Has anyone ridden the Queen Charlotte track in NZ? Heading there for a month next year and have heard this is a crackin’ couple of days.
Cheers in advance
A.

Never ridden it but walked it and the area is simply stunning. Then again so is much of NZ with some great riding around Hamner Springs (a couple of hundred south of Queen Charlotte) and Rotorua in the north island.

Off there again in the spring for 3 weeks in a campervan so hopefully get a couple of days riding in myself.

The end section of follow me with gee atherton and stevie smith is filmed in NZ. Queenstown I believe. Also try ride guide and see if they have any info. Wish it was me.

Walked the Queen Charlotte, and planned to go back and ride it a few months later, but when we were passing through it had been raining constantly for days, so never got round to it.

It’ll be a fantastic ride. I think there are some restrictions to bikes at certain times of the year.

But don’t worry, loads more good riding in NZ.

I did it in a day. Stunning stunning scenery – would be great to start midday one day, bike a chunk, kip in a hut or camp with a view, and finish the next day. Boat taxi out to Ship Cove… easy to sort when you’re there.

cp, that’s the rough plan, 2 short days rather than one long one, with a bivi somewhere nice 🙂
A.

You bastard! I did the Queen Charlotte track with my wife on our honeymoon almost exactly a year ago. It was fantastic.

We did it through these people; http://www.marlboroughsounds.co.nz/

They sorted us with bikes, water taxi out to the start, took our bags to the halfway point where we stayed the night at The Portage Hotel and then picked us up at the end of the second day.

Ship cove section is closed in summer as part of the shared walkway agreement. Would recommend you do day 1 to Portage and stay there or there is a small DOC campsite about 200m further on – for reasons of water. Portage also has a small shop and of course a very well stocked bar. The section from Mistletoe Bay to Anakiwa is the lushest bit of track but is also busy with walkers that time of year.

There are also other rides in that vicinity which are betterer – Wakamarina for example is my fave ride, so much so we sometimes ferry down, ride it, then ferry back !

Yeah did some of this 18 years ago while touring there, sure its changed since. I sailed by tiny boat from Picton to Punga Cove then onto Endeavour Inlet, to Tirangi, to Anakoha then back to Punga Cove. This was one of many small de tours while touring. Three days on this I think. Some pics below. Get cracking!!

It’s beautiful, but don’t expect any technical challenge – think south downs way, except with amazing views, sort of thing you’d happily do on a touring bike.

I bivvied on it, was alright, but as mentioned above, there are very few water stops.

There are other rides which combine beautiful views with interesting riding – we did a few nearish to Christchurch with overnight hut stops – get the kennet brothers new Zealand mtb book, it is brilliant, has most of the big rides in it.

Joe

2 new books out by Dave Mitchell – North and South which cover erm both islands .