Forum: Toolfreak in New Zealand.

I have been reading books on cycle touring for years and have always wanted to go and do a long tour myself. Now for the first time I have the opportunity to do it. I have been saving for some time to enable me to take unpaid leave from my job as a postman. I will be attempting to complete a...

Day 36 Cliffden to Te Anau, 84 km Today on my way to fjordland, 84 km with one steep hill. The rain came last night as i saw the pressure droping, so i cycled in my rainsuit, it was nice to cycle in some cooler temperatures. On halfway of the route i noticed a loose cow, so back to the nearest...

G`dday Bikeforums, After 5 months of cycling i landed in the Netherlands last saturday! The flight home from Hobart to Amsterdam was a bit of a marathon. Do you know the feeling when you wake up, look at your watch and realise you just missed the only bus to airport!?.......:eek: Lucky...

Hi. I'm in auckland...are you coming this way? it'd be cool to meet up at a LBS if you are. Brendon :beer:

Day 38 Te Anau to Halfway Hut, 80 km by car, 37 by boat and 6 hour walk. The bus picked me up and transfared me 80 km`s back to Cliffden, where i switched over to the boat transport. The boat brought us over Lake Hauroko, wich is NZ deepest lake (more than 600 mtr.) I really enjoyed the...

Day 37 Te Anau, preparing walk, 0 km After Stewart Island, i had another track in mind, not the popular ones like the Milford or the Routeburn, wich are very overcrowed, but i went for a more quiet one; the Dusky track. Its an 8 days track, 84 km, fully self supported, three valleys, two...

Day 35 Riverton to Cliffden, 55 km Not a hard day, actually a very simple day, the weather is nice and the route is along the southcoast. My trailer was a bit heavy because of all the dried fruit & nuts i bought in Invercagill (made four packets a 1 kg, not very smart i know...) I said goodbye...

Day 34 Bluff to Riverton, 64 km Off course, i was late for the ferry again, they where already boarding the luggage, very nice... Got on board anyway and the sea was lucky for me, nice and calm. From the ferry it was a boring road back to Invercagill, stopped at the Pack n`Save again for...

Freshwater Hut to Rakakea Hut, 10 hrs. Today my first day of actual tramping, left Freshwater Hut at 0700, the fog was still hanging around in the swamp, but the sun came through. It was a real swamp with real mud! , thick black sucking mud, sometimes it came till my knees....:D After 2 hours...

Day 27 Stewart Island, 0km Actually i had no idea wat to do today, so i went to the village and walked around a bit, i met a Dutch couple and they finished a three days walk. After a little chat, decided to do a 6 days track, the southern cirquit. Up to the Departement of Conservation (DoC) to...

Day 26 Invercagill to Oban, Stewart Island 30km, 1 hr. ferry My ferry departed at 17:00, so i had some time left in Invercagill. I decided to visit the museum and the park, the museum was small but very nice, especially the maori exehibition. The park was very big and they had fully automatic...

Day 25 Lumsden to Invercagill (sorry i don`t remenber the km`s, i`m running behind.....:) ) It was a really easy ride today, very flat and a llitle bit descending to sealevel. As said i booked a room in the YHA, so no hurry`s today. I arrived round noon in Invercagill, and the traffic was...

Day 22 Queenstown 0km. Since i had a loose BB and a new chain could do no harm, i went to the bikeshop, Dr. Bike was the name (i felt more confident after reading the name :rolleyes: ) It turned out these where decent guys, and they should replace my BB with a cartridge type, install a new...

Day 21 Tarras to Queenstown 115 km. Up to Queenstown, to get my some new parts for my bike! Started 0830 because i couldn`t find my hook for the trailer (someone else did, thanks Illenka) Left the gravel road and after 10 km. the first sign said "Wanaka / Westcoast" , a bit odd because i...

Day 6 restday 0km It was so beautiful in Lake Tekapo, i stayed in YHA hostel with one of the best views across the Lake. Did some walking to Mt. John obsevatory, good to stretch my legs again, the obsevatory is placed because of the clear sky and the most sunny days of NZ. If anyone goes to...

Day 24 Queenstown to Lumsden 110 km. Left busy Qt for the more quiet road along the lakeside. This was a very easy ride, there was only one minor pass at 400mtr. but apart from that it went downhill. It was hot again, so i was glad did the fast riding this morning. Arrived at the campground...

Day 23 Queenstown 0km. I could pick up my bike at four o`clock, so i went first to the post office to sent some gear & gifts to my family, i was happy to ditch the 2.1 kg, not to mention the volume.... After my lunch/ sleep i walked up to the LBS, they did a fine job, gave me some discount on...

Day 19 Mt.Cook to Omarama 90 km. Left the chalet after saying goodbye to Axel by 0900, another sunny day. The first 70km where easy, it went slightly down to Twizel. After that it was another 40 km on a long hot boring road, reached the backpackers/farmhouse at 1500, went for nice hot shower...

Day 20 Omarama to Tarras 87 km. Today Lindis Pass (970 mtr.) was on schedule, a nice heavy pass with about 10 km steady climb before. Left again at 0800, and i was soon passed by a Canadian cyclist with also a BOB trailer. He headed for Clyde, another 130 KM away, pfff, this guy was doing a...

Back in the land of the living! I stayed for two days on the Mt. Cook campsite, after that my sleeping bag started to getting wet and i decided to move over to the YHA hostel after the 48 hours of rain.... After my little move the weather got better and i went for a ride to ball shelter. My...