Aotearoa New Zealand is becoming full of multi-day cycle trails – it seems like everywhere you turn there’s another one popping up. Some established walking trails are opening up to cycling as well, and it’s becoming easier and safer to cycle around cities and towns.
It all began with the Central Otago Rail Trail. The opening of the trail put a disused railway line to use, and helped to bring large numbers of tourists into a lesser visited area of the South Island. This stimulated a national initiative to sponsor the development of multi-day off road cycle touring, and now every district needs its own trail.
We’re going to start with three trails which showcase very distinctive parts of New Zealand; the Northland Twin Coast Trail from the Bay of Islands to Hokianga Harbour, the Mountain to the Sea Trail that runs from the central North Island to Whanganui on the southwest coast, and the Alps 2 Ocean, the longest trail and which runs from Aoraki Mt Cook to Oamaru on the Pacific coast of the South Island.
Many thanks to the Soulsby family, keen cyclists that provided many of the photos in this series.
