When I lived in Australia, I used to hate going to motorcycle shows.

Summertime motorcycle shows would be set up in a large hangar where the temperature hovered around a million degrees.

Parking was a nightmare, and you’d have to leave your bike miles away at the edge of a massive parking lot.
Then you’d trudge for half an hour in your leathers and boots under a blazing sun, back to the hangar.

On this delightfully sweaty trek, you’d try to ignore the circling packs of suspicious, aggressive policemen just itching to make an arrest.

Finally, you’d arrive at the hangar door: scowling, sunburned, and panting.

And the fun just kept on coming…

Indian motorbikes have a cult following in a most surprising place … a little town right at the bottom of New Zealand.

Invercargill is pretty much the last stop on the way to Antarctica.

For most of the year, it’s home to around 50,000 people (not counting hobbits).
But every November, the population explodes for a weekend, as 20,000 motorcycles roar down the wide straight streets of this sleepy little town.

Welcome to the Burt Munro bike rally.

It’s a joyful celebration of Indian motorbikes – and an annual tribute to a local motorcycling legend.

Back in the day, in the wild west of Australia, motorcycle rallies were downright primitive.

You really had to man up.
Even if you were a woman.

These motorcycle events were completely no-frills.
A bunch of riders would meet up, on a Saturday, in a paddock.
And that’s where the plan ended…