Touring New Zealand by bike

Biketourer

Hi
I am planning a tour of New Zealand and would appreciate any advice people could offer.

I plan on spending about 6 weeks but I could extend this if people recommended it. I will be mainly camping and will be carrying everything with me.

I have done a few short tours before and one long one and I have found that I am much happier keeping daily km down and not being under too much pressure for majority of trip.

The plan at the moment is to start in Dunedin and follow the otaga rail trail to Queenstown before going south to Te Amau and getting a bus to Milford Sound as the road is meant to be very busy with buses and has a long tunnel. From there I will travel up the west coast visiting the glaciers and all the to Karamea. Here I plan on doing the Heaphy trail hike before returning by bus to westport. From westport I will travel by rainbow road to Picton where I will cross to North Island. I havnt yet done any research on the north.

I am going to be using my Dawes Touring bike.
Does anyone have any recommendations on what size tyres they would use? Or of I am missing any must see sights on the south Island.

Thank you.

Cookie_Monster

The West Coast is stunning. How are you getting from Te Anau out to Haast? Through Wanaka?, is stunning too but be aware the climbs on these roads are considerable. from Queenstown/Cromwell to Wanaka is a big one, as is Wanaka over Southern Alps and all the way up the west coast are big dips and climbs as you come across various river mouths etc.

If you're up for that, cool. Just be aware.

The west coast gets a lot of rain so be prepared for that, depending on time of year it can also be hot as hell. Suncream is essential due to lack of ozone layer, it's the worst area in the world for it.
That whole coast is quite lightly populated and there'll be reasonably large distances between towns. Roads are busy enough with tourists though so you should never end up totally stuck.

Stop at Punakaiki as you are going past anyway, above Greymouth, some bizarre rock formations. Monteiths Brewery is in Greymouth too, worth a stop in.

North Island really depends on which way you fancy going. East coast, Napier, Hawkes bay has some lovely cycling roads and vinyards etc, central gets you the mountain views or west coast again to Taranaki (the 2nd best place to visit in the world according to Lonely Planet). I live in New Plymouth and to be fair I don'think I'd cycle up this way, it's just too remote from everything else. If you have the time I would suggest Wellington - Palmerston - Napier - Taupo - Rotorua - and I presume fly out of Auckland?

mr spuckler

i've only driven new zealand but can remember that the west coast of the south island was very hilly alright, even in a camper van. i've spent 5 weeks total across 2 trips travelling around by campervan and it wasn't enough to see all that i'd want to.

i wonder is 6 weeks to see a good chunk of both islands by bike stretching yourself too thin?

mugsymugsy

mr spuckler wrote: »

i've only driven new zealand but can remember that the west coast of the south island was very hilly alright, even in a camper van. i've spent 5 weeks total across 2 trips travelling around by campervan and it wasn't enough to see all that i'd want to.

i wonder is 6 weeks to see a good chunk of both islands by bike stretching yourself too thin?

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com if you don't know about it already might be a useful website. Its a community of touring cyclists and people post up their journals / questions etc. Sure you will find lots of helpful info on it.

Biketourer

Thank you for the replies. 

Yes through Wanaka. I haven't looked at any route profiles yet so I'm not aware of the climbs. I don't mind doing them but it does really slow you down especially when fully loaded. 

Thanks for all the information it was very helpful. Have you cycled any of the trails. I am getting conflicting information online as to whether they are suitable for a touring bike?

On the bike I do realise that I won't get to see everything in the six weeks but I would happy once I got to see enough of New Zealand that I had a good idea of what the whole country was like? I might do 6 weeks on the the South Island and 2 on the North as well. The hills and potential off road cycling would really slow down my progress.

I have been using crazyguyonabike, it is very helpful. Thank you.

Is the south coast of the south Island worth visiting? Around Invercargill?

sherlok

I'd say you'd be safe enough on the Otago rail trail on a fully loaded touring bike.  it's a good surface.  
Invercargill and the far south is nice, but I'd be wary of stretching yourself too thin.  I think your initial plan takes in some of the highlights, sp i'd suggest sticking with that plan.... but it's all pretty lovely.

Cookie_Monster

One of the best road bike routes in the world is apparently in Dunedin, out the peninsula
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/travel-tips-and-articles/saddle-up-for-the-worlds-best-cycling-routes/40625c8c-8a11-5710-a052-1479d27715f8

Friends of mine did the Rail trails recently, said it was really worth it.

800km odd up the west coast and 7,000m climbing. up out of Q-town to Cadrona and around Fox is the worst.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/-45.4223319,167.727624/-44.7221216,169.1359339/-43.828497,169.061677/-41.8060368,171.5802928/@-42.0124822,171.45395,9z/data=!4m2!4m1!3e1

mrbike

The offroad cycling trails in NZ are great... Some of them you can definitely do on a loaded touring bike (the Ortago trail for sure)

There's a map of the trails here:
https://www.nzcycletrail.com/explore-trails/printable-map/

The problem is linking them together to make a tour...

Pick up a copy of this book:
http://www.kennett.co.nz/product/classic-new-zealand-cycle-trails/

The Kennett Brothers are pretty famous for writing NZ cycling guides.
It give some great routes and includes any of the trails that are suitable for touring on.

At all costs avoid the main state highways (SH1 & SH2). They're really busy and the average Kiwi driver doesn't give enough space overtaking. They're really unpleasant.

Wild camping is illegal in NZ. DOC (department of conservation) campsites are great. In remote areas they're basic (you'll have a cooking shelter, a drop toilet and water that you'll need to treat). They're really cheap though.

Depending at the time of year you go, bring a good sleeping bag. It can get really cold at night when you're camping at altitude.

Biketourer

This is a great help. So thank you to everyone who has replied. I just ordered a copy of Classic NZ cycle trails as well.

Planning to start towards end of February. I only have a summer sleeping bag so I might have to get a warmer one.

I am going to use my aluminium touring bike and change the tyres to the biggest size that fit will fit on the bike. Hopefully this will allow me to do as many of the trails as possible. I will probably use buses to transfer through some of the busier roads as mentioned above.