Anthony: CB650 (Honda CB650P) white David: V30 Magna (Honda VF500C) black Saturday 21/5/88 Left Bruce & Averil's at 1:30pm, after planning to leave at nine. Straight to Hanmer to fill up, then about 30km on State Highway 7, camp off side of road. Meal of snax crackers and cheese with peanut butter 'cos we forgot two things - matches and a can opener. We looked kind of funny at bedtime in our long johns, but they are sure warm. Man are we excited. We are free!!! No dripping taps or balls and chains. We had some trouble with my 650 because of the broken side stand lever, and it nearly fell on me. POOH, our tent stinks of peanut butter. We have got a block of cheese here and a jar of peanut butter in case we get hungry in the night. We didn't bring a watch or clock (on purpose), so we are disregarding white man time, but it is dark now, so I think we will have a snooze now. Sunday 22/5/88 Left camp, along SH 7 switched to Highway 64, at Springs Junction. Stopped at Muchison, for breakfast/lunch of hot milk & weetbix and baked beans (and peanut butter). Here we decided to go to Uncle Garth's house for the night. We also bought a can opener, matches and milk from the Murchison tea room/dairy. Stayed at Uncle Garth's and Aunty Sylvie's for the night. We had a cooked breakfast and everything (we were fed well all right). We had some of Uncle Garth's kiwifruit wine, but David couldn't hold it and got a bit tipsy. Excellent stuff! Monday 23/5/88 We said goodbye and went to see Graham and Linda, but only Linda was home. We had a cup of tea then Graham arrived. I almost got bowled over by a huge labrador called Luke, what a beaut dog. He weighed nearly as much as me. We left there and headed for Takaka. We wanted to go right to the top of the South Is, as far as possible. We got petrol at Collingwood which is about quarter the size of Roxburgh. The very top of the South Island was a place called Farewell Spit Nature Reserve which is near Puponga Park, down the end of Freemans Road just past Puponga. Farewell Spit Nature Res. includes all land exposed to low tide mark from Puponga Point eastwards. We camped the night under the Waitapu Bridge (under which flows the Takaka River). We are a few kilometres from Takaka Town. While David cooked tea - after we set up camp & tent - I drove to Takaka to buy some supplies. We had a very comfortable night and got up at 7-30am. The bridge is a lot like the Wairau and sheltered us. We got caught in a hail storm near Puponga and it then rained most of last night. It is now Tuesday the 24th May, we want to head down the West Coast today and see Westport and Greymouth. On the way to Murchison we stopped on Hope Saddle and went to the Observation Point, where you can see for miles. On the Point is a shelter with seats and a loo. We almost missed the road up to it. David took a few photos. We stopped at Uncle Garth's house for lunch and Aunty Sylvie made us a big shepherds pie. As I write this we must be about halfway to Murchison from Motueka. I am sitting at one of the picnic tables at Observation Point. Me and David can't get over the beauty up here - and the incredible view. There is nothing for miles, except nature. No sign of polluting white men. There is a big map disc on the Point with distances to many main mountains. Hope Saddle is 2085 feet, from here Mt Robert and Lake Rotoiti ski grounds are 15 miles SSE as the crow flies, according to the disc. We are in the Buller Gorge at the moment, a lot of terrible roads, washed out and flooded, lots of road works. We have stopped up a short dirt road 'cos David wanted to go for a pee. The roads are pretty slippery, the sun doesn't get down in the Gorge by the looks. We have got enough gear to keep warm though. We filled up petrol at Murchison. We are sick of one lane bridges. There are heaps of them everywhere. At the moment we are in our tent all snug and warm in the Westport Motor Camp, listening to the radio. We just had hot showers in the amenities block. We had fish & chips (ugh) in Westport and a milkshake etc... Westport is a nice town. The fee for having a tent site in this camp was $10 for one tent, a cabin was $20. We also got a free newspaper. I think I will turn the lamp off now 'cos David has fallen asleep. Bye. Wed 25th May 1988 Me and David are on the second storey of a coffee lounge which looks down on one of the main streets of Greymouth, across from West Coast Electric Power Board. We have parked the bikes across the street so we can see them from this window. The ride along the coast from Westport was cool. We took a few photos. A big fat native bird wandered around our bikes at a rest area and I went up to it. It was pretty tame, but I went to touch it and it pecked my hand. YOW! It is sunny in Greymouth but David just said he's cold, [David has written a footnote here: "Wrong again!!"] even with all of his gear on. Greymouth is pretty big, but we haven't seen any traffic lights. We have to find a shop to buy a new indicator for my 650 'cos David rammed the back of my bike with his. So at the moment I've got no left indicator. David keeps bumping the table (on purpose) so I will stop writing now to punch him... Thursday 26/5/88 We camped at a big rest area right beside Lake Wahapo. Our only company was two ducks who hung around squawking all morning. We had spaghetti and toast and peanut butter for breakfast. We are so thirsty 'cos we ran out of water, but we are just leaving for the next town to buy a drink. We have been through Franz Josef and Fox Glacier, and seen the glaciers. My bike slipped over once because parts of the road up to the Fox Glacier is solid ice. We had a game of Galaxian at Franz Josef. We have just stopped at Knights Point rest area lookout to take a photo. There is a big monument here, we will take a photo of it. The plaque reads - "This plaque was unveiled by the P.M. the Rt Hon Keith Holyoake C.H. on 6th November 1965 to commemorate the official opening of the Paringa - Haast section of this highway thereby linking Westland with Otago via Haast Pass." There is an amazing view from here, the sea is perfectly calm. We are sitting on the steps of the monument in the sun to thaw out. Saturday 28 May, 1988 We are at Aunty Marion's now. We have been here for two nights. We went through the Haast Pass and we agree it is the coldest place we have ever been on our bikes. Most of the roads were just solid ice. We never want to go through there again, and if we do it would have to be the middle of summer. Even Shaun would have been cold in Haast Pass. It was so icy we just had to crawl through most of it in first or second gear. We filled up petrol in Wanaka then headed back to Queenstown. All we could think of was getting to Aunty Marion's house, we were so cold. We had to stop a couple of times to let our hands thaw out. Me and David tried to get up Coronet Peak. We had to crawl up in first gear, but we only made it as far as the lookout. We gave up and made our way down. We just made it it got so slippery in some places, but David went down a bit faster so I thought What the Heck and followed him. 7:50pm Just got back from Bluff and Invercargill. At the end of the road at Bluff I carved "REV '88" on the signpost alongside all the other graffiti, at eye level, to the right. Toni came with us and also carved "TJ" on the signpost pole. We had fish and chips in Winton. We came back in the dark. I nearly spilled the 650 on some ice, and David nearly spilled his bike on some gravel (Toni was on the back). Tubby went for a spill on Aunty Marion's driveway 'cos it was so icy. 30 May, 1988 (MON) Here we are at Grandad & Nana's. We arrived last night from Queenstown. We did a four hour trip. Our next stop will be Blenheim, we will go up east coast, though there's nothing special to see there 'cos we've been up that road so many times before. 2nd June, 1988 Did the trip to Blenheim in one day, left Dunedin this morning. So that's the East Coast covered. Our trip is OVER.