per participant. We rented a
GL1500 from a Chapter Member for another
$150 (US dollars) per day but that arrangement
may or may not be available if the tour is
done again. In total, the 21-day tour cost about
$9,500 (US dollars) which was inclusive of all
motels, bike rental, meals, ferry tolls and a few
tourist attractions. It did not, however, include
52 Wing World