Destination: New Zealand

It all passed in a fraction of second, although it seemed like a good 10 or 12 at the time. Suddenly confronted with a tacho screaming its way towards redline, the rear of the bike began fishtailing its way wildly up the road at 100km/h. Going uphill, on a straight bit of road, with a steady throttle.

The culprit was black ice, and thankfully it was the only time I came across this hidden danger in the 4500km I spent exploring the demanding but superb roads of Australia's cousin across the Tasman, New Zealand.

Luckily the buttock-clenching movement for myself and partner Meghan was over as quickly as it began, the 500-odd kilos of humans, luggage and machine merrily continuing on its way to that particular day's destination, Dunedin. Well, cold weather riding brings its own challenges, and this was New Zealand's South Island in mid June…

THE NZ EXPERIENCE
Our travels had begun some 10 days earlier, when we'd collected a pre-arranged Honda ST1100. Long since replaced by the ST1300, the ST1100 was just the ticket for an extended two-up tour, and didn't miss a beat for the next 17 days.

Our downtown backpacker base was perfect for exploring the 'City of Sails', as Auckland is known, and there's certainly plenty to see and do. A trip up the imposing 328m-high Sky Tower is a must, as is a quick ferry ride to Devonport - a walk up Mount Victoria behind the Devonport pier reveals a striking view of the city you won't forget.

FUSH AND CHUPS
Motorcycling is alive and well in Auckland, with all manner of machines getting around the streets - I spotted everything from Honda X11 muscle bikes (a model that never made it to Australia) to 50cc monkey bikes, with an incredibly varied spread of makes and models in between.

Bidding the city farewell, we pointed the ST north, heading around Kaipara Harbour to Dargaville, where we came across a true NZ phenomenon - the most incredible fish and chips! And while I'm on the subject of 'fush and chups', let me tell you the accent thing swings both ways; I've got a couple of large newfound Maori friends in Rotorua - Dino and Eddie - who will only be too happy to point out to you they've got the language nailed, and our 'feesh and cheeps' business is a load of bollocks. Either way, this cholesterol-laden delicacy quickly became a staple lunch for the rest of the journey - much to the distress of our leathers.

From Dargaville it's just a short hop to picturesque Opononi, not that you'll be in a calm and serene state to appreciate the view - the 25km stretch through Waipoua Forest beforehand will shoot your heart rate straight to critical. This ancient, dense forest (more of a jungle, really) is home to some of the last stands on earth of the awesome Kauri tree - and believe me, the one I'm hugging in the pics is a tiddler!

GOOD THINGS, SMALL PACKAGES
From Opononi we turned west to our day's destination, Paihia - gateway to the beautiful Bay of Islands. By judging how long it had taken us to travel the 250km from Auckland, we'd seriously over-estimated how much of NZ we'd be able to take in, which apparently is quite a common oversight for Aussie visitors - subsequently we ditched of the Bay of Islands cruise, and pressed on to Rotorua.

On a map NZ looks so tiny next to Oz, but don't be deceived - there's a heap of stuff to see and do in those two relatively small island masses. Throw in winding roads just about everywhere - courtesy of its volcanic, mountainous landscape - and you quickly realise 50 Aussie kilometres and 50 New Zealand kilometres are two entirely different things.

The geothermal mud pools and hot springs of Rotorua attract tourists year round, and it's not hard to see why - it's such a bizarre place. Vapour pouring from grates in the town's gutters, a constant sulphurous pong, hotels one after another boasting private hot spas (a great way to unwind after a day's ride) - there's really nothing quite like it in Australia.

It was that night a couple of beers at the local turned into several more with Dino and Eddie, two lovely blokes who confirmed for us that a friendly, hospitable nature is the norm for many of our Kiwi brothers - they even paid for a cab to scoop us up and safely deliver us to our hotel room!

A visit to Rotorua's Whakawerawera (say that with a hangover!) thermal reserve is essential, as is attending a hangi - a traditional Maori feast where the food is slowly cooked with hot coals while buried underground. Delicious!

JUST CHILLIN'
The next day things got cold - like thawing your swollen fingers over the bike's cylinder heads sort of cold! From Rotorua we planned to head south to Lake Taupo and straight down the guts of the North Island to the nation's capital, Wellington. This path would take us on the Desert Road past Mount Ruapehu, which, at nearly 2800m high, spends a good deal of its time freezing any hapless motorcyclists who choose to ride past it. As fortune might have it, the Desert Road was closed due to blizzards that day, so we headed straight to the coast (and warmth, relatively speaking) at Wanganui.

As the ice, snow and billowing grey clouds made way for the deep shades of green which cover so much of pastoral New Zealand, I spied a road sign you don't see every day: twisting roads "Next 50km". Hallelujah - I died and gone to motorcycling heaven.

The ST ate up the curves surprisingly readily for such a big bike, and once again I found myself debating the pros and cons of a common NZ riding problem - do you devour the bends, or enjoy the scenery? Thankfully there is plenty of both, so you never need worry you've made a bad choice.

SOUTHWARD BOUND
A quick scout around windy Wellington revealed yet another place for which we'd under-budgeted our time, but for us it was off to the rugged beauty of the South Island the next morning, aboard the 7.00am inter-island catamaran.

The journey across Cook Strait and into Marlborough Sound to Picton took just over two hours; a good time to sit back and drink in the scenery. Setting out from Picton we headed for the west coast, via Nelson and State Highway 6, finally reaching the breathtaking coastline while negotiating Buller Gorge. Racetrack smooth, curve after curve, spectacular vistas and - like so much of New Zealand - no traffic; Buller Gorge is simply superb.

Greymouth was our next stop, and the next day a spot of caving was in order, our guide being dragged out of bed to just take Meghan and I on a four-hour tour of a subterranean river where the water was hovering around 4°C.

Now thankfully I've never suffered a heart attack before, but jumping into water that cold in the middle of winter has to come close. Two layers of thermals, a thick NZ woollen jumper and a 4mm wetsuit do help, and the sight of an underwater lake - its roof dotted with a thousand points of light care of the local glow worm population - is well worth the discomfort.

WATERY WONDERLAND
Greymouth to Haast is supposed to be home to the most spectacular views the west coast has to offer - we wouldn't know; it bucketed down the entire way, although the impromptu thundering torrents and waterfalls dotting the rugged peaks were stunning in their own right.

Queenstown is known as New Zealand's adventure capital, and for good reason. After jet boating, bob sledding and jumping off a 102m-high bridge attached to a rubber band, I'd only scratched the surface. We left the gorgeous alpine township before our bank balance dropped faster than a bungee jumper - just without the return journey north!

The quaint, Scottish-influenced city of Dunedin was a relaxing spot in which to have a pint and calm our nerves after that aforementioned moment on the black ice, and it also saw the realisation dawn upon us that our trip was now on its home stretch.

The remainder of the South Island passed in a blur - we had a plane to catch. The bustling metropolis of Christchurch was a stark contrast to the seaside hamlet of Kaikoura further north, the latter serving as the perfect place for a spot of lunch. Yep, it was more fish, chips, mussels and scallops - with rugged snow-capped 2600m peaks towering just 8km away over sparkling, azure waters. A breaching whale would have been the icing on the cake - sighting of these giants of the deep aren't uncommon in these parts.

THE FINAL SPRINT
Heading further north, the road hugged the rugged coastline for the next 100km, giving us a last chance to blow out the cobwebs in the South Island - as if we needed to after the previous 2500km! All too soon we were cruising Cook Strait once more, and after another night in Wellington, with half a day spent seeing the sights - including the fantastic national museum, Te Papa (home to one of the late John Britten's thundering V-twin race bikes) - we were off once more.

Mount Taranaki lurked somewhere behind a shower as we crawled our way up the undulating Surf Coast Highway to the industrial town of New Plymouth, while the final blast to Auckland passed uneventfully, save for yet more fantastic roads along the Awakino River and through the Mount Messenger region. A night at Meghan's relo's farm capped off a first-rate journey, and one we were sorry to see draw to a close.

Looking back, all I can say is, 'what a place!'. It's so close, there's so much on offer for tourists, and the people are so damn friendly - despite the countless Australia jokes doing the rounds (which are scarily similar to the Kiwi jokes found here!). Throw in awesome roads and scenery, and for motorcyclists it's a veritable paradise - and all just a few hours by plane away. Do it - you'll love it!

Captions (in order of images):

NearPictonSouthIsland:
Touring New Zealand in mid winter isn't for everyone.

Dunedin:
Dunedin, in the South Island, has a strong Scottish heritage

Kaikoura:
At the right time of year, Kaikoura is a whale-spotter's paradise. For the rest of the year, it's still a paradise - just without the whales…

MountRuapehu:
Mount Ruapehu threatens in the distance…

DiversionToWanganui:
Enjoy the ride or admire the scenery? There are worse problems in life…

WaipouaForest:
In Waipoua Forest, in the north of the North Island, you could be excused for thinking you'd ridden into a scene from Jurassic Park…

LunchOfKings:
Just what the doctor ordered!

AucklandSkylineFromDevonport:
Simply stunning: the view of Auckland's skyline from Devonport.

BrittenVtwinTePapaMuseum:
Wellington's Te Papa museum is well worth a look - if only to get up close and personal with one of the late John Britten's thundering V-twin race bikes

InterIslandFerry:
Kick back and relax as your inter-island catamaran streaks across Cook Strait

NearQueenstown:
I'll just wander up the top of that hill…

LakeWakatipu:
Picture postcard stuff at Lake Wakatipu, near Queenstown

KauriTree:
Believe it or not, but in the north of the North Island, the Kauri trees can get a whole lot bigger than this!

ChristchurchHinterland:
Classic South Island scenery: lush farmland, overlooked by snowcapped peaks