Post by Andy

Upon arrival at Invercargill we headed straight to the i site (Tourist Information) and museum and asked about Burt Monroe and the World’s Fastest Indian (a motorbike).

Burt, from Invercargill, set the record back in the 60s or 70s and the record still stands today. Andy had read the book and I watched the film on the plane on the way over. For Andy this was a must see and we went out of way to visit Invercargill and see it.

The museum had a display including the replica that was used in the film, we were told that the original bike could be found downtown in a department store.

We made a donation and had a look around the museum, the display was very good and they had an interesting DVD playing about Burt Monroe and the filming of the movie. Andy had a good poke around the exhibits, then we then made our way to the department store to see the real bike.

We were surprised at how accurate the copy in the museum had been, the store itself was full of interesting displays among the goods for sale. In the book the film was based on the owner of the department store is mentioned, he purchased the bike because Burt didn’t want it to leave the area. Interestingly the world record is still held by this very bike.

Having seen the bike and filled up with some lunch we departed and headed for Queenstown.

* Posted by j150vsc on 17/01/2009.