New Zealand, North Island - Cycle Tour Map

A Summary of the North Island Tour


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Overall distance was about 2500km or 1500 miles between April 10th and May 9th 1993. The total for the South and North Islands was about 5000km or 3000 miles.

I finished off in Wellington where Jo held a farewell party for me and her friends. I was leaving for the Cook Islands and Tahiti soon. We drank the case of wines we'd picked up on our walk around the Marlborough Vineyards.

Here are my cheats

Wellington to Auckland by train, 400 miles
Auckland to Whangerei by bus, 100 miles
Swanson to Auckland, Suburban Rail, 12 Miles
Auckland to Waitakaruru by bus, 55 miles
Te Aroha to Rotorua, by bus 60 miles
Gisborne to Napier by bus 130 miles
Napier to Taupo by bus 90 miles
Taumarunui to National Park, by train 25 miles
Marton to Wellington, by train 100 miles


Regrets

Running out of time because of flights booked was a drag
No time for Taranaki Region and New Plymouth
More time needed for central and east coasts
No photographs of Napier!
Haven't been back

Wanganui River Road

Spiral Train to National Park

At Tokaanu the camp had a thermal spa and a mineral pool too which helped Neil and I recover from the grey and drizzly ride down the coast of Taupo Lake. From Tokaanu to Tauramanni was a long uphill ride to a saddle, where I got soaked in a massive downpour' I then managed to find Rick and Jen, who I'd met in Otago, and they invited me around for dinner. An hours train ride took me up to National park via the famous spiral. Up top it was very cloudy and I saw nothing of the mountains and volcanoes. I did however meet up with Neil again and we had some drinks and another spa.

Down the River Road

The next day we had a very fast twenty mile descent in low cloud and drizzle. We then took the Wanganui River road which is a wonderfully scenic, but often unmade, road following the river valley down to the coast. We had lunch in Pipiriki, and had a quick look around the Colonial House there. After passing through many villages named after European capitals we arrived at Ranana (London in Maori) and camped in a very damp field. The amenities building had been taken over by a travelling Maori family, but we had a very pleasant evening sharing the facilities and chatting over dinner. I went through 3000 miles today.



The final section of the road down to Wanganui was accompanied by fine weather and we enjoyed the ride, chasing sheep as we went. We finally had to climb steeply from the the river valley and could look back to the winding greenness of the valley below us. That evening we stayed at a haunted YHA (though I didn't hear anything go bump in the night) and went out for a Chinese dinner to celebrate my last evening out.





Final Train to Wellington

Today I had to ride 25 miles to Marton to catch the train. All the buses from Wanganui were full. After a tedious five hour wait for the train I was almost refused passage as the train was extremely busy. On the train, finally, I chatted to a group of country ladies going to Wellington for the first time. I was met by Jo at Wellington Station and I had to ride the last two or three miles up the steep hills to her flat. This almost finished me off! After a quick shower we went out to a cocktail party and got slaughtered.

North to Auckland and Whangerei Falls

The Northerner

After ten days or so sojourn in Wellington with Jo on Friday April 2nd 1993 I took the "Northerner" night train from Wellington to Auckland. The weather in Wellington had been cold so I'd decided to go as far north as possible and ride back down to Wellington.

The train had no sleeping compartments but I was warm enough on the sheepskin covered reclining seats. I see nothing all night apart from strange stops in the middle of nowhere. Eventually the dawn breaks as we head into Auckland. At the station I photograph a steam engine on it's way out on an excursion. An hour later I'm on a bus going even further north to Whangerei. This is a three hour trip on a busy road through the isthmus to Northland. After all that travelling it is raining. Fortunately it's only a five mile ride to the camp-ground at Whangerei Falls. I stay, alone, in the bunk room, and manage a walk to the falls in the late afternoon.

Things have changed in Auckland since I was there. The Northerner service was stopped in 2004 and the Auckland Station I used has since been closed too - though a new one has been built close by.



That steam train I saw was called the Cannonball Express for that excursion. In fact it is KA942 built in New Zealand in 1940 and in mainline use until 1966. She was restored in 1991 and again in 2001. She is still running. Here are a couple of videos: near Dunedin, and here and here.

Arrival in the South Island, NZ

In the Beginning Was Vic

 On the morning of the 3rd of February 1993 I rose at 6.30am in an attempt to catch the 8am inter--island ferry from Wellington to Picton. All the panniers had been packed the night before, but this was the first time out on a fully loaded bike. The descent to Wellington City was precarious, and I got lost wandering about the dock-side area. I feared missing the boat but made it just in time. It looked as if I was the last cyclist on board, as a pile of bikes were already stashed and roped on the car-deck. Feeling rather dapper in my cycling clothes, but knowing I was probably seriously out of shape I wandered onto the decks and watched the city disappear as we pulled out of the bay and followed the coast around the Wellington hillside suburbs. I thought I recognised Island Bay, which is where I'd been staying with Jo. The weather was perfect for the crossing; clear blue skies and a calm sea. This made a change as my previous ten days in Wellington had been accompanied by some indifferent and changeable weather, and the Cook Straits are notorious for rough passage.




The crossing takes three hours, so after watching the North Island disappear from view I went downstairs for a huge breakfast, and a wander around the decks and gangways. When the ship entered the sounds of the South Island I ventured back on deck to marvel at the greenery and the rugged coastline. Not much sign of civilisation until we turned a dog-leg into Picton Harbour. After a brief chat with the other cyclists milling around on the car-deck, especially three blokes of about sixty, I rode straight off into the country.




The road was gently undulating, the weather was warm, and I had a pretty good idea of how far I was riding. It was still relatively early, with all day to do the riding. At my first stop I took a photograph of my pristine bike, before waving at the old-timers as they passed me. I wasn't to see them again. When I reached my intended destination for the day I decided that I still had time to travel a little further. One stiff climb, a double decker bridge, shared by the railway and fifteen miles later brought me to Ward at about 4.40pm. As I checked in I noticed only one other camper. He also had exactly the same bicycle as me, a '93 Cannondale T700. This was such a coincidence that we chatted, and went for dinner at a fish and chip cafe in the village. His name was Vic, originally from Lancashire, recently of Nelson NZ, but now living in Brisbane, Australia. We were to ride together for the next five days.