Countries visited: New Zealand
Cycled mileage in November: 1,575km
Cycled mileage per country: 1,575km New Zealand
Total cycled mileage incl. November: 28,740.6km
November mileage not cycled 161.8km (walking, ferry)
Days per country: 30d - New Zealand
Days cycling: 19d
Technical failures: 1 puncture, 1 worn jockey wheel, 2 worn tyres
Link to this month's route
We finished October in Wellington after a pretty exhausting ride across the north island. It wasn't until 1.5 weeks after our arrival to Wellington that we eventually pushed our bikes on the Interislander Ferry and arrived to Picton on 4th November. We booked tickets for the first sailing that day and arrived around noon.
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| On the Interislander Ferry |
Luckily the sea was calm after a couple of windy days before. It still wasn't sunny though and we cycled through drizzle for the first kilometres on the south island. Our first goal was reaching Nelson to check our options for visiting Abel Tasman National Park.
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| Cycling towards Nelson |
It took us 1.5 days to get to Nelson and one more day to settle on a plan which involved cycling on to nearby Marahau the next morning, getting on a water taxi early the following day, having us dropped off at Bark Bay in the middle of Abel Tasman National Park and hiking back approximately 25km to Marahau from there.
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| Yay - made it to Abel Tasman National Park! |
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| Water taxi to Bark Bay |
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| Secluded bays and beaches are all over the national park |
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| Hiking back from Bark Bay... |
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| ...to Marahau for 25km |
We pretty much stuck to that plan and had a wonderful time in the national park. Doing something different from cycling for a day felt so good!
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| On the way to the west coast |
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| Unsealed road to Murchison |
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| A bit more of gravel... |
From Marahau we cycled on to Murchison bashing out 140 kilometres in remarkably hilly terrain. The next day we passed through the beautiful Buller Gorge and eventually got to the west coast at Westport. The next day the weather had cleared up and we had an enjoyable morning visiting Cape Foulwind and then powering on to Punakaiki and the famous Pancake Rocks.
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| A Weka checking Simon's new shoes at Cape Foulwind |
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| Coastal highway to Punakaiki |
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| One of those infamous one lane bridges |
After pitching our tent at the nearby holiday park we got to the Pancake Rocks just in time for high tide to see the blowholes in action.
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| The Pancake Rocks |
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| Blowhole in action |
The next morning started off with grey clouds but soon the sun came out and it became unpleasantly hot cycling up the hills ahead. We reached Greymouth by midday and did some shopping at a big Countdown supermarket. Even though the weather was brilliant now we faffed around for as long as we could and it required superhuman strength to eventually push on to the start of the Westcoast Wilderness Trail.
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| Start of the Westcoast Wilderness Trail |
That trail connects Greymouth with Hokitikia (and ultimately Ross) and while it is an amazing route it means an inland detour of 60 extra kilometres compared to the coastal route. The first day on the trail we made it to Kumara and the second day we pushed through to Hokitika.
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| Cycling through native forest on the way to Kumara |
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| West Coast Wilderness Trail near Cowboy's Paradise |
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| Made it to Hokitika |
After a good night's rest we continued along the west coast to Franz Josef, bashing out another 135 kilometres. The weather was greyish when we arrived and we did hardly get a glimpse of the mountains along the way. We were so hoping to see the Franz Josef Glacier in sunlight so we booked 2 nights at the local YHA hoping the weather would clear up at some point. Unfortunately that never happened. Instead we hiked to the glacier in light drizzle the next day and found the glacier to be rather disappointing.
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| Not so impressive - Franz Josef Glacier |
From Franz Josef it's a relatively short but exhausting ride to Fox Glacier further down the west coast. No need to mention that the weather still hadn't cleared up and that Fox Glacier was equally disappointing under these circumstances. We pushed on to a lacklustre motel halfway to Haast where we treated ourselves to a night in a cabin as it was only $5 more than pitching our tent. Simon did have problems with his rear derailleur for most of the day and when we investigated further we noticed that one of the jockey wheels was pretty worn.
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| Replacing a jockey wheel after 28,000km |
The next day we woke up from the sun shining brightly through the window of our cabin. We hadn't planned to go far today so we set off late. It was a pleasant yet windy ride to Haast where we pitched our tent for the night. After checking the map we decided to split the way from Haast to Wanaka across the steepish Haast Pass in 2 shorter days.
We had another late start the next morning to escape the crowd of tourists and tour buses passing through before noon. The first bit of the way was pretty flat and had great views on the surrounding mountains.
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| Enjoying the landscape on the way to Haast Pass |
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| There were so many waterfalls! |
Then for the last bit before the summit it got super steep and we felt pretty exhausted once we reached the top. Soon after we reached a campground and called it a day.
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| Summit of Haast Pass |
There were a couple of campervans already and two Croatian-Australian couples invited us for dinner. It had been pretty windy all day but in the evening the wind got weaker which meant the sandflies were out in full force. In fact they were so bad that they sounded like rain on our tent!
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| Camping with a view |
In the morning we discovered that there was another German cyclist on the same campground. Luise must have arrived when we were already in our tent. We kept chatting during breakfast and didn't leave until after midday.
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| Passing lake Hawea on the way to Wanaka |
The way to Wanaka was a slog. We kept riding up and down hill after hill and felt shattered by the time we reached the YHA. Despite being awfully sweaty we couldn't be bothered with taking a shower as we were way too hungry. There was a porch at the YHA with a gorgeous view over the lake and the mountains behind it so we sat down there and enjoyed a hearty dinner and a bottle of wine. We also hit the 28,000 kilometres mark a couple of days ago so there was a reason to celebrate.
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| Relaxing in Wanaka |
The next day went by doing nothing really but the day after we set off to Omarama. Even though we cycled across Lindis Pass, which is the third highest sealed road in New Zealand, the day went by rather uneventful.
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| We loved the look of these flowers |
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| Made it over Lindis Pass |
We woke up from the intense heat of the sun shining onto our tent but didn't hit the road until 10AM. The first bit until Twizel lead us along the highway. In Twizel we met two Scottish cyclists, a 73 year old with his son. We kept chatting for quite a while before we headed to the Alps2Ocean Cycle Trail. It was pretty exhausting to cycle on the loose gravel and quickly everything was covered in dust. The views totally made up for it though.
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| Views along the Alps2Ocean Cycle Trail |
On the last stretch before Tekapo the wind picked up and slowed us down to walking pace. Eventually we gave up and opted to get back onto the highway where we there was a smooth surface at least. Also Dominik's rear tyre probably wouldn't have survived any more gravel riding. We had to replace it with a foldable spare tyre that night anyway.
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| Despite all efforts Dominik's tyre just wouldn't last to Christchurch |
It was around 6 pm when we reached Tekapo and we were pretty lucky to get the last free site on the campground. German touring cyclists Ronja and Simon had pitched their tent right next to our site already and we started chatting. We had planned to go down to the lake shore and possibly the famous Church of the Good Shepherd for some star gazing but stayed on the campground instead chatting until after midnight and did the star gazing from there.
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| With German cyclists Ronja and Simon |
The next 2 days went by rather uneventful. Clouds increased and the wind kept blowing into our faces relentlessly. We made it to Fairlie on day #1 and then to Geraldine. From Geraldine we took a so called Scenic Route to Rakaia Gorge. It was nice being off the main highways but there wasn't anything scenic about the route. Rakaia Gorge was nice and after a greyish day the sun came out for a beautiful sunrise over the gorge.
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| Rakaia Gorge |
From Rakaia Gorge there were only around 90 kilometres left to Christchurch. The weather was pleasant but the headwind not so much. We made good progress though and didn’t stop for a break until we were less than 30 kilometres short off Christchurch. After the 2011 earthquake the city is still a giant construction site and cycling into Christchurch turned out to be rather stressful.
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| Made it to Christchurch! |
We arrived pretty early to the YHA though and after dumping our stuff we went off in search of a pizza which we had been craving for days now.
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| 1 Pizza each just wasn't enough this time... |
The next couple of days went by relaxing, exploring the city, making plans for Australia and Asia and finally completing some changes to our gear. Stay tuned for details!
