Road Cycling in New Zealand

New Zealand is the perfect place for a road cycling holiday - the scenery is thrilling, the mild climate makes it an ideal all-year-round option (except the deep south) and there're hardly any cars on the road (especially in the deep south) so it's relatively safe compared to the crowed roads of Europe or North America. Many New Zealand towns and cities are ideal for exploring by bike, and you'll find it easy and inexpensive to hire a bike and a helmet for just a few hours, a day or longer.

Many travelers have discovered a bicycle is a top way to explore both the North and South Islands; alternatively you can join an organized tour - with the added bonus of a back-up van when the hills get really steep.

North Island Tours
The North Island scenery is incredibly diverse with a magic coastline, volcanoes, rain forests and lakes. Once you get out of Auckland's crowded roads you'll never look back.

The Coromandel Peninsula is a cycling heaven just east of Auckland and is one of New Zealand's most breathtaking coastal areas. Luxuriant forest and mountain backdrops give way to golden beaches, including the famous Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove. Stop off and see giant kauri trees, lounge on the beach at Whitianga and cycle through the dramatic Karangahake Gorge to the lush green Waikato. From there you could head to one of New Zealand's most important cultural centres, Rotorua, also home to bubbling mud, geysers, sulphur lakes as well as some good old Kiwi adventure tourism.

Taupo is the natural choice after Rotorua, where it's worth swapping your road bike for a more rugged number to check out some of their excellent single track. As you'll see from the steam coming out of the ground, this is volcano country and three of New Zealand's most dramatic, Tongariro, Ngauruhoe and Ruapehu are in the Tongariro National Park. You'll need to get off your bicycle to take them all in the first time you see them.

It's always good to give your bottom a rest when cycle touring and Waitomo Caves are a must visit - plunging deep towards the centre of the earth, there are lots of options for the brave and not so brave, including blackwater rafting and glowworm watching. After that it's a gorgeous ride up the wild, west coast, taking in some of the North Island's top surf spots before finishing up in Auckland.

South Island Tours
The South Island offers some of the best cycling in the world, with quiet sealed roads, spectacular alpine scenery, rain forests, glaciers, deep blue lakes and fiords and wild deserted beaches. It's generally best to do a one-way tour of the South Island, kicking off from the Marlborough Sounds and finishing in Queenstown or if that sounds a bit epic, just do one of the shorter sections.

The Marlborough Sounds are remarkable with roads that twist and turn along lushly forested coastline before arriving in New Zealand's sunniest city - Nelson. Soak up that sun because from there it's off to New Zealand's wettest area - the West Coast. It may be wet, but it's also beautiful, remote and almost totally unspoiled. Take in the famous Pancake Rocks and blowholes at Punakaiki and make time to explore at least one of the side roads that lead to some of the wildest beaches on the planet - where you feel like you're in a mystical world. The ancient forests that line the roads are regal and green (thanks to all that rain) and if you keep your ears peeled you'll hear the birdsong of the native birds such as the Tui and Bellbird.

The glaciers, Franz Josef and Fox, are a dead cert when it comes to stopping off - and don't miss the truly awesome view at Knight's Point. A long haul up and over Haast Pass leaves the coast and sand flies behind and you head into the stark contrast of the treeless alpine scenery of Central Otago. The Rail Trail through the old Otago railway line from Middlemarch to Clyde is a must do - with sixty bridges, three tunnels and no annoying cars, trucks or buses to bother you.

Soaring mountain peaks, clear alpine lakes, gold mining history typify the area around the popular resort towns of Lake Wanaka and Queenstown.

Fact File
Time of Year North Island - all year round
South Island - avoid winter as the roads can be icy

Tour Companies
New Zealand Pedal Tours www.pedaltours.co.nz
Adventure South www.advsouth.co.nz
Cycling NZ www.cyclingnz.com
Active New Zealand www.activenewzealand.co.nz

More Info
www.newzealand.com
www.otagocentralrailtrail.co.nz