After finishing University I set out on the trip of a lifetime following a route through South East Asia and then Down Under. But it was when I landed in an isolated country off the east coast of Australia that I started my real adventure.
I had been thinking for some time about how I would travel around New Zealand. In NZ everything is a little off-the-beaten-track and so it would be best in some ways to have your own transport, like a car. But travelling this way by myself would be an expensive and quite lonely experience. I could have gone all the way round by tour bus, but this also has a detrimental effect on your wallet. So I went back to an idea I had laughed off months ago – to get about the country by bike.
I had all the kit I need from touring at home and so it made sense to use my own bike. Getting it here was a challenge in itself with so many customs requirement, shipping issues, and the strict biological security constraints to protect the native wildlife they have here. With all those issues resolved, I had five weeks to play about on my bike, and a lot of country to explore!
Follow my blog as I relive some of the highlights of my time on two wheels in New Zealand.
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I spent the next day of my NZ cycling tour in Greymouth visiting bike shops to sort my gears out. I ended up getting a much wider range of gears by replacing the two largest sprockets on the rear cassette. This made the ride up to my next stop in Reefton much more comfortable. - - Everyone in Reefton was little bit weird, but really friendly. In the local store, when I found they had sold out of mugs, I was given one from their canteen – has that every happened to you in Sainsbury’s? The next slog was up to a thermal spa resort at Maruia Springs. Strange place that let me camp there and I had full use of the natural spas, something I would never have gone their to do, but when it’s offered… Anyway, very relaxing after a long day on the road! The following morning I woke early and on leaving the tent was total enveloped by thousands of sand flies. They can turn a completely sane person, absolutely mental in about three minutes. And they bite…a lot. The only thing you can do is wrap up and keep walking around so they can’t all gather – you try packing a tent up while doing that! Anyway, I was soon on my way and tackling the Lewis Pass. - - I was full of energy and made light work of the 6km climb. From then on, I can say without hesitation that it was the best cycling day ever. There was a massive tailwind, some thrilling descents, and stunning views all day – and no one there! I was making such good progress I got to my destination, Hanmer Springs by noon, and considered going on. But really, I didn’t set out on this trip to get form A to B as quickly as possible, I did it to see the country, and so went to see what was about in town. The last day down to the East Coast was the longest yet at 130km. I set off at sunrise to avoid the heat of the day as much as possible, and was soon onto a minor inland road that was even more quiet than the major roads over the Alps. Another hot and tiring but great day riding, and I get to Kaikoura, the home of whale watching. - - After a couple of days, I took one of the few trains that run in NZ back to Christchurch to avoid cycling on the long, boring, and nerve-racking State Highway One. Full circle, back to where I started, to plan my next route around this amazing county. - - 7 days cycling, 9 days in all. 34 hours behind the handlebars. 629km, 390miles. 25 Cookietime Cookies – best cookies in the world. - David Follow the whole story at Kiwi Adventures I set off on my first trip on a sunny Sunday from Christchurch and headed east along the Canterbury Plains, towards the Alps – into a huge headwind – so demoralising. As I approached my stop for the night I had a great demonstration of how quickly the weather changes in NZ. My headwind, which was similar to someone holding a large hairdryer in my face, in no more than five seconds changed to air conditioning from the side. It was freezing and stayed that way as I set up my camp for the night. - - The next day was a biggie, taking on the first major climb of the trip. It was about 5km from the top of Porter’s Pass that I really started to have some issues with the gears on my bike. I had never carried so much load (with four panniers, I was basically self-sufficient apart from food), and I had never been on such a steep and sustained climb. To add to that, I was rising into the clouds, greatly reducing visibility. To speed myself up, and so be less vulnerable on the road, I actually resorted to emptying out some of my water bottles, not knowing that the top was just around the corner – oh dear, no shops for the next 60km. The fog spoilt the view until I descended down again to give some amazing scenery. - - By mid afternoon I was in Arthur’s Pass Village and very thankful to rest my aching knees (a classic sign of pedalling in too high a gear). I spent a day in the village walking the paths to one of the waterfalls, before heading down all 105km to the West Coast at Greymouth on the following very wet day. Luckily by the time I got there and set up camp by the beach things had cleared up, and I was treated to a stunning sunset. - David Follow the whole story at Kiwi Adventures -
