Jan op de fiets

Bicycle Touring in New Zealand

This webpage is meant to be a summary of my 2 cycle tours in New Zealand in January 1997 and in December 1997. Daily logs are also available, but only in the Dutch language. The route I followed is shown on detailed maps with links to 45 pictures, split up in the North Island and in the South Island section, most of the photographs taken by me during the trips. On this page I want to give my impressions, in particular to cyclists who intend touring New Zealand. I was only there for 7 weeks altogether, so don't consider this to be an objective reference guide. For that, there are many other sources on the Internet and at the end of this page I'll give some links.

My first impression of New Zealand is that it's green and clean. Driving is on the left, but there isn't much traffic except near the big cities. For cyclists, wearing a helmet is compulsory. Roadsigns are not abundant, especially not for cyclists. It was in particularly difficult leaving Auckland and entering Wellington. It was made clear that bikes were not allowed on the motorway, but no alternative routes were indicated.

From Auckland to Te Kuiti the landscape is very rural with farmhouses and you see many cattle along the road. It is a bit hilly, but it is easy riding. There are not many forests because of the agriculture. For New Zealand, this is the most densely populated rural area, but by east Asian or west European standards, it is very quiet. A town like Hamilton has a peaceful atmosphere.
From Te Kuiti to Wanganui, the landscape becomes more mountainous with rushing streams and more forested hills. Herds of sheep take the place of the cows of the Waikato district. It is wonderful country for bicycle riding. From Wanganui to Wellington, the countryside is not particularly interesting, apart from some beautiful coastal views near Wellington.

On my second trip I followed the Pacific Coast Highway. The scenery is fantastic, already shortly after leaving Auckland. The road follows the coast for most of the time and many times you just stop to enjoy the views over the sea, the rocky coast and the sandy beaches. Despite the name "Highway", it leads through very remote areas and mostly there is little traffic.

The New Zealand people, the Kiwis, are very friendly and helpful. In most small villages, the general store is where people meet one another and in many cases it offers post office services and sometimes a corner were you can sit and have a coffee, a tea or a hot pie. Also most petrol stations have a shop were you can buy groceries and this is handy if you need something outside the normal opening hours for shops.

The hills and mountains in the northern part of the South Island are very much forested. The South Island is much less populated than the North Island and sometimes you can ride for hours without passing through a village. It is therefore always necessary to plan your route every day. If you do not make an advance booking (when staying in hostels, hotels, etc) then you should make sure to finish the day in a town of reasonable size, in order to find accomodation. Especially in summertime. When you are camping, there is no need to worry, because there are many campsites in New Zealand. It is also allowed to camp anywhere in the countryside, unless there is a "no camping" sign.

I found the Buller River Valley very scenic. The Buller River cuts some deep gorges through the mountains and from the road you can see spectacular views from time to time. There is only one village (Murchison) all along the Buller River (from St. Arnaud to Westport).

The route along the West Coast, the SH6, is an important tourist road because it travels through the most scenic part of New Zealand and it does not connect major cities. Do not expect to see much of the sea though, it's only at Knight's Point that you have a spectacular coastal view. It's the views of the mountains and the rain forests that makes it so special. There are also many cyclists on this route. It is however the wettest part of the country and you are most likely to get some rain, during any time of the year. And the weather can change very quickly.

Knight's Point on the westcoast

Franz Josef and Fox Glacier are the "action"-villages in the area, they depend 100% on tourism. From those places you can go for all kind of walks and visit the glaciers. If you have some money to spend, there are numerous small companies offering plane- and helicopter flights. They take you right to the snow fields, even in summer.

Haast is a village where a cyclist is likely to stop, because there isn't much on either side of it. It offers public conveniences with all kinds of nighttime accomodation. The Haast pass has one steep section of a few kilometers (going north-south). The rest is fairly easy and not very high (563 m). But the most important thing for cyclists is that the west coast makes for relatively easy cycling. The road follows the toe of the mountains over a coastal plain and there are only some parts where you really hit the mountains, for instance between Franz Josef and Fox Glacier. And then, the dense vegetation along the road protects you a little against inevitable headwinds.

Queenstown is a very nice town with a beautiful setting with mountains and lakes. Lots of activities can be done in and around Queenstown. It was pleasantly crowded with tourists and I immediately decided to stay for a day. Going further south, at Lumsden, you enter Southland and the high mountains are replaced by gentle hills and flat plains. Here civilization found a place to settle and agriculture is dominant. You find more villages but this is not the type of landscape you are looking for if you have come all the way from Europe. Going north, the country becomes beautiful again in the Clutha River valley.

About the roads in New Zealand: in general there is not much traffic, so the road is very suitable for the cyclist. You are able to enjoy nature and hear its sounds while riding the bike. But I have two remarks about the asphalt roads. First: the surface is very rough. It is not like European tarmacadam roads, but the top layer is gravel, on top of a layer of tarmac. If you like to ride your bike with hard pumped tyres, it is sometimes rather unfomfortable. Second: the Kiwis do not really make any effort to avoid steep slopes. It often seemed to me that roads were built straight over the hill rather than around it. Gradients of more than 20% are very common, and not only in the mountain areas. All the time climbing and descending on these gradients in a hilly area can be more tiring than continuously climbing an alpine pass.

SH 70 near Kaikoura

At the Lindis Pass you can see what an amazing difference in landscape there can be on either side of the Southern Alps. On the westcoast there are dense rainforests and in the middle of the South Island you find bare mountains with hardly any vegetation. North of the Lindis Pass, at Omarama, you enter the high plains of McKenzie Country, all the way till Lake Tekapo. It is however a slight drag all the way to the north. Especially from Twizel to Lake Tekapo you may imagine that there's something wrong your legs. I came across a few other places in New Zealand where there was an invisible gradient, e.g. the Wairau Valley and in the Canterbury Plains.

At the end of my first trip, coming near my final destination Christchurch, I had a few spare days. As I really enjoyed the Southern Alps, I decided to cross the mountains one more time over the Arthur's Pass and finish the cycle tour in Greymouth. From there, I took the train to Christchurch. Trains in New Zealand have a baggage wagon and it is no problem to take your bike on the train (for $10 extra). The road over the Arthur's Pass is the most scenic route I have seen in New Zealand. That's why I planned the Arthur's Pass again on my second tour. While I conquerred Athur's Pass first in south-north direction, I did it the other way around the second time..

The following links give information of related interest:

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maps and pictures (North Isl.)
maps and pictures (South Isl.)
daily logs (Dutch)