Top of the South Island Circumnavigation

With time on my hands and summer nearing full swing, I decided to organise a mini-adventure rather than sitting on my hands awaiting Christmas. Idle hands get up to no good, so this was hands down the best idea I've had since getting back from holiday.

After the last trip, enviously looking at Ollie's super light-weight luggage disappearing up hills decidedly faster than I, I made the case to follow suit. So, I'm borrowing his pannier box and complementing it with a small back-pack. This means I'll only be taking one of anything I might need for 20 days. Slightly risky, and probably frowned upon by the serious cycle touring fraternity that prefers to strap a full airport luggage carousel to their bike frame. I am taking advantage of not taking a tent, sleeping bag, cooking gear, nor carrying food. I find that steak and cheese pies and One Square Meal's are cheap, plentiful, and all the serious cyclist needs to sustain energy and spirit.

The roughly 1400km route will encompass: Picton, Renwick, Kaikoura, Amberley, Christchurch, Springfield, Otira, Greymouth, Granity, Murchison, Mapua and back to Renwick, with one or two side trips. It's a path well trodden over the years but mostly in cars and coaches. I am extremely lucky to have good friends and family who have assisted making this exercise possible and infinitely more enjoyable by offering board and lodging along the way.  A huge thanks in advance, and see you soon!

I plan a short series of posts after each significant leg of the trip, detailing: Blood loss to barbarous sandflies; Interesting road kill and other insightful observations; Distance travelled; and the latest song in the slightly more daunting task of listening to every song, alphabetically, on my iPod.