CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
553 km from Westport to the finish, about 7 h 35 of riding. The stops in between: Punakaiki and Hokitika. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Westport sits at the mouth of the Buller River on the north end of New Zealand's West Coast, a working town that grew up on coal and gold. The Māori knew the river as Kawatiri, and European settlers arrived in the 1860s when gold was found upstream, then stayed for the coal dug from the high plateau at Denniston, whose steep incline railway was one of the engineering marvels of its day. The coal trade still shapes the town, and the harbour and the long quay give it a plain, practical character that suits the coast.
Read the complete Westport write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Westport is where the day begins. Next is Punakaiki.
Punakaiki sits on a short stretch of the West Coast where the Paparoa Range comes down almost to the sea, and the combination of green rainforest, limestone cliffs and Tasman breakers makes it one of the most photographed places on State Highway 6. The village itself is tiny, with a handful of cafes, a visitor centre and some accommodation, but it has one very big attraction, the Pancake Rocks, a set of limestone formations that look like piles of stacked pancakes, shaped over thousands of years from layers of soft and hard sediment eroded by sea and rain.
Read the complete Punakaiki write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Punakaiki comes up about 118 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hokitika.
Hokitika is the greenstone town. Pounamu, the New Zealand jade that Māori have carved into tools, weapons and ornaments for centuries, is found in the rivers of the West Coast, and the workshops along Hokitika's main street cut and polish it into pendants and sculptures.
Read the complete Hokitika write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 304 km into the recorded legs you reach Hokitika. Next is Franz Josef.
The glacier is the reason for the village. Franz Josef, named in 1865 by the German geologist Julius von Haast after the Austrian emperor, flows from the high snowfields of the Southern Alps down a steep valley to within a few hundred metres of the rainforest, a rare sight at this latitude. The Māori name, Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere, means the tears of the avalanche girl, and recalls a legend of a woman whose grief at the loss of her lover froze into the ice. The glacier has been retreating for years, and the walk to the terminal face grows longer.
Read the complete Franz Josef write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Franz Josef closes the day.
Westport → Punakaiki is 118 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Punakaiki → Hokitika is 186 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Hokitika → Franz Josef is 249 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.