NZ North Island

I set off from the hostel before dawn. There was a decent bike path running adjacent to the highway out of Wellington. I followed this for a while then, when it ended, rode on the highway, initially along the coastline.

Soon the highway turned inland, following the river Hutt. Past the city of Upper Hutt it became a smaller road, though it mostly still had a bike lane. As it climbed into the hills, I swapped over to a rail trail.

This rail trail led me uphill on a gentle gradient, in a gentle rain. I got a bit of a break from the rain when passing through the occasional tunnel.

There was one bridge that was particularly noteworthy; a suspension bridge over a deep valley. I’m not usually too bad with heights but that did make me feel uneasy. There were narrow gaps between the planks, nowhere near wide enough to fit my tyre but enough to feel uncomfortable!

On the way down the other side of the hills, I missed a turning and came to a dead end – the end of the line, a railyard.

Backtracking, I found the correct turn and headed along a singletrack path. It was surprisingly rough and narrow in places.

Shortly I reached the end of the track and some minor roads led me back to the highway. By that point the rain had gotten fairly heavy but it then gradually lessened over the course of the afternoon.

I saw another touring cyclist, headed the other way. Before I reached him he stopped and moved off from the road – he had a puncture. I stopped to chat and to make sure he had all he needed for the puncture.

In the town of Masterton I stopped at a supermarket. When I set off again I soon noticed my rear tyre felt off; it was going flat. I located a hole in the tube and removed a corresponding piece of metal wire from the tyre. I put the tube in my bag and set off again.

It was pretty difficult to find somewhere to wild camp as every piece of land seemed to be part of a smallholding. In the end I decided to just set up camp in a roadside picnic area.

After I’d set up camp I realized my rear tyre had gone flat again. Another piece of metal wire. Twice in twenty kilometres isn’t great! I had previously ordered some new tyres which are ready for collection in Auckland, but 600km was starting to look a long way!

As well as ordering tyres ahead, I’d also ordered a saddle. The one I’d bought as a temporary measure really wasn’t comfortable. I received an email that afternoon telling me it was ready for collection in the town of Taupo, about 300km away. It was a relief to get that email as I’d been a bit concerned I’d get there before the saddle did, and would have to decide between waiting for it or returning for it.

I was undisturbed in my unusually public camp spot, and set off early the following morning, beginning with a short climb. After that came a few hours of flat riding. It was a bit boring, with fog blocking any scenery and too much traffic.

The flat section came to an end as I turned west to cross the northern foothills of the Tararua range. The main road was closed so all the traffic was on the small road I’d chosen. It was foggy, there was often no shoulder and heavy trucks passing centimetres away. Not fun!

The fog cleared at the top of the climb and there were impressive views down the other side. At the town of Ashhurst I managed to move onto smaller roads which were much more pleasant.

Rolling hills for the rest of the day brought me to Vinegar Hill, a basic campsite which is free to use in the off season.

Past that campsite, the next day involved a lot of climbing. For the first few hours these were rolling hills, steeply up and steeply down.

After a while this turned into a more consistent upward climb. I stopped for a break, and hung my tent up to dry – it’d been soaked in condensation that morning. I was making good time so I booked a hostel bed in the town of Turangi.

As I continued on, I saw a mountain: Mount Ruapehu. This is the only mountain on the North Island to have a glacier.

My heart suddenly sank when I realised that after hanging up my tent to dry, I’d not packed it away again. I stashed my bags in the long grass, marked their location on my map, and turned around to go get my tent. I thought it was about 7km back so after backtracking 8km I was a little concerned I’d missed it. Then I realized I could check on Strava, where there would be a slight deviation in my path when I’d pulled off from the road. It turned out it was just over 10km back. Thankfully it was still there when I arrived.

Riding without my bags was faster but even so I’d lost nearly an hour by the time I got back to my bags. It was no longer looking so good for reaching Turangi that day! I thought it unlikely I’d make it but decided to try anyway, riding at increased power and with no breaks for the rest of the day.

As the road climbed higher it entered a desert. This was fairly exposed so the headwind, which had been present most of the day, was worst here.

At last I made it to the highest point, 1080m. There was a bit of a plateau and then the road began to descend. It seemed that for every section I rode down, there was a climb immediately afterwards of nearly the same size, so it was slow going.

There was a point at which, in clear weather, one can see over to Mount Ngaruhoe. This is the mountain that was used to represent Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings films. As a big nerd I was looking forward to seeing this. Sadly though it was completely hidden by clouds.

At last there was a proper downhill. The wind was weaker here, and the gradient was such that I needed neither brake nor pedal, simply lie down flat over the handlebars and coast along. I made up a lot of time here.

By sunset I had only 5 kilometres left to the town, which I covered well before dark. After a stop at the supermarket I headed over to the hostel. I had a room to myself (for the price of a dorm bed) and the owner suggested I take the bike inside, “I know you cyclists don’t like to be apart from your bikes!”

It rained a bit during the night, and it was still doing so in the morning. Off I went anyway. Soon I reached Lake Taupo, a volcanic crater lake. I rode east along the southern shore.

At one point the road climbed up a couple hundred metres into a forest, then back down to the lake and the town of Taupo.

I went to a bike shop and collected the saddle I’d ordered. I fitted it; it seems more comfortable for now but it’ll take time to tell for sure. The other one wasn’t terribly comfortable but was bruising over the course of a long day, and more so over several days.

From Taupo I continued north into the hills, where it soon began to rain. After a while I felt the pressure in my rear tyre dropping. It was cold, windy and raining and I really didn’t want to be sitting there trying to fix a puncture. I pumped it up and hoped it was a slow leak.

After stopping to pump it a second time I reached a bus shelter, where I took cover. Thanks to the wet tyres I could see air bubbles from the leak. I removed the piece of glass and fitted a new tube.

I continued riding through the rain for the next few hours. As it got dark I passed some managed woodland, which had been harvested and now only had short trees and debris. I hopped a fence and set up camp. It was significantly warmer than previous nights had been, with a low of 12°C compared to about 5°C typically.

The good thing about having so much rain was that by morning the clouds were spent and I set off cycling in dry weather. After a couple of hours I approached Hobbiton, a set for the Lord of the Rings films!

It can only be visited as part of a (relatively expensive – £45) tour but I’d decided to indulge my inner nerd. In the summer one needs to book well in advance, but I was able to book about an hour before I showed up.

From the car park area a bus takes tourists through the Alexander farm down to the set. The location was originally used for the Lord of the Rings films, but at that time it was constructed from temporary materials as the contract required that the land be returned to its original condition after filming. By the time they came to rebuild for the Hobbit movies, the landowners had realized there was a lot of money to be made and so this time arranged to have the set be built on a more permanent basis.

The walking tour took about an hour, with the guide telling us a few things about the different hobbit holes we saw. For the most part only exterior shots were filmed here, so there’s nothing behind the doors. They’re in the process of building some hobbit holes with full interiors.

There were tours going roughly every 15 minutes, so they were on a precise schedule in order to make sure we did not collide with the preceding or following groups. The guide did a good job of following this schedule in a way that felt natural rather than rushed. The walking tour ended at the Green Dragon Inn, where we had a complimentary drink.

The bus returned to the car park and I set off cycling again, having enjoyed the detour. For the remainder of the day I cycled through unusually flat farmland, quite uneventfully. A couple kilometres before stopping, I reached some low hills where there were a few patches of woodland.

I found one such area that was unfenced, though it had quite a dense hedge. I walked along it to find a gap through which I could squeeze in. Thanks to this thick wall and a similarly solid canopy overhead, there was little light and therefore minimal undergrowth making it easy to set up camp.

After another warm night I set off for my final few hours of cycling in New Zealand. After a couple hours on the main road I swapped to a quieter road. This lasted until Auckland, the capital, where a final 25km led me to the city centre.

There were surprisingly cheap hotels at about 55 NZD (£27) a night. At that price I’d rather take a hotel room than stay in a busy dorm. During my time in Auckland I picked up a bike box as well as my new tyres. I’d bought Schwalbe G One RS, which are supposed to be more speed-oriented gravel tyres. I find that my taste in tyres oscillates between wanting puncture protection or speed!

The flight I have booked from Auckland goes to Anchorage, Alaska. I plan to spend the next few months cycling around North America. First I’ll head up to the Arctic Ocean, then over into Canada. When I hit the Rockies I plan to follow the mountains south to the Mexican border, then head on to the US’ East Coast. After that… Home, I think!

June 19: 125 km

June 20: 135 km

June 21: 156 km

June 22: 131 km

June 23: 126 km

June 24: 104 km