There was a group of three Japanese college students camped near us, who were “bike touring”, with barely proper equipment, yet doing huge distances nonetheless. They had come from Wanaka yesterday (68 miles over a giant hill), and it was surprising to realize that we were again close enough to Wanaka to be a day’s… Read more…

We covered the prescribed distances during our first two days riding the Alps2Ocean Great Ride, but today we packed two “days” into one. Yes, the rest day helped a bit, but mostly we cheated. It wasn’t all our fault though! On this section of the Waitaki River, there are a series of dams to generate… Read more…

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…