Day 9 - Kaikoura to Cheviot 75km We were out early again and the weather was terrible. The first 20km was along the coast before we cut inland, and it took us around an hour and half to complete the 20km due to the wind and rain coming in off the sea, it really wasnt very good fun. Once we cut inland toward Cheviot we were provided with a little shelter from the elements, but were instead faced with a series of tough climbs, four of around 200m. It was certainly one of the toughest sections we had cycled in [View Full Entry]

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Day 7 - Paremata to Welligton 25km, Ferry from Wellington to Picton, Picton to Blenheim 30km On day 7 we were to catch the Ferry from Wellington to the South Island at 1pm, and so treated ourselves to a well deserved sleep in! And fortunately Annie treated us to a cooked breakfast before we left for Wellington. The ferry ride across provided some spectacular scenery. Thankfully Mark was able to get some decent photos, as i slept for the entire 3 hour journey! I guess the kilometres are finally starting to catch up with us! As we left the small [View Full Entry]

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Day 5 - Patea to Palmerston North 140km Despite being a relatively straight forward cycle, quite flat and a decent length, it proved to be one of the most challenging days so far. It seemed to take forever, with the route very uninteresting. The previous day we had had the backdrop of the spectacular Mount Egmont whereas day fives route consisted mostly of driving past farm after farm. As the day went on we seemed to be edging towards our destination very slowly, and the final hours approach to Palmerston was not helped by the wind and rain! We arrived [View Full Entry]

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Day 3 - Otorohanga to Urenui 160km After 2 relatively easy days to start the cycle, day 3 would prove to be a lot different. We were to cycle just over 160km, including 3 steady climbs to over 200m with many smaller hills in between. To sum it up, it was an absolute killer on the legs, and by this time our bums had also started to get a little tender. We left Otorohanga at half 7 in the morning, and whilst we were lucky enough that there was still little wind it rained for the first few hours. Following [View Full Entry]

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Day 1 Neither of us could quite believe that Day 1 of the cycle was finally upon us. We were both a little apprehensive of the 100km+ that we had to cycle that day as it was much more than either of us had cycled in one day in the past. Thankfully, the further away from Auckland we got the quieter the roads were, and the conditions were near perfect for cycling - dry with very little wind. The first day adrenaline must have been high as we made it to Hamilton in around 5 and a half hours, much [View Full Entry]

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Final Countdown!!! We arrived in Auckland safely on Sunday morning after a 14 hour flight very tired and jetlagged! Following a days rest we began our preperations for the cycle on Monday when we visited Adventure Cycles to pick up all our equipment. A big thankyou must got to all the guys at the shop who worked for about 4 hours to make sure that our bikes were sorted and that we had everything we needed to complete the challenge. On Tuesday and Wednesday we went cycling in and around Auckland to start preparing the legs for the next few [View Full Entry]

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South America As we knew before we set ourselves the challenge of the bike ride, 8 weeks in South America was never going to be ideal training for the 1200km cycle! And right enough, we have struggled to get any significant training under our belts, with only the odd 20km on rented mountain bikes here and there. However on the plus side, we have managed to have a fantastic start to our trip and both leave South America in one piece! We arrive in Auckland, New Zealand on the morning of Sunday 6th September and following 3 or 4 days of [View Full Entry]

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