Which way did I Pedal around the North Island?

Good question, so I thought I would do a quick post with a map of the route I’ve taken so far which hopefully will make it a bit clearer. Below is said map with a useful blue line drawn on it with my route. It might not have been the most direct route but it’s been a great way to see a lot of the island instead of just blasting from the top to the bottom.

Starting in Auckland I first went north to the top of the island by going up along the west coast. I then came back down the east coast and quickly stopped in Auckland to see Shaun and Jenny. I then went east around the coromandel where I did my first Help X in Kuaotuna. From there I went down the coast to Rotarua with a quick detour to Paeroa to check out the Karangahake gorge. From Rotarua I kept going east and went around the east cape through to Gisborne with a stop in Tokomaru bay at the brilliant hostel called Stranded in Paradise. I then kept going around the coast past Gisborne to Wairoa where I started the route up past Waikaremoana Lake which got me up to Taupo.

From Taupo I went to the timber trail and across the Forgotten World Highway to New Plymouth where I stopped with Pamala and Ken. From there I started going south down to Ashhurst where I stayed with Mark and Lauren. I jumped over the hills to highway 2 and down to Masterton which got me down to the rail trail. After the rail trail it was a nice chilled cycle into Wellington. Not a bad route! I’ll do the same when I’ve got to the bottom of the South Island!