2025 New Zealand trip report
Riding a motorcycle in New Zealand has always been on Phil’s Bucket List. Reports we’ve read from others claim the country has more sheep than people, with miles of pris’ne asphalt wai’ng to be explored. Sounds great! Australia is way so close; he could check off two bucket list boxes on one trip. An addi’onal aspect got included in this trip. Both of us had ridden BMW motorcycles in 49 US states, lacking only Hawaii. If we stopped in Honolulu on our way to New Zealand and rented BMWs for a day, we could complete that challenge as well. That was our overall plan which took many months to implement. Here’s how it played out.
Friday 27 Dec 2024, – HSV to Honolulu
he alarm rang at 0345{L} and thus started another vaca’on adventure. Our trusty neighbor who generously volunteered to chauffeur us. Our scheduled 0615 flight was delayed out of Huntsville, causing us to run to make our connec’on in Houston. Then it was an uncomfortable (economy class) 9-hour flight to Honolulu; not only the seats but also our stomachs. We were fed a cheap breakfast early in the flight and then nothing else for the remaining 8.5 hours. We had neglected to bring food with us and didn’t have ‘me to buy anything in Dallas. The early start, long flight, abnormal meal schedule, and ‘me changes messed with our bodies, which made the excessively long wait for our reserved Budget rental car even that much more frustrating.
We finally made it to the Ramada hotel and managed to get a real meal – some good seafood nearby at the Harbor Pub beside the Waikiki harbor – and we later stopped for one beer at the Waikiki Brewing Company; Karen really just wanted to get some sleep! We crawled into bed around 8PM and stayed there nearly 12 hours. Although we didn’t sleep the en’re ‘me, the rest refreshed us for our big M/C rental adventure.
Saturday 28 Dec, our Hawaiian Ride-2-Eat day
Saturday 28 Dec, our Hawaiian Ride-2-Eat day Phil made arrangements for the BMW bikes via Riders Share, since no dealers rent BMWs in Hawaii anymore. And these were the only BMWs to be had on Oahu; nor were they co-located. P rented a giant R1800B with “ape-hanger bars” from Waikiki Jeep Rentals just a modest walk from the Ramada. Then we rode southwest of town where a young guy had a C400GT scooter available. Unbelievably, we had to stop for gas as the R18’s low-fuel light came on. We were told the R1800’s tank was likely full, but we didn’t take the ‘me to check…
P wanted to take pictures of us and the bikes at a couple of loca’ons. He knew where he wanted to go but didn’t have a GPS on the R18. He lost track of where we were and had to stop several ‘mes to dig his GPS out of his jacket. Gejng lost, circling the block along crooked city streets and stopping to check the GPS became the theme of the day. On our way back to town, it actually fell out of his pocket at a stop light and landed under the bike. It took a minute to retrieve it and by that ‘me, our slow lane had missed the green light…
We persevered and made it to a park near historic Diamond Head Park. Aker taking pictures we had a difficult ‘me exi’ng the parking lot due to a street fair with many pedestrians and cops. Back on the road again, we headed southeast to the end of the island for a view back toward the Honolulu. The Koko Kai Beach Mini Park was in a residen’al area with light traffic, which made it easier to navigate [next page]. With that task completed, we then headed to lunch at the Ono Steaks and Shrimp Shack on the east side of the island near Bellows AFS [which we want to visit someday with Phil’s AF & college buddies].
t would have been a nice ride but for the horrid beach traffic (being Saturday). Smaller bikes just bypassed the cars on the shoulder, but our bikes were a liqle too big and sluggish. Lunch was good though, and the traffic was much lighter heading west on HI-72. However, it was now much warmer. We were ‘red of gejng lost, so we limited our sightseeing and pg. 1 returned both BMWs early. This allowed us more ‘me for walking around Waikiki near our hotel. We took a long circular route to the outdoor bar at the Hale Koa Hotel. It is a lovely loca’on to relax with a drink, listen to some local musicians and watch the sun set; open to all Ac<ve Duty & re<red veterans. We then set out to find dinner using Apple Maps. We tried three restaurants near the resort complex, but couldn’t find two of them and the third was having a private party. Having been walking for nearly an hour Karen said “Stop” in front of the Kayak Café. We ate there, but it wasn’t actually a good choice – service was slow and the food cool, but at least it was food & a beverage.
29-30 December 2024, – Honolulu to Auckland, NZ!
While making coffee at the hotel, P remembered that he lek his well-traveled, steel coffee cup in the rental BMW’s saddle bag. We’d be on the plane by the ‘me they opened, so he was outta luck. We made good ‘me through the airport check-in and security…. un’l the TSA screener found P’s Swiss Army knife in his backpack. We chose to combine our carry-on bags and he took it back to the Air NZ ‘cket counter (escorted out by TSA) to “check it” as another bag with only the knife inside. Fortunately, that was our only drama with boarding or the flight. Business class [LeF] was oh so nice for the 8+ hour flight to Auckland on Air New Zealand. We eventually arrived Monday akernoon, 30 Dec, New Zealand ‘me. Auckland airport was incredibly efficient at gejng us through passport control and customs {since we’d goGen our tourists’ Visa via NZeTA} – a long walk but s’ll very liqle wai’ng in line. The m/c rental place had arranged our shuqle to the President Hotel, we simply had to find the group of picker-uppers behind a barrier, except they weren’t that obvious for us as we entered the terminal from customs. He waited pa’ently while Phil bought a SIM card and a 30-day data plan for his old iPhone for use in NZ. It came in handy more than once calling our hotels. This was great customer service provided by Nan Miao at Te Waipounamu Motorcycle Tours! We decided to share a light supper of baked brie on small toasted bread slices at the nearby Queen’s Ferry English Pub {aFer our hearty Business Class cuisine} to complete our first evening in Auckland .
Wednesday 1 Jan 2025, Auckland
closed for the holiday. Some that were open charged an extra 15% “holiday surcharge.“ We opted for a take-out Kebab place (good lamb with hummus and lots of vegetables). We sat out front in the shade and watched the people go by at the harbor plaza. There was an enormous Holland America cruise ship in port that morning, so there was an endless supply of wandering tourists. Later, back at the President Hotel, we watched Alabama lose to Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl on their comprehensive ESPN cable selec’on. In the akernoon we stumbled across Miss Lucy’s bar and grill on a long walk away from the harbor. We met the bartender from Oklahoma, in Auckland for a year of work/study. Karen ordered a Kiwi Burger with beet, pineapple, and egg. She thought it would be like the delicious Everything Burger she had in Australia many years ago. It was so disappoin<ng! The restaurant was out of eggs; the thin meat paqy was way overcooked; there were two small chunks of pineapple and three miniscule pieces of beet. Some meals are beqer than others. The evening was spent packing for our trip to the m/c rental outlet in the morning.
Thursday 2 Jan, Auckland
Arizona State played Texas in the Peach Bowl at 7AM NZ ‘me, so we were able to watch the first half while finishing our packing. Our shuqle to the m/c shop was due at 10, so we headed to the lobby a liqle before that to check out. The front desk informed us that we weren’t scheduled to check out un’l the next day. Philip called the m/c place to confirm – Yes, we had one more day in Auckland. Oops. Fortunately, that meant we got to see the end of the ASU-Texas game. It was truly exci’ng, but ASU lost in the 2nd over’me. Again, we had trouble finding food. Many restaurants were closed from 21 Dec through 5 Jan for a long holiday. This is a rather long break by US standards. Several of the ones that were open were s’ll charging a “holiday” surcharge. We found lunch at The Shakespeare, [Right] billed as NZ’s oldest brew pub (1898). At the start, we were actually seated outside on the balcony, before the rains came. It showered off and on as we wandered around town before heading back to the hotel to watch darts and cricket – sports we don’t get to see at home.
Aker dinner downtown, we revisited a city square which we had seen before, and then up a long, steep hill [which we had not yet visited – Below] to the most beau’ful part of the city with statues and lovely flower gardens in bloom. It seemed to be part of the campus of University of Auckland. This was a precious gem that we just happened upon! Fortunately, we were already packed for our Friday m/c pick-up and departure.
Friday 3 Jan, Auckland to Paihia
torcycle shop we signed the usual rental paperwork; then K tried out her F750GS. It was way too tall. The rental guys switched to a lower seat, but it was s’ll tall. Fortunately, the shop had an older F700GS available which proved much more suitable! We were delayed a bit while they replaced both ‘res and checked the bike to ensure it was road-worthy.
We also were ren’ng m/c jackets and pants (to save luggage space in our many transits through airports}. They found items for P that were a bit large, but acceptable. The items they had for Karen were way too large. Her hands didn’t reach beyond the jacket sleeves (mens’ small) and the knee pads were at her shins (size 50). Since they didn’t have anything smaller, their solu’on was to drive to a nearby m/c shop and buy a brand-new jacket and pants. The new items fit well enough and were certainly beqer for Karen than what they’d originally offered! To document the start of this adventure, P set up his camera and tripod in the driveway. While he was in the garage and not watching, the wind blew the tripod over and broke the camera lens func’on. Drat, another expensive lesson learned… Aker we were fully ou|iqed and got going around noon, we quickly discovered that their GPS unit with pre-loaded routes & waypoints had lost power. We headed back to the rental shop and caught Aidan just as he was leaving in his car. His solu’on was to lead us to the motorway and hope the GPS would recharge on the highway to guide us the rest of the way (about 3.5 hours). That didn’t work out; Phil was ready with Plan-B! We ended up stopping at a large highway rest stop, and installing our new GPS unit that he had loaded with all 18 hotels on ou ri’nerary. We encountered only one bad traffic ‘e-up in Wellsford, but the day was very windy and rather chilly! Following other cars made it easier to get used to driving on the lek side of the road and going clockwise around traffic circles.
Due to our late start, we didn’t bother to stop for lunch. When we arrived in Paihia, we needed a snack. We were surprised that restaurants were s’ll closed due to the “holiday”, however, the Blue Door on the waterfront was open and gladly served us beer, wine and crispy cauliflower bites, along with a liqle bit of sunshine and sea breezes as we sat on the veranda beside the sidewalk. Our hotel offered a simple dinner buffet which featured pavlova for dessert, which Phil had never had before.
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