Riding in New Zealand: Routes, Advice, People and Places

I realise there are other threads on the subject of riding in new zealand but (completely selfishly) I'd like a thread that has practical advice on riding there, routes that take in some of the beautiful scenery of the north and south islands and shouts from anyone who lives there.

I'm out in Welsford (1 hr north of Auckland) for the summer (UK winter) and hope to take in some local coastal and inland rides. I'll also be down in the south island near Christchurch as my friend (also keen cyclist) lives there. Lemme know if you're around from Dec-Feb in either place :)

my current setup will be:

Canyon CF
Fulcrum racing 3
Vittoria open pro SC tyres

Wondering whether the roads out there are as sh*t as the ones around London :)

benjam, contact pinkgottimobbs, he's a northy whose moved over, he'll be able to fill you in on some of the riding stuff.

Wondering whether the roads out there are as sh*t as the ones around London :)

No. Only Paris-Roubaix and current war zones have roads as shit as London's.

benjam, contact pinkgottimobbs, he's a northy whose moved over, he'll be able to fill you in on some of the riding stuff.

I remember Pinki from Norths (forget his real name) but I'll pm him and see if we can hook up (not a euph).

No. Only Paris-Roubaix and current war zones have roads as shit as London's.

Given the number of miles you've put in on those roads dude: I believe you.

Roads in general in NZ are terrible. Big chip (not smooth tarmac), potholes, narrow with no shoulder, and terrible drivers.
I haven't done a great deal of riding back home, there was a great blogpost on cyclingtips with what looked like an awesome route in the central/west north island.
http://www.cyclingtips.com.au/2012/04/new-zealand-forgotten-world-highway/

terrible drivers

Mmm, unfortunately I've read this a lot. My fianceé has a job offer and is moving out there next month and I'm following in June (I would be going at the same time but I accidentally went and did postgrad).

We're moving to Dunedin which is apparently relatively bicycle-friendly, being a student town. We'll just have to see when we get there, I suppose. Bad roads I can deal with, but I still want to be able to ride my bike to get around town.

I'm looking forward to some excellent mountain-biking and off-road cyclo-camping.

My sister and her family ride around Dunedin - they live up in Wakari and she rides over to her work which is half way along Otago Harbour. Traffic in town seems reasonably mild-mannered (if you avoid the zoo-bombers or whatever they're called). Some good off road routes as well, which goes down well with the nieces.

I'm envious. While the weather's not great down there, it's a good place in many ways.

Yes. No spiders but sometimes the earth does shake.

Ludd, great to hear it.

I'm always being told about the bad weather on the South Island, but looking at the climate charts it seems quite mild and very sunny compared to where I used to live (Durham). Although central heating and insulation are quite rare in NZ, apparently.

Also, giant prawns:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/03/supergiant-giant-prawns-discovered_n_1252812.html

I bloody love prawns. Prawn steaks would be amazing.

I'm now reminiscing about the muttonbird I ate at a restaurant called Plato down in the docks. The local farmers' market had a stall selling jars full of muttonbird arses.

the weather's not all crap, granted. Just unreliable.

Yes. No spiders but sometimes the earth does shake.

and they have giant wetas

Om nom nom.

I phoned up the immigration office this morning and they gave me some really good advice. I'm very much looking forward to it.

Spent 6 months over there a few years ago. Roads not too bad at all, avoid the logging areas ( small roads big trucks ). The Coromandel peninsular SE of Auckland is my tip as well as the Top of the South as they say. Think I've got a book about cycling routes etc. somewhere. Will dig out all my old stuff and p.m you with anything pertinent.

^ that would be great hanford thanks. I'm going to hunt through the usual resources before I head out but any advice is appreciated.

In other news, met a guy form AUckland in Toyko Fixed y'day and he confirmed my suspicions that I shall return a much better surfer. Cant wait.

I wonder if Scoble could fix me a rack to carry my surfboard on my canyon :D

can anyone help me with this?

I'm looking into costs of shipping my bike over to NZ and am happy to pay the £300 for air freight from Heathrow to Christchurch but the customs charges over there are virtually incomprehensible. I've checked the government customs site and it appears that:

• I need to pay a 48 NZD handling charge (fine)
  
• I wont need to pay any duty as it's a 0% item (fine)
  
• I might be liable to pay a 15% GST on the value o the bike (minus 33% in devaluation)
  
  

which is not fine!

on closer inspection it seems, as long as I'm returning the bike to the UK within 12 months (I am) then I can be excused from paying GST by getting a 'carnet' which is basically a guarantee for the government which I'm liable for. However it appears that the cost of a carnet is like twice the cost of the bloody GST.

Even more not okay!

References:
http://www.customs.govt.nz/features/charges/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.customs.govt.nz/inprivate/sendingitemstonz/temporaryimports/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.wecc.org.nz/services-and-resources/international-support/ata-carnets/fees,-penalties-and-claims

right so:

No you dont have to pay GST in New Zealand but you need:

• a clean bike (esp. tyres)
  
• receipts
  
• a photo of yourself with the bike (built) prior to leaving the UK
  
  

The air freight companies charge between £2.70 to £3.60 per kg which is calculated at the highest volumetric (height x width x depth)/6000 or dead weight. CargoForce is the lowest I've found.

Other charges to pay are $48 NES Air Entry at customs. Customs will hold your item in NZ for 20 days maximum, after which f*ck knows what they do with it. If you need to insure your freight then you might need to get it professionally packed, PBS in Crawley will do this for approximately £110.

If you want to insure your air freight the only company I've found (and I've tried a LOT) is the-insurance-broker.com who were going to charge me £60 for loss of complete package only (ie. not damage) in transit.

All of this leads me to the following conclusion: fly directly and take your bike on as oversize luggage. It's a LOT cheaper. SO much cheaper that I'm not going to bother and buy a bike out there instead and sell it at the end of my trip.

At least I've a static bike box for those continental trips next season.

I hope, some time in the future all of this experience is useful for someone else.

:(

You at least taking the wheels?

clean your bike spotlessly, NZ have really tight immigration rules.

You at least taking the wheels?

Given that there's a dirt track at the end of my street I might buy a CX or MTB... 29er thread >>>>>

Not sure of your luggage/airline situation but take the bike with you as your hold luggage. I've taken bikes back there twice with me and not had any issues at all as long as a bike is covered by your ticket as sporting equipment allowance.

Not sure of your luggage/airline situation but take the bike with you as your hold luggage. I've taken bikes back there twice with me and not had any issues at all as long as a bike is covered by your ticket as sporting equipment allowance.

I'm travelling via Japan and Australia so the cost of extra luggage plus the stress of having to store in each of those countries made shipping a more worthwhile pursuit IMO.

Definately take the bike with you in the hold if you're travelling direct. My friend took his with Air NZ for about £40.

Given that there's a dirt track at the end of my street I might buy a CX or MTB... 29er thread >>>>>

yes please.