Holiday Cycling Adventures

Introduction

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.

Route map

Wellington - Picton: 13.61 km.

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

Picton camping

Picton - Blarich Reserve: 61.71 km.

Through Taylor Pass (very nice).

Blarich Reserve - Gladstone: 47.91 km.

Mountain landscape with beautiful sights.

Molesworth Rd

Gladstone - Molesworth (cob homestead): 41.31 km.

Very quiet road (only 3 cars all day)

Molesworth Rd

Molesworth (cob homestead) - Hanmer Springs: 90.01 km.

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

Molesworth Rd

Hanmer Springs - Maruia Springs: 83.55 km.

Crossing Lewis Pass. Nice bath in Maruia Springs.

Maruia Springs - Ikamatua: 92.06 km.

Ikamatua - Taramakau River (Tramway Tavern): 70.35 km.

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

West coast

Taramakau River - Hari Hari: 103.67 km.

Through beautiful rainforest (just after Ross).

Hari Hari - Fox Glacier Village: 103.48 km.

Some hard climbs and nice visit of Fox glacier.

Fox Glacier bridge

Fox Glacier Village - Haast: 128.85 km.

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

Waterfall

Haast - Makarora: 83.93 km.

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

Haast - Makarora

Makarora - Wanaka: 69.42 km.

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

Wanaka - Omarama: 124.28 km.

Crossing Lindis Pass (a steep pass).

Omarama - Lake Tekapo: 107.28 km.

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

Lake Tekapo - Geraldine: 99.06 km.

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

Geraldine - Methven: 75.61 km.

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

Methven - Springfield: 84.77 km.

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.

Mt Hutt

Springfield - Motukarara: 79.12 km.

Camping at "domain".

Banks Peninsula

Motukarara - Akaroa: 62.28 km.

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

Akaroa lighthouse

Akaroa - Purau: 60.38 km.

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

Purau - Christchurch: 38.91 km.

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

Lyttelton harbour

Christchurch - Christchurch Int'l Airport: 5.25 km.

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.

Epilogue

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!