We woke up to our 21st day on the road with bright sunshine streaming in the hotel door and decided to make an early start. Both of us were happy to be heading home, I could tell I was becoming ill with a throaty cough and a dull ache behind my eyes, and Myra was just looking forward to a couple of days relaxing at home before she heads back to work.
We loaded up the panniers for the last time and clipped them to the bike, before wheeling it out of the courtyard I had hidden it in. Kawhia is a lovely place and its unfortunate we came upon it so late in our journey, I am sure if had gone there earlier we would have enjoyed the remote bay immensely. As it was though, as I pressed the starter and the engine caught, we were already half way home in our minds.
The ride was uneventful, a nice relaxing route we spent in near silence, both reflecting on what had been a fantastic three weeks in places we never thought we’d be. There would be plenty of time for sharing our own favourite personal memories later, but at the time we just enjoyed the road and the weather.
Once we hit State Highway One and started passing the familiar motorway exits it started to sink in that we were back in civilization. The Bombays passed under our wheels and then it was into Auckland proper, and home to our abode. It was a very quiet return, everyone being at work and the cats were hiding. As soon as we stopped in the driveway Myra dismounted the Sprint and lay sprawled on the ground, such was her joy! These are the only photos we took of this final leg, and I think you will be able to see how happy she was.
Myra’s done a fantastic job on the back of an unfamiliar bike, in unfamiliar surroundings, in sometimes extremely hostile weather, all without the normal comforts she takes on holiday and with no previous pillion experience. I really think her experience was probably a lot tougher than mine, and she really did guts it out through the tough days with minimal complaint. There were some very difficult rides on the trip, and I was really proud of how she handled them.
So that’s a wrap, 21 days of traveling around New Zealand’s coastline, 17 of riding and 4 of resting. It’s been fantastic, it’s been an achievement and it’s been something we’ve had to work for and plan for a large part of the year. We met some really great people, and some really rude ones. We were very lucky with other traffic, and didn’t encounter too many dangerous drivers. The weather was a mixed bag, but we expected that and were pretty well prepared for everything. We had a couple of close encounters, but we always traveled within the safe parameters of the bike and the weather, so survived those in tact. If anyone that is reading this is thinking about doing something similar, please by all means contact us, we’re happy to give you any advice we can.
For me, well I think I’ll sit on this for a month or two then decide what the next one will be. It’s tough to balance work commitments with the time these things take to do properly, but I already have the map of Australia up on the wall and we may start sticking a few pins in it soon 
Thanks so much for reading, I doubt I will post much more here in the near future unless we do some more motorcycle adventure type things, but keep an eye on it. I hope to tidy it up, and maybe edit some of the content now I have time to think before I write. I’ll also keep it up to date in terms of planning the next road trip, but I doubt there will be much to come in the next few months. I’m really just looking forward to enjoying the summer and having a couple of camping trips with friends.
Having people read this site though really gave us some motivation to experience things and really remember them, and to not take shortcuts when the riding got hard, so thanks again to every one of you who gave us some encouragement or just browsed through.
Roadtrip 2007/08 completed, over and out.
Mike & Myra
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