Currently considering my options... given imminent unemployment and location in Tasmania, cycle-touring around NZ for a couple of months seemed a pretty good option.
So:
1) Is it recommended?
2) What are good or suggested routes to do?
3) What's my budget likely to be - to cover 8 weeks cycling, camping and occasionally staying in hostels?
..or any other tips!
Cheers!
trail_rat did this last/this year so he'll have some advice.
Its lovely, theres some nice offroad short/long cuts (molesworth and rainbow being two I can think of in the S Island). Roads are generally quiet but drivers are awful.
Summer will be nicer than winter 
Oh and get hold of the peddlers paradise books.
highly recomended
budget - we camped in sites most of the way and tended to spend 10-15 quid a day each on food and camping.
From experiance spend your 8 weeks in the south island - its A nicer than north and B roads are quieter
We did christchurch to tekapo - tekapo over lindis to invercargill- invercargill to te anau (coastal route) te anau to milford and back - off road to mavora lakes and the earnslaw steamer to queenstown , went into kinloch , then up the west coast to abel tasman and across to the ferry at picton
Highlights , rakaia gorge campsite - te anau - abel tasman - stewart island (if you get good weather) , glen orchy (and go to kinloch and order iced coffee!)
be prepared for rain and wind even in summer - on the west coast we spent the best part of 2 weeks in the rain.
http://www.terry-and-jayne-cyclenz.blogspot.com
road to glenorchy
getting to the tss earnslaw
lindis pass
favorite place we stayed - and yes it is someones shed in their garden ! jim and liz our couchsurfing saviours ! (do not get caught in the wanaka area at new year as there is never anywhere to stay ! )
enjoy and any more questions just ask
Stay clear of Auckland, the local redneck morons killed my doctor the other day in a hit and run, i can't suggest any safe roads through the Auckland area, I cringe ever time i see cycle touring types round this way, the only options north are SH1 and SH16, both of which scare the hell out of me. Stay south and watch out for logging trucks. I don't know what the drivings like in Tasmania, but here it's **** terrible, check the reports on nzherald.co.nz.
didnt have any problems with logging trucks till we hit just north of palmerston north alex , we were warned but on the whole the roads we used didnt have much traffic till we got to the west coast/haast pass
was worrying the ammount of accidents when we were there though , reading the paper and car crashes seemed like a 2 or 3 times daily occurance and usually fatal :S
`
Well statisically your at least twice as likely to be killed on the road (driving) as you are in the UK. (carnage this holiday weekend!) It's basically a combination of idiot kiwi's that can't drive and idiot kiwi's that can't drive while p1ssed. Please if you are cycle touring round NZ, stay clear of Auckland, seriously.
Pics of NZ look fantastic,I was there in 2000 and it is an amazing place.
Very quite a bit too quite in places, one could simply get lost in time and space.
Was wanting to know no_eyed_dear if you want to stay in Tassy or moving on to fresh pastures. I am looking at moving back to OZ in a few years and Hobart is top of the list at the moment. Spent 8 years in Perth and now back in UK for a few years.
Did you come riding with us last wednesday no_eyed_dear? I lose track. KJ
i had a great time in 2005. was on my own, but that caused no probs. camped and hostelled - 60/40ish. dunno how much i spent, as i wasn't that concerned, but it wasn't a huge amount.
i just did the south island, as i'm more into scenery than culture.
i did christchurch down to dunedin, across to QT and wanaka, across haast pass, up west coast, abel tasma etc, back down a bit to do arthurs pass and back to christchurch.
roads were lovely to ride on, no real traffic issues iirc. had 3 wet days in 5 weeks...
3 days sea kayaking in abel tasman was great, as was a scenic flight over lake takapo (i think) there i was allowed to take controls of the plane 
i'd avoid the canterbury plains - boring as hell.
going from QT to wanaka you get to a pass after a steep climb, with a sign signalling a 40km downhill. bliss. ok, it was more rolling further down, but it was cracking...
As above, pick your route carefully, stay off the main highways (SH1 etc) as they are crowded with trucks (NZ has very little motorway)
Would also say that you can be a LONG way from somewhere to replenish supplies, especially in the South Island, where a town labeled on the map could just be a letter box with a dog tied to it. And it can get very hot. Take plenty water and tools/spares.
hels speaks the truth ...
get a copy of pedallars paradise , its fairly up to date except that even shops are not "shops" in the conventional sense and four squares are damned expensive !
that would be the ski fields at cardrona tom ? we took statehighway as we needed to go to cromwell/bannockburn for the bannockburn classic - even we didnt encounter major nutters.
id avoid wellington , palmerston north and basically anywhere heading up the back bone of the north island , we rode palmerston north to hamilton and its not something i would repeat in a hurry !
yep cardrona. was a nice road - there's a fence somewhere along it which, for some reason, is covered with women's bras 
is the OP based in australia? if so, NZ probs a great place to go from there. if its from the uk i'd recommend iceland though, its awesome...
toured there in 95-96 for 9month, revisited last year Nov-dec and ots not changed that much. Aboslutely a must for bike touring with lots of mtb opportunities and light excursions to be had. Main touring highlights were North Island:- East Cape, Bay of Islands, Bay of Plenty, North Cape, Tangariro. South Island:- Mount Cook, Lindis Pass, Haast Pass, West Caost, Arthurs Pass. Main light excursions (leaving most luggage at a base)were all in South Island:- Marlbrough Sounds/Queen Chartlotte Way- 4 days,Glenorchy to Paradise 1 night and Wanaka to Mt Aspiring Hut - 4 days. MTBing (removing all gear etc)was good on Banks Paninsula, Wanaka and at Mount Cook, though walking there last year lots of tracks have been eashed away mainly upto Ball Hut by Tazi Glasiier.
Weather was superb for both visits during thier summer, touring great especially in wilder places especially around the East Cape though many white/kiwi will try to discurrage you with stories of rape and pillage by dodgey maori. My time on E/Cape with the Maori was one of the most hospitable!!!
Go and enjoy!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10562167
I've never seen such poor driving in a 'Western' country.....
Like the helmet would have helped
The road is the Crown Range, from Arrowtown to Wanaka, sadly the Bra Fence has been removed as it was causing too many accidents.
Can i just say that your talking up the relative unsafe nature of the roads a bit much. Its not that bad, its just incredibly different to say the UK or Oz (where I have toured) but not, say Vietnam which is like hell on a bike. Its all relative. If you rode your bike down the A1 you;d probably not like it very much, so why would you expect to be able to ride down SH1 ?.
East Cape was another great ride, beautiful and very quiet. Expect most places to be 'busy' in peak summer season, unless you get off the tourist trail.
Anyhoo, there is actually a nice route from Wgtn North which is quite simple, ride to Upper Hutt via the Hutt River trail (very hardpacked path), hop onto the Rimutaka Rail Trail which takes you over to the Wairarapa and ride up that side. Cut across the Napier Taupo Highway. Thats quite nice, but hilly. Did I mention all the hills ?
Maungatapu is another shortcut worth taking between Pelorus Bridge and Nelson.
Cheers guys.. thanks for the feedback, it's given me lots of food for thought!
FYI Tasmanian driving is pretty scary too, there seems to be at least 1 or 2 fatal accidents here each week, which considering the tiny population size of Tassie is somewhat worrying..
KiwiJ - yes, it is me (Alan) - out riding with you guys last Wednesday... see you this Wednesday too!
My keyoard is missing keys so i won't say much.
I rode or a month there. it was excellent, loved every minute. I hostelled + camped wild and would do it all again.
I loved the ueen charlotte track on the north o the south island.
Here's my photos.
http://s198.photobucket.com/albums/aa148/Ronstanson/
Oh, and this guide is the est thing you could take with you. The routes are great.
http://www.kennett.co.nz/index.php/Books/ClassicNewZealandMountainBikeRides
Aus & NZ driving is very similar. A bit scary, but never had any problems with it. On the south island at least there isn't so much traffic that it's a worry.
Watch out for the funny right turn rule (if you're turning right, you have priority over people going straight on on the other side I think it is), that can catch you out if you don't know it.
Be aware that on the west coast of the south island it rains an awful lot. It is lovely, but it is basically a rainforest climate. Maybe try hostelling rather than camping.
Joe
If you are turning right and someone coming towards you is turning left you have right of way. Unless something is going straight on. Which invariably either ploughs into the stopped/stopping car turning left that thinks you have right of way or blows past on its RHS just missing you.
Great rule. Approximately 50% of the population understand and honour it so that always keeps you on your toes.. 
And also on rural roads if you are turning R and there is traffic coming towards you indicate right and pull off to the LHS to let traffic behind you through, when safe turn across.
KiwiJ - yes, it is me (Alan) - out riding with you guys last Wednesday... see you this Wednesday too!
Did 2000km round the south island in 99, most fun holiday ive ever had, people are friendly ,hospitable and the scenery is mostly stunning outside of canterbury plains, start in christchurh and do a clockwise cicuit following peddlars paradise guidbook, you can't go wrong.
Mrs and I are planning to go spring 2011 and do Cape Reinga to Bluff. If anyone has done that I'd be interested in any information.
Do you think it's possible to hostel all the way? Was planning to leave the camping gear at home to keep the weight down.
if you planned it correctly but IMHO youd be missing out some of the most beautiful spots - ie those that havnt yet been exploited massivly and have eye sores built around the beauty - one such area for me was lake tekapo - supposed to be a lovely place - the town its self was like a motorway service station catering for the bus masses and tourist tat.
another thing you will find is that if a town has 1 hostel it is 1 of two things
A full of bus types who are noisy and often referred to as hurricanes - in out and as much mess/noise as possible inbetween !
B just generally full if its summer time !
A wee bit different, but toured the South Island in a cheap and battered old camper with mountain bikes and the Kennet Brothers book as our guide. Bloody marvellous! Favourite spot was Glenorchy by a country mile. Skippers/Arthurs Pass was probably favourite trail, but it's a helluva climb back out!
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