New Zealand's endless BEAUTY | Motorcycle trip to Danseys Pass, Lake Pukaki & Mount Cook [E17- S6]

Influencer slept in her death, because she was too busy holding her camera instead of holding herself up. Good morning guys, from the shadow of my bike. It's a warm morning here at the St. Baden's dock campground. Plan for today, we are heading east, doing the Denses Pass, which is a popular gravel road. It's supposed to be pretty easy riding, but the view is supposed to be top-notch, and that's what we like, right? I might end up on the east coast in Amaru, because they have penguins there, and I would really like to see penguins. So yeah, we'll see. I don't know where I'm gonna end up tonight, but we'll see, right? Let's get this day started! Denses Pass, reaching over 900 meters above sea level, crosses New Zealand's South Island, linking Otago and Canberra to the rugged Kakunui Range. Named after the English explorer William Densey, the pass spans 51 kilometers of winding, scenic roads, first carved in the 1860s for sheep farmers and gold miners. And like every pass I've been through in New Zealand already, it was stunning and a great ride. This country just keeps delivering day after day. A little bit warm for the poor cows over there. They have no shadow or anything. Don't have to be there if they don't want to, if you're around. This sound issue is driving me nuts. Sometimes it's working, sometimes it's not, and I don't know why. It is what it is. We're working with what we got. It's very pretty. How am I supposed to ride and look at the road at the same time? I can't. Now we're heading out to Oamaru. I just need a cold drink and something to eat. It's two o'clock now, it is 32 degrees, pretty warm. So yeah, let's do that. Four to three minutes, let's go. But first, not a day goes by without making a wrong turn and having to turn around. At least this little detour offered some good views on the way back down. I found me some shade and soda and some ice cream. So that was Jim and Sylvia on their brand new Euro. How cool is that? People here are so freaking friendly, I can't get over it. Everywhere you stop, people come over and have a chat and you know, offer you a free beer or a meal or somewhere to stay or you know, anything. You know, hey, if there's anything, you know, reach out and let us know, we'll help you. It's awesome. It's humbling, really. Now let's head a little bit further east to the coast and see if we can spot those penguins in Oamaru. These road signs should be a good clue that we're getting close. I was all toisted up here with my camera and everything, but unfortunately, no penguins. The penguins are out in the ocean, as I understand, and they start coming back at about dusk, which is about eight o'clock in the evening here. And that's when you have the best chance to spot them. That's four hours away from now, so I don't think we're going to wait around for that long to watch them. Oh well, can't wait them all. After locating a campground about an hour west, I left the city and hit the highway. Soon, the air filled with a distinct smell of smoke, growing thicker as I rode. Passing fields with all sprinklers running along the way, I wondered if there might be a nearby forest fire. A quick news check showed no warnings and with traffic flowing, I continued. The air soon cleared up and I arrived at a campsite near Lake Abymore. And what's the first thing you do arriving at your campsite after a long hot day? Get those sweaty boots off. It's always such a relief. The lid of my box turned out to be a great cooking station. There's a total fire ban like for open fire, but I figured I might as well be careful with all fire. I would not want to be the one to cause a forest fire. And just like that, it's night time. It's almost 11 o'clock in the evening and you know what time it is. First, let's check out all the bugs in my tent. And there's a view, all right. Let's take a look at the map to see where I was riding today. Today, I rode the Dempsey Pass, which goes something like this. I jumped on one of the main roads and went down to Omerao. Then I went straight for the highway and boom. Now I'm up here. It's time to go to bed. It's been a great day doing some great roads. But it's time to let this day end so the next one can begin. So thank you for following along today and I'll see you again for tomorrow. Bye. For breakfast today, we have the up and go that I've been having the whole trip. It has some grates. And we have a big mandarin. And of course, coffee. All right, guys. We are good to go for day 20 of my trip through New Zealand. I am currently... I don't really know what it's called here. I'm not that far from Otatemata. Planned for today. I haven't really made up my mind yet. There is a gravel road that starts just about here called the Black Forest Road. That takes you up towards the Kukaki. It's supposed to be a good ride and really, really scenic at the top. Because it takes you up to quite a bit of altitude. But you also need a code to get through the gates to enter that road. And I don't have that code. And I can't get a hold of the people who own the land. But they say, you know, to at least be a week ahead of time planning your trip there. So they can kind of approve you for passing. And I just tried to contact them the day before. So that's all on me. But I heard someone say that you can try to drop by them. You know, it's Sunday and then come riding up to their house. You know, hey, I'm bad at planning. So could you give that code now? Excuse me, you're in the middle of your Sunday coffee. Do you mind? There's a great second option during the main road and a detour to some clay cliffs. Not very far away that looks pretty cool. Either way, it's going to be a good day. And either way, the sun is shining. We are surrounded by mountains and good views. So yeah, you can't go wrong. Without further ado, let's get this day started. Always charging, charging and charging stuff. Just what it's like. Come on, get in there. Leaving the camp and heading towards the highway across the dam of Benmore Power Station. This is New Zealand's largest earth dam and at 180 meters high, it's also the highest. Behind it lies Lake Benmore, the country's largest man-made lake. Pretty cool. And I suppose this is a good time to let you know I opted for my second option this day to visit the unique clay cliffs of Omala. There's a little bit of a walk to get up there. So a good chance to get out of the riding gear. It's a good probably 25 degrees. It's not too bad, pretty nice actually. I never thought about this, but the moon is tilting the other way that I'm used to. Smallest thing that you never really think about, you know, but you know, it makes sense. The clay cliffs are a classic example of badlands terrain with steep rock box canyons and numerous towers and buildings. The clay cliffs are developed in a tilted sequence of weak sedimentary deposits. The erosive action of the wind and rain over many thousands of years has eaten into the sedimentary layers producing the spectacular landforms. Let's not become one of those headlines, you know. Influencer slipped in her death because she was too busy holding her camera instead of holding herself up. Yeah, let's not talk too fast. I do have to say though, I do have a little bit of separation anxiety when it comes to leaving my bike like that unattended for a while. Maybe it just takes some getting used to. All right, that was that. Now let's head towards Lake Pukaki. This one I've been looking forward to for a long time. Checking out New Zealand on Google Maps, one of the first thing I noticed was this very bright teal colored lake in the center of the South Island. This is Lake Pukaki. Could it really be as blue as it looked like? Coming over the hill and catching my first glimpse of the lake, I was not disappointed. Holy smokes. As a cherry on top, to accompany this spectacular lake was the perfectly clear view of New Zealand's highest mountain at over 3,700 meters, the famous Mount Cook. How freaking beautiful is this? Look at this. It is windy though, like really windy. You come into my corners and you... But oh my god, what a view. And the weather, you can really see the mountaintop so well. Oh, so pretty. A lot of beauty today, you guys. What better place to start for the lunch than this? We're going to have to feel the water afterwards just to see what the temperature is like. Eventually leaving the mesmerizing lake behind, I continued north in a seemingly endless and very strong sidewind that kept playing ping pong with my head, bouncing it from side to side. Strong wind has to be one of the most tiring weather conditions to ride in. As I reached Berks Pass, the temperatures dropped all of a sudden as well, from 25 to 13 degrees Celsius. A good example of how fast the weather changes around here. I headed quite a bit further north and east this evening to try to steer clear of the worst of a storm coming over the west coast and eventually opted for camping in Ashburn. Good evening guys and welcome to inside my tent. It was supposed to rain quite a bit tonight and tomorrow, but I've gotten so far east and north now that the weather forecast here is not bad. It's supposed to rain a bit tomorrow morning, but not a whole lot. So I decided I might as well camp. Let me show you the map where we rode today. Where are we? Oh, that's where we slept last night. Then we continued out here and then a little detour here. Continued up to Lake Kaki and rode up towards Mount Cook Village. And now we're in Ashburn over here. I'm kind of getting the one week panic, like oh my gosh, it's almost over. I need to start planning what places I want to prioritize seeing this last week. You never really see everything, but I've seen a good deal already. And oh my god, it's better to, you know, take it easy, not cover as many places and distances, and actually enjoy the parts you're doing. Instead of just rushing through everything and then you're coming home and like, yeah, I can barely remember anything from anywhere we went. You know, just passed through a lot of places, but didn't really stop and enjoy them and experience them. So yeah, try my best not to get stressed about that, so I can actually enjoy these last days as well. I'll try to get up at a decent time tomorrow. Today was a little bit of a late start. Some days are just like that, you know, you're waking up and having my tea and then posting and ended up chatting with people and then calling home and, you know, the hours just fly by. We now need to focus, spend hours here in New Zealand where we are right now. And then everything else, can't wait. Anyway, thank you for watching today's episode. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you want to stick around for the next one as well. And yeah, have a good evening and I'll see you around. Bye!