My exploring of the South Island started with a five day Alps 2 Ocean bike ride which goes from Mt Cook down to Oamaru on the coast. It was a perfect way to unwind from work and get into a breakfast, ride, lunch, ride, beer, dinner, bed and repeat mode!

Day one starts up at Mt Cook and follows the glacier moraine bumpy track along the shoreline of the turquoise waters of Lake Pukaki. There is the small issue of the glacier fed Tasman River being in the way and the lack of a bridge. This was easily enough worked around by a helicopter trip! After this trip I firmly believe every bike ride should start with a helicopter ride.

Despite a rainy start to the day, it soon cleared up and I had some nice clear views of Mt Cook to distract me from the rocky ride. The gravel track finally gave way to some nice single track, with a cool little detour to the Mt Cook salmon shop. I was very much ready for a few beers and a nice curry when I finally made it to Twizel to spend the night.

The rest of the trip had scenery changes throughout the day as I left the alpine scenery of Mt Cook and went through farmlands, winelands, lakes and eventually hit the sea. It was a fun mix of tracks, single track and quiet country roads.

Five days of this and it was nice to roll into the victorian styled seaside town of Oamaru. After hitting the must do photo frame at the finish line, there was a brewery straight over the road 🙂

It was fun bumping into other cyclists and groups along with way that were doing various different options and different numbers of days on the Alps 2 Ocean route. I was lucky enough to get adopted by Jon and Karen that were visiting from Oz and doing the same route. We would leap frog each other as we made various pie and pint stops during the day but it mean’t I never had to drink alone in the evening! Cheers guys and thanks!!

After logging off from work and picking up the campervan, I had a day to kill before heading up to Mount Cook to start the Alps 2 Ocean bike ride so it was time to pop over to Akaroa. Akaroa is a small waterfront town a couple of hours from Christchurch and it was a pretty little spot to start the holiday.

It was also time to sample some of the pies that New Zealand is famous for. Veggie curry and pork belly pies were chosen to kick off the pie adventures that would fuel me for the upcoming bike ride.

New Zealand is well setup for campers and whilst the harbor car park doesn’t look that scenic, it was a perfect spot to wander into town and then stagger home.

There isn’t that much to Akaroa but it did have a waterfront gin bar and a curry house so I was pretty much sorted for the night.

The advantage of ‘camping’ at the harbor meant that in the morning there was a kayaking tour getting ready to head out so I tagged along and enjoyed a little paddle to start the day.

After a paddle and a pie (yes, another pie), it was time to head out and get myself up into the mountains ready to start the cycle adventure. It was a particularly nice evening to be camping at the lake with views up to Mount Cook where I would be riding from tomorrow.

We know that not everyone who reads the blog believes we really do work as well as travel, so here are some pics of the week that I spent in Auckland and Christchurch. The plan was to have a week working in NZ before starting my 5 week ‘recharge’ break from work.

My Auckland plans had to be reworked at the last minute as mentioned in the previous blog regarding the extended Honolulu layover. This meant my Auckland hotel wasn’t as fancy as the airbnb that Heather was due to be staying in when she came out. But I did at least get a peek-a-boo view of the Auckland waterfront, so no complaints.

Whilst Auckland is 21 hours ahead of US pacific hours, it is also -3 hours (+1 day) so it wasn’t too bad to join meetings and get the job done for the week. That said, I was pretty sure when Heather flew out in a few weeks time to do the same ‘1 week pre-holiday work week’, that she would have something to say about the time difference!

After a couple of days in Auckland, it was time to hop on down to the South Island to Christchurch. Whilst the weather hadn’t exactly been awesome in Auckland, it took a turn for the worse when I landed in Christchurch. I was starting to have second thoughts about how clever my decision was to switch a SoCal winter for a New Zealand summer!

My temporary office in Christchurch was a nice enough little airbnb and luckily the weather improved the next day and I was able to make the most of the little garden that the city center apartment had.

New cities of course mean new dining options to explore and new beers to try.

Talking of food options, Heather was a little concerned that she didn’t know what the crisps would be like in New Zealand, and if they would be an improvement on the options available in the US. I sent her some snaps from the supermarket to reassure her she would be OK during her solo week in Auckland and all she would need would be some bottles of wine and crisps, and she would be all set for dinner plans.

Finally Saturday rolled around. Finishing at lunch time Saturday (Friday 5pm US time!) meant it was time to pickup the campervan and get the recharge holiday going.

The plan was LAX -> Honolulu -> Auckland with just time for a quick pint at the brewery in the airport in Honolulu before connecting with the Auckland flight. The reality was that it turned into a few days layover, but for some reason I didn’t seem to get much sympathy when I let people know I was stuck in Hawaii!

I won’t bore you with the details but suffice to say the New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA) is now a thing (even for Brits) and they don’t always take 24 hours to be approved and ‘system maintenance’ can cause it to take days!

The outcome was a weekend in Hawaii and then a couple of long days of travel/work combo that were brutal but given that I was going on 5 weeks of holiday I managed to muddle through my last week of work for the year!

The unexpected travel plans continued as I was in the queue at the airport for a taxi to a last minute booked hotel. Instead of a taxi, the next car in line was a limo, just for me! It was only a short hop to Waikiki and I didn’t even get a chance to open a bottle of champagne.

The first stop was lunch and the mission – to come up with a plan for the weekend!

As you can probably guess, the plan revolved around breweries and food.

I did manage to escape the mayhem of Waikiki Beach Hotels and get out on a scooter for the day. To be honest, I think I could have ridden a bike faster than the little scooter that seriously struggled to drag me up hills, but it was a fun trip along the coast.

(True story on the warnings for jelly fish!… A wave lapped in and dragged a little tentacle over my foot and it was stinging for days!)

Waikiki Beach is a bit of a Hawaii/Vegas feel with the large hotels but it does look pretty enough at sunset. Sunsets and cocktails would have been more fun with Heather tagging along 🙁

The hotel room/office space was technically an ocean view room but only if you ignore the Macy’s car park.

It wasn’t all cocktails and beaches as I did have to get up at 4am to work till lunch time, hop on a flight to Auckland, straight to bed at 1am and then back up at 5am the next day. Technically it was 5am the next, next day as I some how skipped a Tuesday.