New Zealand's Great Rides

New Zealand's Great Walks are the countries premier trails. They are very popular with overseas visitors and some have booking systems. I have walked part of the Abel Tasman coastal path and would like to walk the famous Tongariro Crossing.

Now the New Zealanders are creating a series of Great Rides. These are  long distance  bike rides.

The Great Rides site is here.

At the moment there are 21 rides in various stages of completion. Most of them are in remote areas and NZ has very limited public transport. The ability of overseas visitors to ride these trails will depend on the development of bike hire shops that can also do drop offs and pick ups.  Six years ago I completed a section of the Otago Central Rail Trail [see post here] and we hired bikes from a shop which also dropped us off at the start of the trail and picked us up at the end. Without that the ride would not have been doable. I am sure the necessary infrastructure will develop. New Zealanders are very entrepreneurial and if people want to do something a company will soon emerge to help them do it.


The Alps 2 Ocean cycle sounds particularly attractive. This  trail is the longest continuous ride in New Zealand.  It runs from New Zealand's highest mountain, Aoraki  Mount Cook,  to the coastal town of Oamaru.  The trail descends over 2000 ft and covers 300 km. It showcases New Zealand’s geological, geographical and historical highlights from  the Southern Alps to the Pacific Ocean.