South Island Part 1 - Picton to Hasst

After a bumpy ferry across the islands, with Tom and I both feeling slightly worse for wear after 3 hours sleep, we arrived in the South Island. Seriously high winds meant we wanted to find a campsite with some decent shelter, which luckily we managed. In the morning we set off down the stunning Queen Charlotte Drive. I stopped 6 times in 2.91 miles and spent most of the ride riding in a wobbly line staring at the staggering scenery.

We were a bit worried about whether we'd get to the next town (Nelson) or not, so we packed up enough food. We soon got to Pelorus bridge, the site of the scene in The Hobbit when they all float down in barrels. This was a crystal clear river lined by high rocks that people were jumping in off. There was no way we could pass this spot without having a swim, and there was a campsite there. For once (almost) we took the lazy option and opted to spend the night there. We spent the afternoon swimming down the river and jumping off rocks. Well if I'm honest, I'm the only one that actually jumped off any decent rocks. Mum was absolutely pathetic. In the evening we had a lovely surprise when Jan and Jonas, cycle tourists we'd spent a few nights with before, arrived at the campsite bearing fresh local mussels! We had another great evening with them.

The next day we set off towards the Abel Tasman national park. This was a diversion from the route and it meant we couldn't go particularly far up. We camped on a beach with a gorgeous view of the park,

and then heading south again in the morning. On our way we saw these really cool land sailing boats. We had stopped for lunch when we saw Riley, an American from a group of cycle tourists who we'd overlapped with lots, and steadfastly ignored eachother. He was alone this time, having decided to take a day off while his friends cycled on. It turns out we should have spent the past week being friends as we got on really well. So well in fact that we decided lunch stop would be it for the day. We went to a campsite that contained more cycle tourists than I've ever seen in my life.




We then headed to Murchison in the rainiest day yet. It turns out it was so rainy that the next day the road was flooded and we had to switch routes. If anybody's worried about cars not seeing me...

 We diverted to Reefton in yet more rain and stayed in a Backpackers that looked unchanged since 1800. The owner had moved to the area from Australia specifically for the fly fishing. For once I was okay with being gender stereotyped into not being into fishing, as Tom had an hour and a half lesson on how to catch the perfect trout. I did get to see the pictures though so that was nice for me... After Reefton the coast beckoned and we headed for Greymouth. Waiting for us at that campsite was our university friend Steph who has been in NZ for 3 months with a van. We also saw Riley and his pals and had a fun evening filled with beer and burgers. We all had coffee in the seaside town of Hokitika, before going our separate ways.

We had hoped to get quite far that day, but the rain had other ideas and we didn't get to the Franz Joseph glacier until the next day. It was a 90 minute walk to the actual glacier which was more tiring than a day of cycling.

At this point the Americans had caught us up and we linked up. We had some gorgeous riding along the west coast, with mountains on one side and sea on the other. The hills were tough and the wind was strong, but New Zealand does reward you.

We soon arrived at the small town of Hasst, where we'd be leaving the coast to cross the mountain range we'd been looking at for the past few days.

North Island Part 2 - Taumaranui to Wellington

We left Taumaranui determined to stay on tarmac for a while, after some frustrating long hard days with not much distance. We started the day with a long gradual climb up to the top of the national park. I was excited about this especially because it was the mountain that starred in the finale of Lord of the Rings. The scenery didn’t disappoint, with volcanos peering out of sprawling forests.

The terrain was hard though, with steep winding hills. We passed several towns which wouldn’t have looked out of place in the wild west, and in one a couple waved us over. They were American and had been cycle touring for 15 years, paying their way by playing music. This started to ring some bells for me as I’d recently read Mark Beaumont’s book “The Man Who Cycled the Americas”. Mark Beaumont had met this very same couple on his trip and they’d sung him a song. This stuck in my head because Mark B was absolutely horrible about this couple – he said they couldn’t sing in tune despite 15 years of practise. At the time I was seriously worried that the couple would have read his book. Surely they would have? Anyway they haven’t, and they didn’t ask for any information about us so I feel okay writing this. After we talked for a while we went back to their campsite so they could sing to us. It was pretty funny. Tom and Mum and I tried desperately not to look at each other. After this interlude we continued until we got a waterfall and camped there. The waterfall had been highly advertised but was absolutely rubbish – it turns out they’d been a landslide which had halved the size of it.

In the morning we thought we had an easy ride to the nearby town of Wanganui. This was not to be the case as the howling headwind returned and the hills kicked up. We also had run out of food. This shouldn’t have been a problem but it was because the riding was so hard. It’s a problem we’ve faced a few times – you need to ride to get food but you can’t ride without food. There’s no way through except to push on, which we did until we hit a supermarket on the outskirts of town. Phew. We had a relaxed afternoon in the sunshine for once, and then went out for pizza. 

In the morning we had a gorgeous ride over to the east coast. At one point we were stopped by a farmer who needed some help starting his car. In return he invited us in for tea and cheese and crackers. He was a 5th generation farmer and very interesting to talk to. We rode through the gorge to avoid the mountains. This was GORGEous. 

By this point we were approaching Wellington. Our dream was to cycle in over the rail trail but the weather was against us. Pouring rain and howling winds made cycling over the top of the mountain unappealing. In fact we couldn't even see the top of the mountain. We chickened out and got the commuter train over the mountain. On my birthday we had a lovely 18 kilometre cycle into Wellington town for birthday celebrations. I definitely made up for months of no nights out, ending up with a 4 AM fight in burger king (that guy was not dutch).... The next day, the south island beckons.

North Island Part 1 - Auckland to Taumarunui

I hopped off the plane at Auckland with the usual feelings of nervousness at entering a new country and expecting new challenges, but much more excited than usual to return to a UKish environment for a little while. Having been unable to properly communicate since France (despite the vast improvements in my French/Arabic hybrid), I was really really excited to be able to speak to people/read road signs/read menus again. I was also excited for the more normal temperatures, and normal food. The entry into New Zealand wasn’t the seemless transition we’d hoped, as we had to face biosecurity much more rigorous than our entry to Chile (where mum managed to smuggle in a grape). No grapes were getting past these sniffer dogs. After being filmed by the NZ equivalent of “Border force”, we managed to escape with our bikes and put them together at the Bike Assembly Area. We had the definite plan that we’d cycle to parkrun, then the reality that we got a taxi to parkrun and missed the start by 14 minutes. Undeterred we set off and I’d just managed to overtake the last runners by the finish. On the way out I saw my university Tom on the way back. We managed a high five and found eachother at the finish. Tom’s braving a new life in Austrailia and had been cycle touring in NZ on the way. He was joining us for the next leg. After parkrun we all had a coffee and met a lovely family from England who had made the journey to Auckland. After this Mum, Tom and I set off to Auckland town centre and then to Brown’s bay. We rode on an awesome segregated cycle lane for almost all of this, and the scenery was already stunning. We got to the Jordans’ house in the late afternoon and I felt happier and more relaxed than I had done for months. Their house was essentially everything I’d dreamt about in all the low moments. Tea! Beer! Waffles! Trifle! A hot shower! A comfortable bed! We went to their neighbours house for NYE celebrations and at midnight (6 AM Santiago time), I couldn’t cope any longer and fell into bed. We woke up late and headed to the beach. After a game of bowles, a bodyboard, and a tragic shell death - RIP Bobby. (this is an inside joke nobody actually died) we had another lovely evening with this fantastic family. I was really really sad to leave in the morning and found it very hard packing up, but we managed to make it out the door and headed out to begin our journey.

I had been under the impression that people moved to NZ for the weather, but as I wiped the pouring rain off my glasses and put on my legwarmers I was starting to doubt that. The sky was a solid grey and it was not warm. We rode on some backroads which would have been beautiful if it hadn’t been for the cloying mist, until we got to a campsite by a hot spring. This hot spring was blissful, v hot and not at all smelly. Unfortunetly it started absolutely pouring with rain and we went to bed. In the morning our tent was wet on the inside. This was the first time this had happened and I thought it was quite a worrying sign for the future.

The next day we started out with a ride to Raglan on the coast. The weather was pretty rubbish again and the going was tough. At Raglan we found out that things were going to get tougher as it was a 55km road to the next town. We loaded up with supplies and set off. This road was badly maintainted and very hilly, making slow progress. Eventually at 7:45 we arrived at a roadhouse which promised free camping. We fell inside and had pies and beer, and obviously succeeded in looking so bedraggled that the owner gave us a free cottage to sleep in, and in the morning let us use their car to drive to the nearby hot water beach. We dug a hole in the sand and the water was hot, but the biting wind and driving rain mean my nose went numb. Getting out was agony as we sprinted up the beach into the safety of the dunes. We waited for the weather to improve a bit and left, and headed towards Waitomo caves. We met somebody on the way who told us there was a natural bridge before it where you could see glow worms. As the clouds lifted, the true majesty of NZ scenery was revealed and it was gorgeous. 

We ignored the no camping sign at the natural bridge and at night the glow worms were spectacular. Thousands and thousands of them lined the rocky gorge and nobody else was there. Tom said he would propose there and nobody could say no (watch out ladiez).  After this we had another epic day riding to the start of the Timber Trail. 

The Timber Trail is an 87km off road track which we'd been hearing about for a few weeks. This was both amazing and awful - the views were breathtaking and it's always lovely cycling with no cars. Our 40kg steel touring bikes aren't particularly well equipped for singletrack though and this made it hard riding. The first day we didn't have far to go and had a relaxed day with our two new friends Jan and Jonas. The timber trail is full of amazing bridges which swing across rivers. We met so many cyclists on this day, loads of families and loads of tourists. We all camped that evening in a free campsite at the midpoint of the trail. The family in the camper van next door took us under their wing and gave us water and helped us start our campfire. They then went out on their quad bike and shot a massive deer! I found it quite shocking. The second day on the timber trail was really hard, with a rocky surface and a few steep hills. This was definitely not designed for fully loaded steel touring bikes... We were struggling to the campsite at the other end when a car containing the campsite owner overtook us and offered to take our luggage to the campsite! Is this cheating? Probably but we were past caring. The campsite was full of more lovely people - a bit of a theme in New Zealand.