Cycling in New Zealand can be summarised in three words: trucks, hills and\nwind. The combination of trucks with either of the natural factors can be\ndownright dangerous. For us, the bottom line is that you can't expect to\nchoose your destination without considering the cycling.....you are best off\ngoing where the cycling is good, or taking a bus on certain sections\n(Apparently Intercity will take disassembled bikes as part of your luggage\nallowance - although we haven't tried it).
\nSo, if we had our time again, what would we do differently?
\nFirstly, choose a better route for cycling (not just based on the places you\nwant to visit, in our case Mt Taranaki and the Whanganui River). To be fair,\nours was great apart from a couple of short sections. The first was the\nAwakino gorge, which is narrow for a long way, and we felt was too dangerous\nto ride (although what do you do when you're already riding it?!). The second\nwas riding into New Plymouth, although this was partially due to the\nexceptionally strong crosswind. If you DO choose to ride either of these\nsections, we'd recommend getting there earlier in the day to miss the worst of\nthe trucks, and also the rush hour traffic. Taking the bus from Te Kuiti to\nNew Plymouth would be a good alternative! Note: The two 'mini-tours' that we\ndid towards the end of our time (in Marlborough and the Wairarapa) were both\nexcellent - following our own advice and going where there are suitable routes\nfor cycling.
\n[We can't speak from experience, but we have heard that the Tour Aotearoa\nroute is pretty good. It needs a mountain bike though (see below!). Anyway\ncheck out the event website for info and maps if going that way might suit\nyou. We did have the Pedallers' Paradise guides but, while these are helpful\nwith information about facilities and gradients, did not find them useful in\nterms of assessing the safety of our chosen route. A general of thumb is\nprobably to strictly avoid any of the single digit SH roads, eg SH1,\nSH2....etc.]
\nSecondly, bring mountain bikes, or bikes better suited to gravel. Lots of New\nZealand's backroads are unsealed (which, if you ask me, is downright\nridiculous for such a developed country but there you go!). A notable example\nis the section between Marakopa and Mokau - ie avoiding the Awakino gorge. You\ncould also ride the Forgotten Highway, which we would have loved to do. It can\nbe a bit tricky to identify sealed roads if you don't have a road atlas. Our\ntop tip is to use the DOC website. If you go to a page that has a map on it\n(eg the page for one of the tracks), click 'expand the map' and drag it to\nyour area of interest. Sealed and unsealed roads are marked.
\nFailing the above, or for the infrequent encounters that you can expect on\npretty much every single road, we recommend developing a strategy for dealing\nwith the trucks. If you are on a quiet road, all will probably be well. They\nwill (usually) pull out and overtake you, as you may be used to from cycling\nelsewhere. Even on a main highway, they will usually pull out.....IF THERE IS\nROOM. If it's narrow, and there are vehicles coming the other way, DO NOT\nEXPECT THEM TO PULL OUT. They will simply plough past as if you aren't there.\nIt really has to be experienced to be believed! Do not despair, though. If you\nhear a truck coming (or, even better, see it in your rear view mirror) STOP.\nGET OFF THE ROAD. Just give in and let them pass!
\nYou may be thinking 'oh, it will be ok, surely the main roads are really\nwide'. No. No they are not. Sections are ok, with good shoulders. But as soon\nas the road is squeezed by a bridge, gorge or hillside, the shoulder goes. You\nmay be thinking 'oh it will be ok, the traffic is terrible at home' - which is\nexactly what I was thinking. I can categorically say that the traffic here is\nthe least considerate I have ever experienced - far, far worse than the UK\nwhich I previously classed as pretty rubbish! And certainly far, far, FAR\nworse than SE Asia (even Malaysia).
\nThis is all very negative, but I'd read many accounts from other people on\nhere and elsewhere, and it didn't get through to me until I'd experienced what\nit's really like here!! Aside from all of that, we have mostly thoroughly\nenjoyed our riding through the beautiful and sometimes spectacular New Zealand\ncountryside. The people we have met have been friendly and interested, and we\nhave received many waves and beeps of encouragement (even from the occasional\ntruck!!). There's a great selection of campsites ranging from exceptionally\nwell-equipped (love that they have kitchens) down to the basic FREE places.\nThe proper sites have cabins if it's getting cold, and we've also enjoyed\nstaying in quite a lot of hostels. We encourage you to tour here, but bearing\nthe above in mind....for your safety, but also your enjoyment.
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