riding on the moon. On the descent, the terrain
continually changed and was very technical with
unstable shale, twists and turns, water and rocks.
Further along the track were some massive ruts
caused by the big snow melts. These ruts were
almost big enough to lose a bike in! This is a huge
mountain and it took a long time to finally get
back on the sealed road. We slept well that night!
Day
We were amazed that it
was the last day aleady, it
had all gone so quickly, so
we wanted to make the
most of it – there were
only two break outs. B.O.1
was a steep farm track
up the back of Wanaka
that gave amazing views over two valleys as we
crested the hill. Joe had explained B.O.2 would
be B.O.4 from the day before, only in reverse. We
decided not to push our good luck and tired bodies
too far, so headed for the enjoyable Nevis Road
and its 27 water crossings – it’s a real fun road!
Riding into Queenstown marked the end of an
amazing adventure. Over those five days we had
made some great new friends, and strengthened
ties with the people we already knew. Those tense,
somewhat anxious faces from the first day had
been replaced with confident, ear-to-ear grins
and shoulder slapping. Reserved laughter had
been replaced with boisterous hilarity and light-
hearted joking – we’d all enjoyed some laughs
with like-minded people from all over the world.
Karen and I agreed that taking on the 2017
KTM Rallye two-up was a massive challenge.
Not only was this rewarding for the daily
events during the Rallye, but doing this has
absolutely strengthened our relationship.
To Rosie and the whole KTM machine, we
extend our heartfelt thanks for this awesome
experience – bring on the 2018 rallye...
5
KIWI RIDER 33