lis

Hi,

I'm new to touring and have a couple of questions. I'll be heading to New Zealand in mid-october to tour mostly the south island, in about 7 weeks. (possibly cheating with buses if I'm not fast enough!)

It's very likely to rain at least some of the time, so I need to pack a gore-tex pair of trousers and jacket. I was wondering if it mattered that those would be cycling specific? Namely cycling jackets are longer at the back to cover more of the bottom, and cycling trousers are usually designed for sitting on a saddle all day. (from what I've gathered anyway!). Does this really matter? I'm intending to do some amount of hiking as well, and I do some hiking at home too, and it's a lot easier to just find hiking trousers and jackets than cycling-specific ones, in Brighton UK anyway!

My second questions is this: from people's various lists of what to pack, a bike cover never seems to be an item. However my poor quality bike here has only spent a couple of nights outside (where it didn't even rain) and the chain is suffering already. My touring bike (which I will buy in Christchurch) would be much better quality but nonetheless - do people usually pack a bike cover if it's likely to rain? (my tent is far too small for the front part of it to provide any sort of shelter whatsoever)

Also, if anyone has toured New Zealand I'm happy with advice on which way round things are best done - my plan for now is heading north from chrischurch to kaikoura then nelson then west to reefton and greymouth. Train across back to christchurch and then cycle to queenstown the inland way - via lake tekapo etc. From Queenstown, (after a hiking trip to Milford sound) heading to Fox Glacier and the west coast, all the way back up to greymouth. That's it for the plan for now because I probably will be on buses by then due to lack of time! (heading to the north island for a week)

Any advice to give to a girl touring alone is welcome as well!

Thanks to everyone for your advice!

Lis