grapes are grown in which regions of
the country and why, and then telling
me about all sorts of wonderful things
to visit around the area. It was lucky I
was riding and not in a car, because I
would have left with a case!
Unfortunately, while that extended
stop was educational and delicious,
it also made me late for my arrival at
my second cousin Chris’s house … and
when you have three kids under 12
you aren’t waiting for a distant relative
to show up to eat!
While I may not have gotten to sit
down with the family on night one,
spending three nights with Chris,
Suz, Amy and the boys was absolute-
ly heartwarming; there was some-
thing incredibly relaxing and enjoy-
able about spending time in a family
home. Spending time with them was
just the beginning of the good things
that happened in the city too!
After posting in a couple of New Zea-
land Facebook groups about my miss-
ing gear in hopes someone might have
seen it for sale online, I ended up with
three contacts in the area that helped
me out. Budget Motorcycle Spares did
an oil change for me with labour on
the house and gave me a great deal on
replacing some of the things I’d lost,
Josh Martin of Remote-Moto gave me a
free subscription to his service (more
on that later), and greatest of all Da-
vid the Irishman leant me a full set of
camping gear for ‘as long as I needed
it’ as I toured the island. While those
were the three contacts I made that
were able to help me immediately, the
response I received from the commu-
nity at large was inspiring.
Christchurch not only over-
whelmed me with the people, but
with the resilience of the city itself.
While many people have heard about
the earthquakes that rocked the area,
I’m not sure many realize the actual
devastation they caused.
My first stop in the city was to see
this firsthand and explore Quake City,
the exhibit that tells the stories from
the Canterbury earthquakes. For the
second time in a week following the
visit to Te Papa, emotion was drawn
out of me at Quake City by their vid-
eo presentation where people who
were present in the downtown core
during the event told their stories of
heroism, hope and loss. From there it
was out to see the city for myself, and
while there is re-construction going
on everywhere it has character and
charm that Wellington lacks. The city
also has something going for it that I
don’t think exists anywhere else – the
ability to start from scratch and layout
the downtown core as they want to in-
stead of the somewhat disorganized
nature of organic growth. With a cen-
TRAVERSE 92
ter around the crumbled cathedral,
and a new conference center being
erected nearby, the city is on its way to
being a highlight of the country.
From Christchurch I took off to
Akaroa for the beginning of Eas-
ter weekend to tackle some of Re-
mote-Moto’s awesome trail collection.
Josh (founder of Remote-Moto)
hooked me up with a subscription af-
ter my camping gear was stolen, and
I would not have made it to any of
my favorite rides on the South Island
without it. After following a few dirt
roads and gravel trails getting used
to riding Robin fully laden off the tar-
mac, I managed to keep myself ver-