Lake Mapourika
to the motel ’ s kitchen , a public facility for many punters , with signs saying not to be used after 8pm . The walls were thin , and a great deal of pot banging and shouting in Asiatic language started up . I think they were trying to redistribute every item in the kitchen , and were arguing as to its placement , and then picking up and crashing tens of pots back and forth , accompanied with increased shouting and anguish . This went on for at least an hour , I opened the side door and tried to find the way in and couldn ’ t find one . Finally , at around 11pm I lost my rag and went up to the wall and shouted at the top of my lungs , for F ’ s F ’ ing sake ! F ’ up you F ’ ing F ’ s . You get the picture . Silence . A few more taps and then nothing . Unreasonable ? Bugger it , goodbye 2024 , I slept like a baby .
NEW YEAR ’ S DAY New Year ’ s Day . Big deal . The boys had stayed on for a while but were not overly enthusiastic about the night ’ s musical entertainment . Rob has a passion for salmon ; ordered it every breakfast he could . Up ahead of us was the Paringa River and the breeding pens of a salmon hatchery , with a great little café attached , so that was the aim as we bailed out of ‘ Dodge ’, bright and early . Another superb morning as we headed up the West Coast . The last time I ’ d ridden up here was nearly ten years before on my T120 , in howling wind and tempestuous rain . This day I saw what I had missed , the little tarns , rivers , glades , lakes , streams , brooks and rivulets , endless and charming , each one begging me to stop my faithful Honda and experience them more . Hunger and the need for decent coffee pulled us on . Paringa done and dusted , the boys opted for a more meandering pace up to Fox Glacier where they were booked for the night . I had a few more kilometres to run , heading for my favourite west coast town , Hokitika . Some years back I met a wonderful architect while shooting a series , and we have remained friends ever since . An ‘ old boy ’ of the district , he has taken a strong interest in maintaining and preserving the character-filled heritage buildings of the town , so much so , that he and some friends ended up buying one , and I was heading there to stay the night . A minor digression here … Any trip into Hokitika always gets me in the feels , something about those rivers and the pounamu connection reaches deep inside . In the early 2000s I met some remarkable kaumatua in the south , and most memorably , Maika Mason †, Ngati Waewae , Poutini Ngāi Tahu . I interviewed him at the mouth of the Hokitika River , where he shared with me the story of pounamu and the Arahura
KIWI RIDER 103