Mountains to Sea (New Zealand)

Twenty nights from Auckland to Christchurch, guided, one way down both New Zealand islands on entirely sealed road.

Auckland opens it in Parnell with a welcome dinner and a briefing, then Northland and the Bay of Islands, where the coastal roads turn constantly and the sea is never far off.

The Coromandel follows, then Rotorua in the thermal country, with the landscapes the Tolkien films used nearby. Gentle Annie comes next, a historic Maori route between Taihape and Fernhill through remote hill country near the headwaters of the Rangitikei, which has a reputation among New Zealand riders and almost no traffic on it. The Cook Strait ferry crosses to the South Island, then the Franz Josef glacier on the west coast, Milford Sound in Fiordland, where the cliffs drop straight into the water, Queenstown, Invercargill at the bottom, a night at Mount Cook and Christchurch at the finish.

The bike hire is included, with a BMW F800GS as standard and upgrades available; the full inclusions are not itemised on the operator’s page and are worth confirming at booking. Twenty-one days one way covers both islands properly rather than sampling them, which is the argument for a trip of this length. The New Zealand summer from November to March is the main season, though the shoulder months are quieter on the roads and in Queenstown. Milford Sound is wet far more often than not, which is part of why the waterfalls are there. The route is entirely paved, so no gravel experience is needed, and the roads on both islands are quiet by any standard: two thousand kilometres of South Island riding with almost nothing coming the other way is the part most visitors remember.