I recently completed the 'unofficial' 2017 Tour Aotearoa ride/race. Took me 25 days and I have written the whole thing up if anyone fancies a read. It might help anyone planning on doing the race in 2018

http://onemanandhisbike.com/ta-2017

Feel free to ask any questions if you too are planning on doing it and I will help where possible.

Ta

Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to reading. Trip is high on my radar for sabbatical in 3-4 years.

When is best time of year to go?

Still very much at dreaming stage, gets me through rough days at school.

Looks like a great adventure. How does it compare with the Kiwi Brevet?

Apparently the 2018 event is almost full; 600 starters - amazing.

Great tale there....as is your Divide writeup (was a bit sad to read the endless cycling broke you though).

Greetz

S.

Sarah wrote:Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to reading. Trip is high on my radar for sabbatical in 3-4 years.

When is best time of year to go?

Still very much at dreaming stage, gets me through rough days at school.

They recommend doing it Feb/March time for both weather and the fact it is a bit quieter as it is not school summer holidays.

Ket points to note

1) Make sure that before you go you have organised the charter ferry from Pouto Point. This costs ~ $500 to charter so therefore you need to piggy back with others and sort in advance.
2) Plan your dates to coincide with the tides at 90 mile beach. A spring tide will give you maximum / high and low tide. If you get this wrong you will have to wait it out on the dunes until the tide goes out again.
3) Have a plan for getting out of Bluff. I forgot my driving licence and was fortunate that I was able to hitch hike 250km from Bluff to Queenstown on the Thursday to catch my flight at 930am the following day. Cutting it fine was an understatement.

Aside from the boring highway miles down the west coast of the south island it was a cracking trip and I highly recommended doing it!

The Kennett Brothers Tour Aotearoa route guide is well worth the money and provides info on campsites / eateries along the route ..

Scattamah wrote:Great tale there....as is your Divide writeup (was a bit sad to read the endless cycling broke you though).

Greetz

S.

The Divide and the TA are so very different. The Divide was much more challenging mentally than the TA. Endless washboarded gravel roads, lack of civilization along the way ...

The TA on the other hand would mix off road sections with road sections most days. You would usually pass through a minimum of 2 towns/day if you were doing 120km+ This gave the opportunity to resupply food / grab a coffee ...

Plus, you didn't have to worry about bears and making sure your food was not nearby when camping.

ps - Saying that though, I have a short memory and am contemplating going back to ride the whole Divide route in the next year or two!

admin, please delete this
hmmm, double post

first, thanks for the write-up, definitely on my to-do list.

was 25 days "about right" in timing.

I had wondered how one gets to the start and from the end.
seems the best option would be to one-way hire a car at bluff and drive back to Auckland

hadn't realised the event was every two years. hmmm. next year or 2020???