Jane and Dave Fenna's Tours

Stayed at Franz Joseph as rain is forecast and it’s a better place to hole up in than Fox Township according to local we asked, plus it’s before a series of hills over to Fox! Then a  day at the Top 10 holiday camp in the rain , full mod cons with a cabin.

Quite flat day along the east coast trail to The pub at Hari Hari , which was mostly empty/ under refurbishment , as if it’s been saved from dereliction. Pub meal and beers again , easy day?

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Stunning yet quite easy  riding along the West Coast trail up to Cowboys Paradise and back to to Hokitika, a really cool , slightly touristy place looking out to the Tasman sea. The ride is through native woodland , a bit like the timber trail, and then down along old water channels back to the…

Out of the mountains now, down to the coast at Greymouth along back roads, then the west coast cycle trail to Kumara. Starting to get decent mileage in now!  Great to see the wild  Tasman Coast , just like a film location: long shingle beaches full of driftwood and roaring surf. Lovely camp at Kumara…

Pleasant and fast road cycle over the gradual saddle to Reefton , which is a cute olde  worlde  sort of place. Decided to bypass the Big River mountain bike section of the TA there, due to reports of trees blocking the way and tbh had had enough of short hike a bike sections, and this…

Gorgeous gravel riding up a long valley to then over the Maruia pass . Gets close  to the hills of the central spine of the island here, and the rivers are tremendous – blue , coursing through  wide sweeping valleys. Stayed at a great little motel with a small cafe , not a lot of…

Long and varied day through beautiful rolling valleys , to Rotarua lake ( the Nelson one, not the famous North Island  one!!) And then over a pleasant gravel pass and down to Murchison. The lake was great , but the area was terrible for bees and sand flies, uurgh ! Met a friendly and chirpy…

Instead of the great taste trail, which goes from Kaiteriteri to Tapawera , where it joins the TA , we went cross country to Upper Moutere and Dovedale on quiet roads through fruit farms , vineyards and hops farms. Gorgeous. Stopped at a great restaurant, Moutere Hills, for a rare posh lunch. Weird campsite at…

After a day off seeing friends in Nelson, took a detour to Abel Tasman via the great taste trail. This is a great alternative to the TA just here as it rejoins it further down, just adds a day. We then had a day on a boat/ bike trip before carrying on. Met a few…