Category: #TourAotearoa
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The amazing West Coast Wilderness Trail!
The West Coast Wilderness Trail goes from Greymouth to Ross, and others before us have told us it’s not to be missed. We have so far ridden from Greymouth to Hokitika, but are taking a rest day in Hokitika to give our tired bodies some chance to recover. Our bodies reminded us that they are…
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Reefton to Greymouth: avoiding Big River trail
We have a friend that we met on North Island named Lauren, who lives in Darwin, Australia. She’s also riding the TA, but she is on a schedule and carrying less and stronger than us, meaning able to go faster than we can. She actually finished the TA today in Bluff! Brava, Lauren!! One great…
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Two Days of double days
The guidebook that we are following for the TA route has segments divided by possible places to stay and also offering services like stores and cafes. Most days we’ve simply ridden one segment. In the last few days we’ve done two segments which has worked pretty well. Day 1: Tapawera to Murchison, though Rotoroa Lake:…
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Richmond to Tapawera: short day along the Great Taste Trail
We stayed a couple days in Richmond, sharing another dinner and conversation with Chris’ old friends from Slovakia, and just getting some more rest after the ordeal of Maungatapu. There was a nice pool at the motel, and Chris got a few strokes in and also did the shopping while I basically lazed away the…
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A Gruesome Climb: Maungatapu Saddle
So, is it time for e-bikes? Or maybe a supported tour, where someone carries our stuff from nice hotel to nice hotel, with a cold beer, soft bed and hot dinner waiting? Does AARP run bike tours? Or maybe hiring someone to drive a sag wagon to the top? Am I too old for this…
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Along Queen Charlotte Sound from Picton
We slept like the dead after our long day of the ferry trip, and woke up at 8:30 in the morning. A good night’s sleep, thankfully! Leaving Picton, today’s route started along Queen Charlotte Sound, looking down at the ferry terminals, and offering beautiful views along the way, especially where the land has given way…
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Crossing to South Island: Cyclone over
We stayed at our hosts’ house in Wellington for 4 nights, and we were ready to hit the road again. Kelvin cooked lovely meals for us the first two nights and we managed to treat him back for the last 2 nights, enjoying some of the best Thai food we’ve ever eaten on our last…
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An Earthquake! Wrap-up North Island
We started the biking part of this trip on January 15th, riding from where the bus from Auckland dropped us at Kaitaia, to Ahipara. So far, we’ve cycled 851 miles, climbing a total of 56,821 feet in 26 cycling days on our way to Wellington. We took 4 rest days along the way. Our first…
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Errands during the cyclone: Wellington
We really just squeezed into Wellington and the warm and comfortable house of our hosts in the nick of time! The northern and eastern parts of North Island suffered the most damage. It poured and the wind howled outside the windows, and whitecaps skated across the bay out our window. Wellington is well used to…
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Into Wellington! Ahead of Cyclone Gabrielle!
We have a ferry booking on Friday, February 17 to take the ferry from Wellington on the North Island to Picton on the South. As luck would have it, we have a place to stay in Wellington, grace of some friends of friends that I came into contact with during some research for this trip.…