Planning the tour

The first part of the trip takes us from Melbourne to Sydney across the Snowy Mountains. From Sydney we will fly to Christchurch, New Zealand from where we continue our cycle trip.


Australia - Melbourne to Sydney

The first part of the trip takes us from Melbourne to Sydney accross the Snowy Mountains. From Sydney we will fly to Christchurch, New Zealand from where we continue our cycle trip.

From	To	Distance (km)
Melbourne	Stoney Point	81
Stoney Point	Cowes	by ferry
Cowes	Inverloch	74
Inverloch	Foster	76
Foster	Balook	73
Balook	Sale	83
Sale	Bairnsdale	96
Bairnsdale	Buchan	78
Buchan	Suggan Buchan	80
Suggan Buchan	Jacobs River	41
Jacobs River	Jindabyne	55
Jindabyne	Nimmitabel	82
Nimmitabel	Tathra	103
Tathra	Narooma	79
Narooma	Batemans Bay	82
Batemans Bay	Sanctuary Point	103
Sanctuary Point	Shellharbour	86
Shellharbour	Bundeena / Cronulla	88
Bundeena / Cronulla	Sydney	33
		1395

1. Melbourne, 2. Stoney Point, 3. Cowes, 4. Inverloch, 5. Foster, 6. Balook, 7. Sale , 8. Bairnsdale, 9. Buchan, 10. Suggan Buchan, 11. Jacobs River, 12. Jindabyne, 13. Nimmitabel, 14. Tathra, 15. Narooma, 16. Batemans Bay, 17. Sanctuary Point, 18. Shellharbour, 19. Bundeena / Cronulla, 20. Sydney


New Zealand - Christchurch to Auckland

From Christchurch we'll take the bus to Dunedin, for one reason because this part of New Zealand is not particulary interesting for cycling, but mainly because we'll need the time for other parts of New Zealand.

Also on the north island we will travel some distances by public transportation to save our time for the more beautiful cycling parts. We are planning to visit some of Inges family members in Hamilton before we head to Auckland (either by bus or by bike depending on how much time we got left) to fly back to Melbourne.

From	To	Distance (km)
Christchurch	Dunedin**	by bus
Dunedin	Balclutha	92
Balclutha	Papatowai	58
Papatowai	Invercargill**	120
Invercargill	Tuatapere	86
Tuatapere	Te Anau	102
Te Anau	Milford Sound	120
Millford Sound	Queenstown	100
Queenstown	Wanaka	75
Wanaka	Makarora	64
Makarora	Haast Junction	82
Haast Junction	Fox Glacier	119
Fox Glacier	Harihari	87
Harihari	Greymouth	113
Greymouth	Westport	101
Westport	Murehison	90
Murehison	Saint Arnoud	60
Saint Arnoud	Nelson	89
Nelson	Havelock	75
Havelock	Picton	36
Picton	Wellington	by ferry
Wellington	National Park	by train
National Park	Turangi	50
Turangi	Taupo	50
Taupo	Rotorua	83
Rotorau	Hamilton	by bus
Hamilton	Auckland	by bus
Auckland	Melbourne	by plane
		1849

1. Christchurch, 2. Dunedin, 3. Balclutha, 4. Papatowai, 5. Invercargill, 6. Tuatapere, 7. Te Anau, 8. Millford Sound, 9. Queenstown, 10. Wanaka, 11. Makarora, 12. Haast Junction, 13. Fox Glacier, 14. Harihari, 15. Greymouth, 16. Westport, 17. Murehison, 18. Saint Arnoud, 19. Nelson, 20. Havelock, 21. Picton

22. Wellington, 23. National Park, 24. Turangi, 25. Taupo, 26. Rotorau, 27. Hamilton, 28. Auckland


Australia - Great Ocean Road

After spending a couple of days in Melbourne to relax and recover from our New Zealand journey, we'll take the train to Warrnambool. From there we will cycle bakc to Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road.

From	To	Distance (km)
Melbourne	Warrnambool	by train
Warrnambool	Port Campbell	69
Port Campbell	Lavers Hill	50
Lavers Hill	Apollo Bay	48
Apollo Bay	Lorne	45
Lorne	Geelong	70
Geelong	Melbourne	100
		381

Australia - Tasmania

Our last 2 weeks we are planning to spent cycling on Tasmania. This part of the trip is not exactly planned yet. We still have to book our flight tickets and determine a cycling route. Basically we've got 3 options, all 3 start in Launceston and end in Hobart: along the west coast (more adventurous but harder), across the central plateau (moderate), or along the east coast (easier but more touristic). Depending on how we feel after having cycled more than 3500 km we'll choose one of these routes.

From	To	Distance (km)
Melbourne	Launceston	by plane
Hobart	Melbourne	by plane

Structurizing

As you might have noticed my weblog was becoming quite extensive and as the stories published were not actually about my cycling journey across Australia, I decided to structurize it a little bit more by spreading it out over 3 weblogs:


Incredible India


http://traveling-incredible-india.blogspot.com
Obviously this weblog describes my adventures of the 2 weeks I spent with Inge, traveling through India. It is not complete yet, but in time it will be.


Living in Melbourne


http://living-in-melbourne.blogspot.com
Here you can read about al the strange, exciting, funny, adn stupid things that I will encounter during my stay in Melbourne.


Going Down Under


http://going-down-under.blogspot.com
Last but not least, this weblog wil be used to update you on my adventures when I'm cycling together with Inge through Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania. This cycling journey is about to start in the beginning of October, so this weblog will be quite empty until that time.


The links to these 3 weblogs are also available in the right column of each weblog, just below About me under the head Weblogs.