The Plan Takes Form

I've never really done anything like this, so I've no idea how to go about it.

Sure, I could hit up a travel agent and say, "here's pretty much what I want; a motorcycle tour of the North Island of New Zealand. Provide me my itinerary."

But who's to say I'll get what I want?

No, really. Like I said, I've never done anything like this, so I can't comment on the quality of travel agents.

So instead, as I'm planning on going it alone, I may as well plan it alone. Of course, I'll be welcoming the input from others, but the final call will always be mine.

Right, so… now that the rules are set, what's next?

The way I see it, there are a few things that are interdependent; budget, time, and points of interest.

Budget: I've got to take into account the cost of the flights, the accommodation, my food, the bike hire, and the petrol.

Time: I've got to consider how long I need to take to see everything that I want to see, and everything that I can afford to see.

Points of Interest: I've got to think about what I really want to do and see while I'm there within the confines of my budget.

It's all interconnected, so that makes things a little difficult to work around. So, first things first; what do I most want to achieve from this adventure?

First of all, I want to spend at least one full day in my home town of Paraparaumu. There's no negotiating on that. Ideally it would be two full days, but one is the minimum. Secondly, I'd like to go as far as I can at the four points of the compass. I would like to get to Mt Egmont in the West, Hicks Bay in the East, Cape Reinga in the North, and Whangaimoana in the South. I would also like to visit Mt Ruapehu, Lake Taupo, and Rotorua. Everything else is negotiable.

So, that was the Points of Interest taken care of. Next I needed to look at the time frame.

I started playing around in Google Maps, looking at a possible route that will take me around the island, passing through (or extremely near) those locations. After a bit of playing around, I came up with a route that would take me across approximately 3517km, needing approximately 44 hours to complete – nonstop.

Here's the Google Maps route that I came up with.

So, on a diet of no-doze and caffeine (and without stopping for fuel or food) I could do the whole trip in under 3 days with one full day being spent in Paraparam.

Awesome!

Realistically, doing 6 hour days I could have it done in just over a week – 8 days. I can work with that. It's a starting point from which to begin working the budget.