Pack for four seasons in a day: your own riding gear, a good waterproof riding jacket and layers you can add or take off at a stop. On a self-guided motorcycle tour with Wandrith, the bike already has aluminium panniers and a top box with removable waterproof liners for your layers, rain gear and essentials.
Riding gear
Bring your own helmet, jacket, trousers, gloves and boots. We don’t generally supply riding gear: most riders prefer the comfort and fit of their own over kit that has been passed between strangers. If you’re really stuck, get in touch and we’ll see what we can do.
A waterproof riding jacket is a must in any month. Helmets are compulsory for riders and pillions (passengers) alike.
Clothes
Layers are the answer to Aotearoa New Zealand’s weather, which can change completely in a day, and to mornings that start cool in the mountains. Lightweight merino works well: warm when it’s cool, cool when it’s hot, and it doesn’t hold odours. Icebreaker, Macpac and Kathmandu sell it in the larger towns if you need to top up on the way.
Pack light. Many of the places we stay have laundry facilities, public laundromats are easy to find in most towns, and the Wandrith Journey App suggests where on the route to plan a laundry stop. The seasons guide gives typical temperatures month by month.
Sun and sandflies
UV levels in a New Zealand summer are among the highest in the world, and unprotected skin can burn in as little as 12 minutes, even under cloud. Bring or buy a high-protection sunscreen (any chemist or supermarket sells it), and reapply every two hours while you ride. New Zealand has no snakes or dangerous wildlife, but sandflies can be a nuisance on the West Coast and in Fiordland: add insect repellent.
Power and phones
New Zealand uses 230 V, 50 Hz power and Type I sockets, with three flat pins: two angled and one vertical. Bring a Type I travel adapter; a plug with only the two angled pins fits as it is.
Most phones work on international roaming, but a local SIM card or an eSIM is usually easier and cheaper for data. Coverage is good in the towns and patchy or absent in the remote parts of the South Island. Most of our accommodation has Wi-Fi, though some of the more remote places may not.
Documents and money
- Your full motorcycle licence, the physical card (digital licences aren’t accepted), and an International Driving Permit or an approved English translation if it isn’t in English.
- Your NZeTA, applied for before you fly (see riding in New Zealand).
- Travel insurance, which is essential, with cover for cancellation, medical expenses, emergency evacuation, travel disruption and lost luggage.
- A card enabled for use overseas, and its PIN. Cards are accepted almost everywhere; carry around NZ$250 in cash as a backup.
Medicine
You can bring medicine into New Zealand, but you must declare it. Keep it in its original packaging, carry a doctor’s letter or prescription and bring no more than three months’ supply (one month for controlled drugs). New Zealand Customs has the details.
What to leave at home
Food. New Zealand’s biosecurity rules are strict: declare every food item on the traveller declaration, or leave it at home. An apple forgotten in a bag can mean an instant NZ$400 fine.
A drone. You can bring one, but it is rarely worth it. You need the landowner’s consent wherever you take off, land or fly over, recreational drones may not fly over state highways and many of the most scenic places, on conservation land, ban them outright.
What the bike already carries
- Aluminium adventure panniers and a top box, with removable waterproof liners
- Bar-backs, for a more comfortable reach whatever your height
- A vibration-isolated Quad Lock phone mount and action camera mounts with an articulated arm
- A Chigee screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, for the Wandrith Journey App
- A satellite emergency beacon, a first aid kit and a puncture plug kit
- On the journeys that take the Cook Strait ferry (Interislander or Bluebridge), a tie-down kit for the crossing
Next: riding in New Zealand as a visitor, and the fleet.
