Modern Vespa

I bought a 2009 Vespa GTS300 Super up in the north of the north island of New Zealand. Flew up early the morning and collected the scoot at the airport.

Took 10 days to ride the 2000 kms down to Christchurch in the south island. The scoot is a perfect way to explore.

First day was to Baylys Beach.

Congrats on the new scoot and what a great way to get to know the scoot right out of the starting gate!

That's fantastic!

Awesome trip, was really disappointed that we couldn't catch up in Hamilton. I did get an update from Mark and Angela at NTB Racing.

Well day two did not start that well. A slip, a down on the tarseal and the trip was continued with an unknown broken ankle. It was hurting like Billy O so I made repairs as best I could with a crepe bandage from my first-aid kit next to the road and continued the trip with some Ibuprofen on board.

Was a beautiful enjoyed ride even with the discomfort. Around Helensville I chased some Ducatis through the twisties. I think they were surprised to see the scoot in their rearview mirror, tho the scraping side stand warned me a couple of time until I found it to be bent out to much. (it has metal fatigue I found later), so I'll get it welded up stronger. A quick tweek and the twisties were enjoyed again.

Found a cabin in a campground at Pukekohe and spent the evening pretty much in the after hours doctor clinic. Diagnosis (wrong) was just a bad sprained ankle.

Next day went down to Hamilton where Mark at NPB Racing put two new tyres on and gave the scoot a good service. Also replaced the exhaust seal that was progressively disintegrating causing the scoot to have the most annoying resonant sound at 80kph. And the heavens opened as it only can in Hamilton. Was quite happy to spend the afternoon at NPB Racing.
An beautiful restoration in progress too.







Last edited by NZscoot on Sun Mar 22, 2020 10:36 am; edited 2 times in total

After steady rain throughout the night the morning dawned dry but still with menacing rain clouds. The plan was to ride to Raglan and then follow as close to the coast as possible down south, however the clouds were black over the west coast. Not good for a gravel road, so better judgement prevailed and just before Raglan I took a tar-sealed road down to Kawhia. The whole time I was dodging black clouds and rain. Kawhia was just stunning.

Just quick sample of the ride.

Passed Waitomo caves while still dodging rain, I knew my good luck could just not last. A few light showers and foolishly 5 kms before Awakino (stop for the night), just as I thought I had dodged the worst of it, man did the heavens opened. A bedraggled wet rat stumbled pretty relieved into Awakino hotel for the night.

Next morning the weather looked a bit kinder to scooterists but still a few showers.

Thanks for the marvelous ride-along..

Well I'm laid up with this broken ankle and detached tendon for at least 6 more weeks from Sunday when they will operate, so I can just continue the story...

Something to give a little of the experience...
I just sat here for 30 minutes enjoying the peace and quiet without a care in the world and a throbbing foot to remind me that I'm not in heaven..

Next day I was dodging clouds as I passed thru some of the most beautiful scenes just north of New Plymouth.

The whole day Mt Egmont/Taranaki hid behind black clouds which was disappointing as I so badly wanted to ride up that volcano. Hey tomorrow is another, so we'll see....

The 1:11 min 'live' video of the coast & ocean was superb!
No talking!!...thanks for that.
Sorry for your injury - hope all goes well with the procedure & your healing.

O.S. in Ohio....where, even if I climb a tree, I can't see salt water.

Thanks so much! Last year Mrs Wmak and I spent much of January visiting NZ, went from Aukland to Matta Matta, Rota Rua, Wellington, Picton, Invercargil, Stewart Island, Te Anau, Twizell, Christchurch, and a few more places I can't remember the names of. Best trip ever! I can't wait to come back!

Glad to hear you had a good time. Come again.

Well the next morning dawned bright and sunny without a cloud in the sky. Silly me had my mind set to head south to the kids, so Mt Taranaki/Egmond was not given a thought. About 30km south the road turns away from the coast, so I rode out to the coast and enjoyed the scene there. On the way back to join the main road I saw the mountain in all it's beauty. I just had to go and see it. Rode up the highest road one can go. Was just beautiful.

Absolutely awesome.

Thanks for sharing. You really did a professional job on all images.
I appreciate this because it gives a real window into your world.

Wait, I just noticed you were driving on the left side of the road.
The Wizard of Oz," whoa, I guess we are not in Kansas".

Thanks again

Bob Copeland
Frost Bite Falls Minnesota

Hi Bob, yes that is what we do here in "The Land down under" and we drive on our heads being on the bottom of the world.

Glad you enjoyed it.

Thanks for posting this, what a great adventure you’ve had!!

I just watched everything again for the second time. Just as
great as the first time.

Some of the asphalt paved roads you were on look very coarse or rough on
the surface. I would think that kind of surface would provide good traction
even in the rain. Question; would your tires wear out faster in NZ?

Hope your ankle is healing well. Sorry for the strange road surface question.
Your excellent photography of the road surface caught my attention. The road surface looked like heavy coarse sand paper.

Bob Copeland
Lake Wobegon Minnesota

Hi Bob,

Yes you are correct. Our country roads have 10-15mm/0,5" stone chip in the surface and it wears the tyres pretty quick. Especially the softer compound sides of dual compound tyres. It does give good traction in the wet and frost tho.

In the city the road surfaces are smooth to minimise tyre/traffic noise and some places they put "road carpet" down which is tar mixed with rubber (from what I gather) to further minimise road noise. Unfortunately I went down on smooth tarseal in a little town.

Ankle is healing up well, thanks for asking. Will be 4 days short of two months in a cast when the cast comes off next week. Will be so good.

I realised that I did not gave the last days ride back report.

Well there was the final ride home too....

I had to catch the ferry as I collected the scoot on the North Island of New Zealand and I live on the South Island of NZ. This time I booked the overnight ferry with a cabin from Wellington to Pickton. Had the be at the ferry terminal at 11pm for boarding. All went well and had a good yarn to 3 other fellow motorcyclists going the same way.

Arrived and headed down home at about 6am in the morning. Was a lovely ride, but somehow like a horse heading home, the scoot just settled into an easy tride without that much photography.

On the way stopped at a little church which was extensively damaged in the 2016 Kaikoura eartquake. I see they are trying to collect funds to restore it. Quite a sad sight but a timely reminder we are just a small insignificant speck in a greater system.

Anyway here is the video...
One thing that I stopped for was the awesome sight of close to a 100 dolphins swimming up the coast and doing somesaults about 2 to 4 meters above the water. You will see my efforts to try to capture it on my video, but unfortunately a phone camera is just not up to it. I have never seen this before. They just kept doing it as if they were trying to impress each other or young ones having fun. Just awesome and good for the heart.

Very nice, liked the music too, and that's a refreshing change fro the usual.