Not Molesworth

Yes, I had very big plans to cycle the Molesworth track with a friend, crossing NZ's biggest farm (180,476 ha!!!) and heaps of other great tracks in mind.
But - due to a lack of reliability of my left knee I had to forget about these plans. Anyways, this is about travelling with a bike - and about meeting other countries' people. So I decided to hitch with my bike.

First try: out of Blenheim. After a long hours' wait and an unbearable amount of pitiful looks an artist picked me up with his >>300,000km-magic-machine. So I ended up in Kaikoura, wandered around the peninsula to spot some seals and found out that walking isn't any better with that knee.

So - more hitching, further south to Christchurch. The moment I popped out my thumb a woman (!) stopped. I wasn't exactly hiding my bike but maybe not showing it as offensively this time; however, I had a wonderful day in the South Island's biggest town! And a very awkward knee-debate in a chemistry.

Then - a perfect day. Sun, clear skies over Mt Cook, Kea Lookout, cycling the Plains of Rohan, most beautiful tent site at a river. Mmmmmh.

Cycling NZ

trails and wayz I

....there are numerous fabulous cycling trails throughout NZ, many of them listed in the Kennett Bros' bible "Classic NZ Mountain Bike Rides" and in DOC-brochures. Singletrails, 4WD tracks, gravel roads, varying difficulties, sth for everyone. Rural Maps will help find your way. The tricky part is to connect these rides:

Either you've got a car (buy a >300.000 km-magic-machine from a backpacker or rent one) - easy. Or rely on public transport, i.e. rely on the bus driver's good will. The bus driver decides if he'll take the bike or not in the minute the bus leaves, depending on available space, the bike's mud cover and the bus driver's morning coffee - a little less flexible. Or you try hitching with your bike, why, in other parts of the world there are people hitching around with fridges!

Or you simply cycle wherever you wanna go - time consuming.

Roads might pass through beautiful, hilly landscapes. But beware of local drivers! Kiwis are wonderful people, as long as they aren't sitting behind a steering wheel (hm okay, there might be exceptions). Teens start driving at the age of 15, with someone sitting beside them who should give them instructions. Only after 6 months of papa's driving lessons they'll have to do a test and eventually get their driving license. After 6 months of chasing oversea cyclists!! And then there are logging trucks that don't care too much about any weaker road users. And then there are sheep. Many. With unpredictable reactions.

By the way, it's far from being common to have a shoulder along the road. And you'll see your tires fading away from day to day due to a rough road cover.

A cycling path along the whole length of NZ is planned, from North to South. Realisation might take a couple of years but - great! :-)

Auckland

Janet and Michael gave me a great escort from Auckland Airport to TeAtatu... it was 2 shining Avanti road bikes versus the fully loaded tractor. Anyways, they played a fair game and let me fuel up at a cafe and made sure I stayed on the LEFT side of the road most of the time... without them me and the tractor would look very 2-dimensional by now...

By the way, there is no such thing as straight flat roads in/around Auckland. Expect to be switching between adrenaline-rushing downhills and muscle-tearing uphills about every second minute. Just great!

To all the touring cyclists: check www.warmshowers.org to meet the local cyclists while travelling!

Flying Bike

Nowadays it's just too easy to fly your bike. I was just about to disassemble my tractor as a Lufthansa-lady turned up to tell me i shouldn't worry and just give it to the luggage as it was. I still removed the pedals and wrapped it, to allow for a relaxed flight...
Luckily no one of the aiport crew knew how much they had to charge me to take the bike as extra-luggage. Since I didn't tell them, they eventually let me check it in for free :-D