Holiday Cycling Adventures

My friend and I went cycling on the South Island of New Zealand. On 15 November 2002 we left Amsterdam (Netherlands) by plane. After a stop in London Heathrow (UK), Los Angelos (USA) and Auckland (New Zealand), we landed in Wellington after a 22 hour flight. From Wellington we take the ferry and make a very nice crossing from the North Island to the South Island of New Zealand. We camped our first night in New Zealand in Picton.

Wild weather during ferry crossing, but beautiful arrival in Picton.

Through Taylor Pass (very nice).

Mountain landscape with beautiful sights.

Very quiet road (only 3 cars all day)

By Molesworth Track (with permission of owner). Crossing Wards Pass and Jollies Pass.

Crossing Lewis Pass. Nice bath in Maruia Springs.

Good meal at Tramway Tavern and we were also allowed to camp there.

Through beautiful rainforest (just after Ross).

Some hard climbs and nice visit of Fox glacier.

Many nasty sandflies. We got a lot of rain also, but still a very nice ride. We dry ourselves in "Wilderness Backpackers Haast".

Nice road through Haast-pass; many small and large waterfalls.

We made a flight to Milford Sound and made a boat trip there. Nice Wildlife here and beautiful surroundings.

Crossing Lindis Pass (a steep pass).

At Lake Pukaki we take the "scenic route". Across Hayman's land and over Bremer road.

Crossing Burkes Pass. Through Cattle Valley, Beautiful Valley and Gapes Valley. Some hard climbs.

By "Inland Scenic Route" (roadnr 72) to Mayfield. Through farm landscapes to Methven.

Towards Rakaia Gorge. Then by "Zig Zag Road" we climb. At lake Lyndon we reach road 73 and climb accross Porters Pass. Nice spectacular descent.

Camping at "domain".

Some hard climbs. We went swimming with Hector dolphins at Akaroa! This was really super!

Along the "Summit Road" (very nice views from top of old vulcano).

From Diamond Harbour with ferry to Lyttelton. We used the Christchurch Gondola.

We visit the Int'l Antarctic Center at the airport. after this we fly back home to the Netherlands (with stops in Auckland, Los Angelos and London).

Flight distances:

• Auckland - Los Angelos = 10488 km.
• Los Angelos - London   =   8759 km.

We really enjoyed cycling through New Zealand (South Island). The roads here were not as busy as in The Netherlands. We took our own bikes with us. We camped almost every time (only at Haast we stayed at a backpackers hotel to dry ourselves from the rain). We did some cooking on our small cooker, but we also enjoyed the many nice food places. Also we like to thank the many people we met on our tour for their hospitality!

WELLINGTON WEATHER
Wanaka, New Zealand WEATHER