BUCKET-LIST
Words & photos: Peter Elliott
Touring around NZ by bike is a bucket-list
trip for most of us. Peter Elliott fulfilled
his life-long dream this summer.
F
or longer than I care to say, I have wanted to
tour New Zealand by motorcycle. There was no
concrete plan - I never thought to do it alone,
or about companions; in fact I never thought
I’d own a bike on which to contemplate it.
I had the good fortune to circumnavigate the
country at sea, making a documentary series some years
back. ‘Captains Log’ was an adventure aboard many
different vessels tracing Captain James Cook’s wake.
Another series called ‘Explorers’ took a year to follow
heroic journeys in bush, river, lake, glacier, mountain and
coast. But I’d never done anything like it just for myself.
When I saw the possibility of a personal tour, I was onto
it like a robber’s dog. On a side note; Kath Hemi, QSM, of
Ngati Apa, one glorious morning on the shores of Lake
Rotoiti, re-taught me my own mother’s lesson - how to
journey with ‘good heart’ - and the memory of those two
extraordinary women led me forward. Me and Jack.
The genesis was Dunedin, for my mother-in-
law’s 80th birthday, January 10th. I decided that
I didn’t want to fly to Christchurch - I wanted
to ride. This is the story of that tour...
THE PREP’
It’s summer, just after New Year, and the weather has been
incredible in Auckland. I check the ferry crossing times,
give myself a few days to get to Wellie and a few more
days to get to Christchurch, and another to complete
the journey south. Homeward planning, following the
32 KIWI RIDER