SAFETY FIRST
But first things first, The Baron hasn’t seen a lot
of love for… umm… a few years, so I wanted to get
it checked out. As part of my travel schedule I
booked it in with BMW supremo Mike Dobson at
Two Cats Garage near Wellington. The plan was to
head there for a full service and then hit the ferry
to Picton the following day (the old boy did need
a fair bit of work, which we’ll be covering in an
upcoming issue).
While drawing up my plans, a buddy – Doug –
had become quite excited about the trip and got
the OK to borrow his father-in-law’s 1200GS. He’d
follow me down a couple of days later and meet
me in Blenheim at the club rally. It was all shaping
up to be an epic summer trip.
FERRY NICE
I’ll condense the trip down through the North
Island to being warm and slow. Temperatures
were in the 30s and the old GS is most
102 KIWI RIDER
comfortable when wafting along at a stately
90-100km/h. The Queen would be so proud.
Interislander made the crossing as simple as can
be. They’d even laid out ratchet straps, so securing
the bike was as simple as riding up to the wheel
chock and attaching the straps to bars. Two
coffees, breakfast and three hours later I rode off
the ferry and filled up with fuel.
Mike at Two Cats had suggested I ride from
Picton to Blenheim on the Port Underwood road;
his instructions were 1. Ride off the ferry. 2. Turn
left. I followed the instructions precisely. A short
while later I was in twisty gravel road heaven. At
Oyster Bay the gravel road begins after a tightly
twisting stretch of seal. It’s stunning along this
stretch, and I just had to stop to take in the view
at Ocean Bay, a beautiful crescent of sand looking
out to the Sounds.
After cutting and thrusting its way around the
rugged coastline, the road eventually spits you
out at Robinhood Bay beach, which in the heat