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COPYRIGHT 2005 Ehlert Publishing Group
If an extended motorcycle tour in the prime spring and summer months is difficult for you--your career is busiest then, perhaps--and you can't change careers, just change hemispheres. Fall and winter in North America are New Zealand's spring and summer, and this lush and lovely country down under has roads and scenery that rival Europe and the Alps. You have more to fear from the swarming tour groups than the stoic but friendly New Zealanders, too, all of whom call you mate and are happy to take your money, no tipping expected or required. The only risk is the unpredictable weather. Spring and summer in New Zealand are moderate and usually warm, but the maritime climate and proximity to wild Antarctica often bring rain. That's what makes New Zealand so green. In 12 days of riding in February and March we had only three wet ones, yet others have spent entire tours there in their rain-suits. Like I said, unpredictable ... but worth the gamble.
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Right between Florida and California in size, New Zealand is about 1,000 miles long and divided into two main islands, North and South, by the narrow Cook Strait. The vast Pacific lies to the east, the mysterious Tasman Sea to the west and 1,400 miles farther on, Australia (though New Zealanders wish it were a lot farther). Despite their closeness the islands are quite different, as the South was formed by an immense tectonic upheaval, and the North explosive volcanic action. Don't ask me which came first. This makes for good riding in any event (and the skiing is quite good there in winter, I understand). Coastlines are rugged, and the high Southern Alps that run the length of the South Island's west coast tend to hold the moisture back from the rolling lowlands to the east, where you've never seen so many sheep. Cattle and sheep farming are big on the North Island, too, where mighty snowcapped Mount Taranaki (used as a substitute for Mount Fuji in the film The Last Samurai) is but one of many volcanoes,...
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