Alps 2 Ocean Cycle Trail – Day 183

Today we are doing just a sample of the Alps 2 Ocean Bike Trail.

Wahoo, today is 183 we are halfway through New Zealand’s Biggest Gap Year and we celebrate with an epic bike ride the Alps 2 Ocean.

We’re with Cycle Journeys and we just got our bikes they’re actually electric mountain bikes which is quite cool and we are ready to go to tackle the Alps to Ocean Trail.

Today we are joining Tony from Cycle Journeys and we are renting some e-mountain bikes what is that you may ask? It is a mountain bike with a battery and an electric motor so when we’re going uphill we’re gonna get a little bit of help but this whole thing makes the bike much heavier so the beginning of the track is a bit of a dozy.

As soon as we make it up the hill we climb onto the mountain bikes and start making our way through the trail. I can’t believe how good those mountain bikes feel they have all the suspension and all the gears that you would expect on a mountain bike. And just on top of that extra a little bit extra help. This whole set up makes the Alps 2 Ocean bike trail much more accessible so anyone and any level of fitness can enjoy those amazing landscapes.

The Alps 2 Ocean Bike Trail is a 300km journey from Aoraki Mt Cook all the way down to Oamaru but don’t worry guys we’re not doing the whole thing today we’re just doing a sample of the journey which is about 36km starting from Lake Ohau and making our way well near Omarama. This section of the bike trail is an awesome day trip because we get such stunning views going through different parts of the landscapes like forest, open tussock lands, and with constant views of the beautiful Lake Ohau which is vibrant blue and surrounded by mountains.

We’re just doing a one way section of this trail today where we don’t have to backtrack and Cycle Journeys are going to pick us up at the end of the trail so that’s all sorted for us.

It’s a really cool and well maintained track. It’s wide enough for even beginners to kind of play around without being to scared of falling off the ledge and there is a lot of variety as well although we are most of the time in open landscape seeing the beautiful views there is a few sections which are in between the trees and even those which are in the middle of amazing amount of rocks are perfectly well maintained and anyone would be able to tackle them with ease.

Despite the fact that we are carrying huge backpacks with our filming equipment it is really easy for us to tackle this bike trail and we’re really enjoy that. Usually bike trails are best enjoyed when it’s not too hard and strenuous and you can still take in the view at least that’s my conception of an awesome bike trail.

The halfway point of the trail is also the highest one. It is 900m above sea level and gives us amazing panoramic views of our surroundings it’s really awesome but the best thing about it is that from there it’s all downhill.

Before pelting down the mountain at full speed we’re gonna take the time now to just embrace the views get off our bikes have a quick breather, obviously take some photos of this amazing landscape around us before we go and hit the downhill trails.

This is definitely my favourite part of any bike trail just letting gravity do it’s thing and just getting some serious speed as you go down the mountain.

The complete Alps 2 Ocean Bike Trial encapsulates some of the best scenery in the South island starting with the mountainous landscapes of the Southern Alps and then making its way through the Waitaki Valley which is full of really awesome fossils and unusual rock formations. We actually checked out the Waitaki Valley yesterday so make sure to have a look at that video as well. And then the Alps 2 Ocean Trail makes its way to the Pacific Ocean in the little town of Oamaru which another really quirky New Zealand town that we visited just a few days ago so make sure you check out those videos as well. But for us for now we are on the home stretch of this trail that we’re doing today we have some really wide trails that we can both bike side by side and enjoy the amazing scenery around us together.

The whole scale of the surroundings and the beautiful landscape around us has been unmatched in our whole trip in New Zealand so far. We are in awe of how beautiful everything looks and it’s quite crazy that so little people actually get to enjoy it because the Alps 2 Ocean trails is basically the only way to immerse yourself in those elements.

And weirdly enough we arrive at one of the most isolated coffee shops in the whole country. Kiwis are absolutely crazy about their coffee and it’s not even a surprise to us that there is an amazing coffee shop at the end of this track.

So while Laura is playing with the adorable puppy I’m ordering us some really really sweet drinks Laura is taking a coffee with hazelnut and I’m taking a hot chocolate that is gonna help us replenish our sugar while having our lunch because the scenery were so good we actually forgot to eat. that’s just how awesome this bike ride was.

Guess what? Tomorrow I messed up the itinerary and we have to backtrack over 300km. See you tomorrow.