New Zealand: Alps to Ocean

By Morgan Gopnik

Some of you may remember a newsletter article from last year describing a bike trip my husband and I took through Vietnam and Cambodia. Well, we’re at it again!

We recently returned from an amazing vacation “Down Under,” that included a five-day, 200-mile bike ride in the South Island of New Zealand. The route is well-known to bikers as the “Alps to Ocean” trail or A2O, because it starts at Mt. Cook in the New Zealand Alps and ends in Oamaru on the Pacific Ocean.

After a VERY long plane ride (14 hours from San Francisco), we arrived in Christchurch, a charming town still visibly recovering from a massive earthquake in 2011. The next morning, we met up with two other couples and a charming Kiwi fellow who served for the next week as our tour guide, van driver, bike repairman, baggage handler, storyteller, and dependable purveyor of coffee, tea, and snacks!

A typical day started at 7 am with a wake-up call and a full, English-style breakfast to fuel the day. Then we would ride for a couple of hours through breathtaking scenery, be met near the trail for mid-morning snacks, ride some more, eat a generous lunch, ride some more, stop for tea and biscuits (aka cookies), and finally cruise into a charming lodge in a tiny town to shower and relax before … gathering for a delicious, multi-course supper! As you can tell, my main memories are of the landscape (mountains, lakes, forests, bright green fields, and lots of sheep) and the delicious, plentiful, home-cooked meals (featuring plenty of lamb). 

What I am conveniently glossing over are a few days of really hard biking, up steep hills and sometimes on narrow, rocky paths. The two other women in our group had chosen motor-assisted e-bikes, but I stubbornly insisted on relying exclusively on my two aging legs. There were moments when I regretted that choice, but the feeling of accomplishment when I reached the top of a hill and flew down the other side was worth it.

One interesting phenomenon we observed is how New Zealand is overrun by non-native plants and animals brought in from afar, most of which are now interfering with the natural ecosystem. After admiring a thick stand of large pine trees, our guide told us they have become a huge problem. Brought in over 100 years ago to supply the timber industry, their seeds spread wildly and he pointed out the hundreds of tiny trees sprouting throughout the surrounding fields. Thousands of acres have now been choked by these “wilding pines.”

Since we’d come halfway around the world, we also spent some time in Australia. Both Melbourne and Sydney are world-class cities where we could happily live—if they were closer to our grandson!

We are already trying to decide where our next big bike ride will take us. Should we explore the French wine country, Lake Garda in Italy, or one of the many iconic repurposed rail-trails around the U.S.? I promise to report back!