New Zealand

[daddig]

Is Three months long enough to tour New Zealand ? What would be your best visit areas?

[mjr]

The vineyards around Blenheim are lovely and Nelson lakes at St Arnaud are worth seeing but the whole helmet law consequences makes riding in NZ less fun. Not sure if three months is enough but it's much longer than I had.

[eileithyia]

My ex went for 3 months some years ago, reckoned 1 month for north island and 2 months for south island was about right, but nearly stayed......

[rualexander]

Yes, three months is enough, just, you will probably end up wanting longer though.
North Island is harder to tour nowadays due to the traffic on main roads but still some great routes if you plan carefully and are happy to use minor roads which are usually unsealed gravel. The East Cape and the Wairarapa are probably the nicest cycle touring areas in the North Island now.
The South Island is pretty much all good, although SH1 running south down the east coast is quite busy and best avoided if possible, especially around Christchurch. Other roads can be busy at weekends, but otherwise generally quiet.

[simonhill]

Three months is a good time for NZ, but which three months?

You will need to sort out your timing as it can get chilly down south and also late Dec and Jan are peak tourist season. NZ is not really an all season country unless you are into 'challenging' conditions.

[mjr]

I think I was there October into November and conditions were like a British late spring except with stronger sun (so be liberal with the sunblock).

[daddig]

We are thinking October to December.

[rualexander]

We are thinking October to December.

October and November can be quite unsettled, pot luck really I suppose. December is generally fairly good but not always.
If I was to go for three months, I would go mid January to mid April, having said that the last time I was there for three months was beginning of December to end of February and we had great weather for the whole time except for a few odd wet days, it was quite windy a lot of the time though.

Here are my photos from that last trip
North Island: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rualexande ... 202083088/
South Island : http://www.flickr.com/photos/rualexande ... 189628023/

[daddig]

Rualexander thank you for the photo's they have made want to go now! However what wheel/tyre combo did you use. .

[rualexander]

I was on Rigida Sputnik rims and Panaracer Pasela 26x1.75 tyres.

[iviehoff]

New Zealand has climatic variation even greater than the British Isles, so "the weather can be poor in month X" needs to specify where you are talking about. The driest region of New Zealand is the eastern half of the S island, the wettest is the western half of the S island, and the difference is rather larger than between London and Fort William over a much shorter distance, so things are very mixed. Central Otago is both the hottest (in summer) and coldest (in winter) part of NZ. Further, there are large variations from year to year, droughts and wash-outs both being more frequent than here in Europe, so there is always a degree of pot luck.

The advice that "spring tends to be wet" applies in some areas but not others: spring is probably the best time for the N end of the N island; the drier parts of the S island are sufficiently dry that seasonal variations don't make much difference.

3 months is a good time to go to NZ. In that time you can explore extensive parts of both islands, and thus get a full experience of the place, even if you won't quite go everywhere in that time. There is a lot of info about the place and your choice as to what extent you like cycling unpaved roads and rough tracks. It is fairly easy to do your research and decide what your priorities are.

[RonK]

You could very easily spend three months just on the South Island. I have done two month-long tours and still need another month. Then there's the North Island.

Easy for me, it's only 3 hours from Brisbane, but you're coming a long way so take the time to make it worthwhile.

You can read my journals here:

[url=cycleinnz.blogspot.com.au]Chasing the Long White Cloud[/url]

[url=gonefishinnz.blogspot.com.au]Gone Fishin'[/url]