One of the 'big ticket' events I had planned for my home assignment was to cycle the Alps to Ocean trail with a friend. Originally we had scheduled it for the end of my visit, but now with my arrival (and departure) being delayed, it ended up being closer to the start!
The trail has two start points (Mt Cook village and Tekapo) and runs for around 300 km to Oamaru. It's a mix of dedicated cycle track (some of it right next to the main road), gravel roads and some sections of sealed road. The track is described in seven sections. Due to some of these being relatively short (less than 40 km) we opted to combine some of the legs and planned to do it in 5 days of riding. While we were doing it, I realised that because our 'Day 1' was essentially riding from the Mt Cook start point to the Tekapo start point, we would actually be riding the trail in only four days!
We had great weather the whole time - no rain, mostly clear skies. We didn't meet a lot of other people on the trail either - not like the time we did the Otago rail trail.
Here are the numbers (with links to photos):
Day 1 Mt Cook to Tekapo
63 km 7.5 hrs (5.5 hrs moving)
Day 3 Tekapo to Lake Ohau lodge
103 km 9.5 hrs (6.5 hrs moving)
Day 4 Lake Ohau to Lake Benmore
55 km 7.0 hrs (4.0 hrs moving)
Day 5 Lake Benmore to Kurow
63 km 7.0 hrs (4.5 hrs moving)
Day 6 Kurow to Oamaru
87 km 9.0 hrs (6.0 hrs moving)
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