New Zealand

A 149-day adventure by Ben and Christine in NZ Read more

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Trip start
December 22, 2016
New Zealand Ben and Christine in NZ
Aboyne
December 22, 2016 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
Home for Christmas! This is the start of our travels, Ben in Aboyne, Christine in Kirkwall. It's been a busy December packing up a flat, moving possessions, and preparing bikes and travel bags.

A good few people have now asked if we will record some of our sights and movements somewhere, so starting a simple travel blog seemed like a great idea. I'm writing this initial entry at home about to sit down to yet another epic family dinner. Christine has flown home to Kirkwall for a few days over Christmas before we spend our final few days in the UK here in Aboyne preparing for our first flight of the journey out of Glasgow.

Hopefully this page provides a way of those friends and family who want to see a few updates on where we are and what we're doing the opportunity to see photos and read stories. It might also help stop us from filling up your Facebook and Instagram feeds...

Let the adventure begin!

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Arrival in Auckland
January 3, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 19 °C
Winter flying in Europe never seems to be trouble free....

We've arrived in Auckland a day later than anticipated but with very little trouble once we actually left Scotland! It's now the end of our second day here and we've just about recovered from travelling, two bikes have been built up and we're starting to settle in.

Our base for the next couple of weeks is with my family in Howick in the suburbs of Auckland. The next few days will provide an opportunity to pick up some essentials, explore the area and stretch our legs out on the bikes. For now we our sampling some of New Zealand's famous wines, cuddling with dogs on the sofa and enjoying the warm weather!

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First day on the bikes
January 5, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 13 °C
Today we got our first taste of Kiwi biking at Hunua Range south of Auckland. Blue skies, stunning views and jungle forest and trails.

Then back to Auckland to relax in the pool and hot tub with a few beers...

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Peter FayLooks green
1/5/17Reply
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I'm on a boat!
January 7, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
Yesterday I drove a boat, not a big boat, but still a boat. It was also my first time fishing. We didn't catch anything, despite the sea birds giving us their best hints, but we had a couple of cold beers, floated around and had a laugh in the sun!

David and Sam gave us a good tour taking us from south of Cockle Bay round past Howick and Musick Point to the mouth of Half Man Bay and then out to Browns Island. Blasting home through the small, deep blue chop and getting used to the feeling of a motorboat at speed was an eye opening experience! I could get used to this New Zealand summer!

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Maraetai
January 13, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 17 °C
Maraetai is a small beach town east of Auckland and is home to the best MTB trails local to Howick! On Friday we spent a morning riding some of the best trails in the area, then cooled down with a swim in the sea and sunned ourselves on the beach! This is proper summer living!

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Peter FayIs that Ben in the sea?
1/19/17Reply
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Introducing Bobby (Jean) the Bongo
January 16, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
It's been a hectic week and we're only just catching up! It's also been an exciting week and we would like to introduce the third member of our traveling party, Bobby Jean. She's a last minute stand in for our original van which sadly isn't with us any more. But Bobby is even more awesome - a pop-top Mazda Bongo, 20 years old, a replaced engine and now a whole load of bike specific custom storage! It took 3 days of work to kit her out but she's now purpose built and has been a wonder over the last few days travelling!

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Peter Fay"Why BJ, I like that ..." ;-)
1/19/17Reply
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Waihi Beach
January 17, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C
My cousin Izzy currently lives and works in Waihi. The first stop on our road trip would be to visit her before she leaves next month to study in Canada. It was also a great excuse to visit Waihi Beach and spend a day lounging in the sun. We managed to get up early and have a walk in Karangahake Gorge before spending the afternoon body boarding and sunbathing! First couple of nights in the bongo were a success!

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Whakarewarewa (Rotorua)
January 18, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
Impromptu stop at Whakarewarewa Forest (Whaka-where-are-we) in Rotorua and it certainly did not disappoint, sunshine and fantastic trails. We will definitely be back. After riding we continued our journey south onto Napier via Taupo with a wee stop to peek at Huka Falls.

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To the south!
January 19, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
Crossing the Cook Strait from Wellington to Picton. Bit of a bumpy journey but some good views especially coming into Picton Sound in the South Island.

C.
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Nelson
January 20, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 27 °C
Spent the day exploring Codger's Trails in Nelson. Rode some absolutely fantastic tracks with beautifully built berms and jumps. We hit up Turners, Top Dog, Firball and some others. Firball was a mint decent all the way down from the trig point above Nelson - several kilometres of beautiful singletrack! Nelson MTB club know what they're doing!

Sweet as!! ;-)

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The Old Ghost Road - Day 1
January 24, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 9 °C
We made it! 2 days of mountain biking - 85km of singletrack - 2500m of climbing and descending. The Old Ghost Road is a trail crossing the wilderness of New Zealand's west coast. It was a massive undertaking in development, taking 9 years of labour to finally realise a century old plan for a gold miners track linking Lyell to the mouth of the Mokihinui.

For us it was also a big undertaking, setting of before 8am on the first day, packs loaded with food, sleeping gear, tools, spares and everything else we would need! An amazing day of ever changing terrain and stunning views followed, culminating in the descent to Ghost Lake - our stop for the night. Arriving in good time we enjoyed an afternoon basking in sunshine.

That evening a typical west coast front rolled in and we were bombarded with heavy rain and high winds all night and into the morning... tbc

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The Old Ghost Road - Day 2
January 25, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
After a sleepless night we held our nerve and waited for the weather to pass to start the big second day. Prayers were answered and in a matter of seconds the valley went from white out to clouds lifting and sun flooded through!

The second day included about 2000m of vertical descent over 55km of riding, starting with an incredible switchback descent from Ghost Lake and across to Skyline Ridge. A testing day to the end the track saved a few hair raising suspension bridge crossings, hundreds of meters above the raging Mokihinui river below, until the last few tired kilometres.

That night we both ate massive plates of Chilli Nachos with a side of fries to recover and slept like babies...

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Rainy West Coast (Scotland or NZ?)
January 26, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 0 °C
After the Old Ghost Road we headed down the West Coast headed eventually for Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers.

The weather felt very Scottish. Had a short stop to check out the Pancake Rocks and Blowholes in Punakaiki. Some very Orkney-esk sea stacks and waves.

Camped up for the night just South of Greymouth, where to Ben's fury a very cheeky Weka managed to steal a sausage from our closed BBQ.

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Arthur's Pass
January 27, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
Upon inspecting the weather forecast we decided we'd had enough of the rain and made an excellent decision to abandon our plan of heading down the West Coast to the glaciers and Queenstown and set off across Arthur's Pass to sunny Christchurch!

What a spectacular drive with the most beautiful views. We even got our first glimpse of a Kea. But the highlight had to be the gem of a pie shop we found in Sheffield! Yummy pies and the best coffee and carrot cake I've ever tasted.

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Christchurch
January 28, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
Spent the day discovering the beautiful yet slightly eerie city of Christchurch.

We visited Quake City, a fascinating and moving museum documenting the history of the 2010 and 2011 Canterbury earthquakes.

After a few hours in the museum we wandered through the city and the Botanic gardens. The city is doing an excellent job rebuilding into a wonderful cultural hub, yet some of the earthquake devastation is still clear to see, especially at the Cathedral.

All in all we both loved Christchurch and can't wait to try the newly built bike park tomorrow! 😄

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Mt. Cook & the Plains of Rohan
February 1, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
After a couple of days in the Christchurch adventure park and lots of vertical descent racked up on the bikes we headed off in search of the Southern Lakes. En route we passed Lake Tekapo with it's stunning blue waters, Lake Pukaki with awesome views over to mount cook, and stopped for lunch at the back of Twizel where shots for the Lord of the Rings 'Plains of Rohan' scenes were filmed. We arrived into Wanaka, just North of Quenstown in the evening for a couple of days exploring.

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Wanaka
February 2, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C
Wanaka brought us beautiful sunshine and lake views. Some down time whilst Ben's bike went to the bike doctor and we were ready to ride again at Sticky Forest in the evening. Lots of short but sweet trails to zoom down, nearly ticked them all off!

Stayed at a nice campsite by the lake with a lot of cheeky ducks for company!

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Peter FayLooks nice
2/13/17Reply
Peter Fay(best with orange!;-))
2/13/17Reply
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Cardrona
February 3, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
Today we left Wanaka and continued our journey to Queenstown. We stopped at Cardrona Mountain Resort, high above the pass between the two towns. Cardrona caters to us mountain bikers in the summerand so we spent an afternoon, and into the late evening, ripping up some awesome, fast, rocky and loose trails. The place was so awesome we will be back for another TGIF session before leaving the south!

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Queenstown
February 4, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
We made it! This evening we arrived in Queenstown after a couple of weeks of epic journeying. This will be our base for the next couple of weeks as we explore the south and sample all the local biking spots!

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Milford Sound
February 8, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
Milford Sound, actually a Fjord carved by a glacier is an incredible sight to behold! We enjoyed a peaceful two hour evening cruise through the fjord and were blown away by the jagged mountains, blue waters and impressive waterfalls. Our skipper was even kind enough to allow us to get drenched in the spray of Stirling Falls (apparently we should wake up feeling ten years younger tomorrow!)

We sailed out to the mouth of the Tasman Sea and then back through the stunning scenery and even had a nice complimentary BBQ dinner.

The drive there and back was almost as breathtaking, making our way through Fiordland including an impressive mountain tunnel, stunning sights of the Southern Alps and lakes all around.

A truly unforgettable experience.

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A few snaps from Queenstown
February 10, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
We had an absolutely smashing time in Queenstown hitting up Skyline Bike Park most days, bit of riding at 7 mile forest, Moke Lake and Coronet Peak too.

Also spent a lot of time eating burgers and ice-cream!Read more
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Rude Rock, Skipper's and Zoot (Coronet)
February 11, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C
Found some spectacular riding up Coronet Peak ski fields. We both declared Rude Rock one of the best trails we've ever ridden. Also loved Zoot and Pack, Track and Sack and Skipper's. Need to come back with a shuttle to run the Corotown decent down to Arrowtown.

We also experienced some real kiwi hospitality when slogging back up Skipper's Canyon we were picked up by some local raft guides, shuttled back to the top, road back down Skipper's with one of the rafties and then back to the top again to run Zoot. We were very thankful for the lift on that sweltering climb, although the bus ride up Skipper's Canyon was terrifying!!

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Paragliding from the Coronet Peak
February 17, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
Started the day by flying off the Coronet Peak! My first time paragliding and what a wonderful experience. Perfect conditions without a cloud in the sky, I got the most spectacular view over the Remarkables, Lakes Wakatipu and Hayes and beautiful Queenstown. Loved every minute.

Then we sped off to Cardrona Bike Park to make the most of their TGI Friday deal. After a week of sunshine we had some slippy, slidey, dusty tracks to keep us entertained well into the evening. Even the lifties commented on how many runs we managed to squeeze in!

After driving back to Queenstown through the setting sun, Mrs Ferg's Gelato gave us a perfect end to the perfect day!

Very happy campers today 😊😊

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Dunedin
February 22, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌙 13 °C
Stopped in at Dunedin on our way back up to Christchurch.

Dunedin is the Scotland of New Zealand sharing many street names with Edinburgh and lots of Scottish references including a Robbie Burns statue in the city centre.

Yesterday we basked in the not so Scottish 30 degree heat on St Kilda beach.

Woke up to drizzle this morning, starting to seem a bit more Scottish. After a relaxing swim (and shower) at Moana Pool we went off to explore one of Dunedin's highlights... the Speight's Brewery. Interesting tour finished off with a generous tasting session in the bar!

Also managed to squeeze in some coffee and cheesecake!

Back to Christchurch tomorrow before the Trans New Zealand Enduro begins.

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TransNZ Enduro - Days 1 and 2
February 27, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C
This week we are helping out with the TransNZ Enduro, a 5-day epic mountain bike race covering some of the best riding spots on the South Island. We arrived on Friday afternoon to get to know the other crew and be briefed on what's involved in the role of course marshal.

The next day we had a sneaky preview of the first day's stages on a marshal pre-race ride which took us through some amazing native beech forest and had us all stoked for the next days racing! The first 2 days of the race are based in Craigieburn, just over an hour from Christchurch and feature an amazing variety of riding, from loamy beech forest, to steep exposed ski field scree, to loose dusty downhill tracks.

Two unbelievable days of racing went down before we started the long drive to Queenstown for the rest of the week's action! It feels like a return home for us after having just come from 2 and a half weeks of biking there ourselves, and we are excited to re-run some of our favourites!

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