FlyRide™ Motorcycle Touring Holidays

Price includes Honda VFR Motorcycle Hire with panniers and topbox!

Tour F07 - New Zealand
25th February 2011 - 19th March 2011

New Zealand - North & South Island

New Zealand – it really is an amazing destination for a motorcycle tour.

On hired bikes we ride together from Auckland at the top of the North Island to join our South Island tour in Christchurch that starts on 4th March 2011. You will therefore need to arrange a flight into Auckland and back from Christchurch, New Zealand. The hire of the motorcycle starts in Auckland and includes a one-way fee for drop off at the end of the South Island tour in Christchurch.

We leave Auckland heading northwards through the forests to explore the backroads and secluded harbours of the Bay of Islands. On your free day visit the Russell Museum which houses an impressive scale model of Captain Cook's Endeavor or visit the Treaty House at Waitangi. The waterfront of Russell houses stately colonial buildings. The following day we return south along the coast road past historic homesteads, botanical gardens, wildlife reserves and hot mineral pools on the way to Thames, an old goldmining town at the base of the Coromandel Peninsula. We travel onwards to Rotorua an area steeped in Maori legend, history and one of the best known thermal areas in the world. Our Maori pilot offers a wholly different cultural perspective as he explains the meanings ascribed to the mysterious mud flats that spout geysers of boiling white chalk along the nature trail that we will follow!

We continue through vast expanses of vineyards that we recognise from excursions to Oddbins back home. Quality Sauvignon Blancs from Cloudy Bay, Nobilo, Hawkes Bay and Oyster Bay - it would be churlish to pass by so we will stay awhile, stopover and sample. In Martinborough all roads lead to a delightful village green surrounded by period properties, cafe bars and restaurants. The road plan of the town centre was originally designed by a patriotic Englishman to resemble a Union Jack flag - and here is a hint of all that is good about New Zealand. In many ways reminiscent of an England of time gone by where front doors are left open, cars have ignition keys left in them and complete strangers stop to give helpful advice and assistance.

New Zealand really is heaven on earth. You will want to live there.

We continue our journey to cross the Cook Straight and join our South Island tour commencing in Christchurch on 4th March 2011.

This is a fully escorted tour in Spring 2011 (that’s late summer in NZ). You will need to book (soon as you can) to secure a cheap flight into Auckland and back from Christchurch. There is a broad choice of available machines – but book early to secure the motorcycle of your choice!