• Day 41 Wanaka to Arrowtown 57 km 820 m
• Day 42 Arrowtown to Queenstown 37 kms 350 m
• Day 43 Queenstown to Mossburn 119 kms 847 m
• Day 44 Mossburn to Invercargill 100 kms 120m
• Day 45 Invercargill to Bluff and back 71kms 211 m
• TOTAL TE AOTEAROA 3000 kms 25,672 m

We arrived at the last segment of our ride and, really, in spite of some “sporty” weather, a few logistical issues and a bit of Auckland traffic, all was good. But then…….the worst day of our entire ride. It started off with bright blue sky – promising, after 3 days of hiding out in Wanaka in the comfort of a dry bnb out of a persistent rain cycle. Then we saw the snow line in the surrounding mountains was low. VERY low. In Fernie, this is great news. In Wanaka – on the day we climb to the highest point of the entire trail – not so much. We donned every stitch of clothing we brought and went out to enjoy the sunshine and +6C.

We expected to be riding off highways now, having come through the glacier section of the route. And as we’ve said, those roads weren’t bad, getting a “not terrible” rating from us. And we had no reason to think the road from Wanaka to Arrowtown, a mere 50km, would be anything but a back country road. The state highway veered in the same general direction and, surely, would be the preferred route for motorists. We were wrong. Turns out every rented motor home, every tractor trailer, every tourist behind the wheel chose the windy, narrow, no shoulder, steep scenic summit road, the highest paved road in the country. This was not just normal busy and narrow. The Deerfoot 500 would have been safer to bike on. The 401 even.

There was no painted white line and one cm off the pavement edge was a steep gutter – about a 40 cm drop. With rocks in it. Up close inspection revealed the rocks are Newfoundland sharp. We were buzzed more on that 50km section than in all of our X-Canada and New Zealand riding combined. You might ask, why did you continue? Well, we thought about abandoning that section several times and calling in a shuttle from Wanaka, a helicopter, anything. But, of course, there was no cell reception. We could have activated our InReach with an emergency signal. We thought this would be entirely reasonable. But (perhaps foolishly) we forged on climbing, meter by meter, purging into the gutter often. When we finally reached the top of the highest sealed road in the country, the Crown Range Summit at 1076 m, we were grateful to have our limbs and marriage intact. But, it must be said, this was bad. It had a lingering PTSD effect – Post Traffic Syndrome Disorder. We warned any bike packers we ran into along the way of the understated peril of that section. “Hey Mate, shuttle that section. You’ll thank us later.”

Arrowtown was our reward, a lovely town with cafes and shops, all closed at 2pm. But Blessed are the Kiwis, the liquor store was open.

Still suffering a little PTSD, we unwound on a wonderfully short bike path ride into Queenstown, the tourist capital of the country. Queenstown is comparable to Banff but with more shops. And an international airport. So more tourists. It’s known for jet boating, bungy jumping, zorbing, and any other kind of “adventure” activity kreative kiwis can think of. Our adventure activities were limited to choosing restaurants. A fantastic waterside lunch spot right on the trail served up what Jay says is “the Second Best Fish Chowder in the world”. (Couldn’t beat out Nova Scotia’s – thanks Sue). Dinner, a ridiculous fresh seafood platter, also came with Kiwi entertainment as we watched the staff throw a departing employee in the (freezing, glacier fed) lake for fun. Kiwi humour. Kiwi Tough.

We left Queenstown on a boat across Lake Wakatipu, unfortunately not on the lovely Earnslaw coal powered ship, but on the staff boat, as it left earlier and we knew we would need every minute of the day to reach the first and only accommodation available on our trek further south given the sketchy rain/wind forecast. We expected the 119 km trek to Mossburn (population 210) to be difficult. Fortunately, it was a rather civilized 6 degree grade most of the way – leisurely, but for the 50km headwind, rain squalls and unseasonably cold temperature. We leapfrogged e-bikers who were getting shuttled to an upscale hotel after 60kms. Although openly and obviously not regular bikers, they were helpfully providing us tips on gear and how to stay protected in the rain squalls. “Stay on the lee side of the bushes and trees Mate, that’s the trick”.

The downpour started just when the gravel road became freshly graded, hammering us with loose and wet rock for the last 50kms. We were sinking in the gravel more than we did on 90 Mile Beach. Lucky for us, the head wind persisted and increased to gusts of 60km or so to keep us cool in the 4C temp. We’re talking windy. Now we know why Kiwi birds learned to walk.

At 6pm we dripped into the wonderfully warm lobby of the Mossburn Railway Hotel. Thomas, the Owner, who is well known in the Aotearoa bike community to cater to frostbitten bike packers, gave us a warm Kiwi welcome.

“Youz moost be Dibbie! And youz moost be …”. Gear Guy, “Mr Dibbie”.

“Youz are a bits late but I spect you had soom shallinge on that greevel rood. Weez ave a new grader dreever who don’t knows whats heez doin”, he said sympathetically. And then quicker than a Kiwi wink, Thomas had a beer in our hands and a warm table for us to de-robe our drenched gear around.

Our second last ride day – a flat road south from Mossburn to Invercargill, a bit Canadian prairie like. And a much needed dry day – was blissful.

The last ride day was the most promising weather wise in some time. An easy 35 km ride on a new trail off the highway to the southern tip of New Zealand – Bluff.

We had hoped to spend a celebratory evening in the upscale hotel and restaurant there, but to our shock and surprise, both were closed. So we barely survived eating a toastie and the world’s worst meat pie, proudly served by the only open cafe in town. Bluff is not known for its culinary delights. Just oysters. Which are out of season.

The Aotearoa Route – 3000 kms and 25,000 m of vertical.

We often compare this trip to our X-Canada ride. There was more vertical than we expected, in fact 25% more per km than Canada. This surprised us. There was more vertical on the North Island than the South Island, which also surprised us. And the grades are steeper, probably because the Aotearoa Route offers so much single track. It’s like bike packing in BC for 3000 kms.

Make no mistake, the biking routes in New Zealand are phenomenal – millions of Kiwi $$ have been spent on infrastructure. Canada could perhaps take a lesson from them. About a decade ago, the Prime Minister of New Zealand at the time had a vision to create a tip to tip bike route and voila. Today it has created a new sector of tourism. Especially for the E bike revolution of late. We ran into many E Bike tourists out for a day or multi-day tour, more than happy to contribute to the Kiwi economy. Hotel, restaurant and cafe operators time after time thanked us for our business and gratefully told us that the bike routes are a huge contributor to their business.

We are still processing this adventure but have some immediate highlights. Like the 5km flooded walk into 90 mile beach; the Timber Trail and Shangra La lodge; the remote Bridge to Nowhere section; the countless days of endless trails and double track – seeing no one and hearing nothing but the birds and of course Nelson. We loved Nelson. In 3000kms, there are only 50kms we would do differently (see above).

Kiwi people are kind, helpful, friendly, a lot tough and a tad crazy. Like Canadians, only there are less of them. There are a lot of sheep. More than Kiwis – people and birds combined. There are a lot of cows too. But no bears. As strange it this might seem this takes some getting used to when riding on a single track in a dense forest. In Canada, we’d be making noise to give bears, cougars, moose, notice of our presence. Relaxing perhaps, but we missed having an opportunity to see wildlife beyond birds.

Some Logistic highlights: we tried to book accommodation 1 – 2 nights ahead in order to avoid the dreaded tent. We found more upscale accommodations, mostly AirBnB’s, than in Canada, but we did manage to lower the bar for our worst shelter ever. We have now carried our 4 pound tent for 13,000 kms without putting it up. We burned 3 cans of gas for the stove, donned our sleeping bags about 8 nights out of 45 and rarely took off our puff jackets when we weren’t riding. Our bikes and gear held up well, especially the 2” Donnelly tubeless tires. Nary one flat. Gear Guy managed to source 6 of these tires in a REI store in California only a couple of months before we left. Six tires constituted 20% of the entire REI US supply of that tire at the time. Our Kona Libre bikes were great on this trail but the next generation of gravel bikes would have been greater. The amount of single track and steep grades would have been more fun with slightly wider tires, lower gears and a dampened head set to absorb some of the shock. Our next set of bikes is on order.

Like Canada and perhaps everywhere, New Zealand still suffers a Covid hangover with business closures and staff scarcity. Like us, they too wonder where all the workers went. This made our logistics more challenging. But really, we just assumed businesses would be closed and accommodations would be hard to find, and we were seldom disappointed.

We find bike packing a wonderful way of experiencing a country. You miss “typical tourist” sites, but see so much else. Our friend Kennan once offered that it “must be liberating”.  That description certainly resonates. It is simple.  Cathartic is another word.  In short, we don’t really know.  We are not oblivious to the fact of how lucky we are that we both love doing it.  

As we age and become wiser, “it might be time to consider smaller and smaller countries. And flatter ones.”, as suggested by our friend Gord. Roger that.

Thanks to encouragement by many of you, we write about our adventures.  We’ve thought about that and whether we should bother.   But over time, we’ve discovered that writing about our distance rides helps us better understand why we do them in the first place. Because, among the cost, the time, the logistics, there is sometimes unnerving risk that accompanies them. And when things go wrong and adventure becomes misadventure, then you wonder a bit.  

But really, the quest of active pursuits lifts us to a place we would not have otherwise gone.  At the end of the trail, the beer is colder, the food is finer, the music is deeper and our bond is stronger.  Sometimes, “It don’t come easy”. Sharing that with family and friends makes us closer.  It’s riveting how quickly our trips seem to come to an end.  Just as this blog now will, at least for now. Thank you for riding along with us.  

We are happy to be back to our home in beautiful Fernie. The snowline is low and the skiing is great. Life is good. Merry Christmas to you and your families. We wish you good health and great adventure in 2023. Deb and Jay