The Alps2Ocean is such a destination route that it publishes a fancy brochure with detailed maps, breaking it down into 7 riding days (I usually avoid carrying paper, but when I saw the brochures available at a gift shop in Oamaru, I figured it might be useful). Our first two days are matching the recommended… Read more…

We got a McDonald’s breakfast, since this would likely be the last McDonald’s until Christchurch. Well, and because we really like McDonald’s. Unfortunately, no, it wasn’t inside a whitestone Victorian building. We had continued up the coast to Oamaru partly to see Oamaru, but also because it is the start (well, really the end) of… Read more…

Our shorter day today into Oamaru, combined with our decision to get restaurant-breakfast 5 miles down the road rather than cooking in our primitive campsite, meant that we not only lazed to a “late” 7am wakeup, but we even did a short hike between packing up and leaving! The hike took us into a narrow… Read more…

It’s a little over 70 miles from Dunedin to Oamaru, the next city up the coast. That would break nicely into two 35-mile days, if only there were a place to stay at exactly 35 miles. But with the chance to take advantage of yet another tailwind (ever since we left Te Anau, the winds… Read more…

Day 2 We had gone a bit out of our way (and fought through its barrier of surrounding hills) to make it to Dunedin, because we understood it to be one of the most-elegant and historic cities in New Zealand. The problem is that after seven straight days of riding (a New Zealand record for… Read more…

There are two ways into Dunedin from the south. The first is inland along the Highway 1 corridor (with some alternate roads) and is mostly flat until 2 or 3 good hills at the end. The second cuts straight to the coast, and rides along the ocean for miles, with just one of those Dunedin-entry… Read more…