Will follow your SI trip with interest. We tend to do day cycle trips down here, travelling in a motorhome. Though would happily repeat Alps to Ocean one day.

It was a revelation to find so much of it off road. Have checked out your description of local routes and will keep in mind for when we too can “cross the ditch”. (Two sons and a grand daughter in Melbourne to see. )

Thanks Kathleen. Your comment led me to your local tour, and reminded us of our stay in Mountain View in 2009. Our friends sent us off on their bikes, and we covered some of the trail you described.
We are most fortunate here in NZ. Kia kaha ( Take care, Be strong. )

Hi Robyn, it was exciting to find so much off road riding. The route from Matamata to Karipiro was not busy, as the tourist traffic to Hobbiton is much reduced, and drivers there, were considerate.
Enjoyed reading your November trip. We did that early 2019, and rode out through the Wainuiomata valley after leaving the wonderfully wild coast.
Planning underway for a South Island sortie for end of Feb.

It's lovely to read a home-grown journal , thanks. . . Familiar places seen from the unfamiliar perspective of a cycle tourer.

What a nice little tour. Thanks for taking us along.

Please let all of us on CycleBlaze move to NZ so we can tour with impunity too.

An interesting ride. We might come across the ditch and do it when things settle down.

I didn't realise that you Kiwis were still wearing masks on public transport. We still do so here in Victoria although our neighbours across the river in NSW don't. OTOH they have a lot of cases now while we in Vic seem to have it under control.

Thank you for posting this. It brings back memories of our ride from Dunedin to Auckland 30 years ago. The end of our ride followed your loop here but in reverse, from Rotorua to Matamata, Te Aroha and Orere Point. We even climbed to the summit of Te Aroha then, something I doubt my knees would allow any more. Hopefully we’ll be able to get in your front door again one of these winters.