Bike, hike and kayak in New Zealand

country:	New Zealand
location:	South Island
trip type:	Adventurous mountain biking holidays
departures:	2009: 15 Dec 2010: 15 Mar
price:	From NZ $4290 (13 days) excluding flights. Single supplement NZ $475. Bike hire NZ $300
vouchers:	Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday

South Island holidays

New Zealand holidays

Activity holidays

the amazing things you'll be doing

13 Day biking and active adventure - Christchurch to Picton; Or Christchurch to Christchurch with optional add-on train journey.

New Zealand is a land of contrasts - the South Island especially so with dramatic alps, pristine rivers and lakes, golden beaches and wild rocky coastlines. Our “Bike, Hike & Kayak” adventure is a selection of the South Island’s finest non-technical, off-road and on-road biking, combined with some stunning walks, sea-kayaking in the Abel Tasman and scenic train journeys.

Your adventure begins in Christchurch “The Garden City” – where we board the Tranz Alpine train for the stunning and rugged journey to Greymouth. We bike the famous Queen Charlotte track, kayak in the beautiful Abel Tasman National Park and introduce you to some of New Zealand’s most gorgeous walking tracks and bike rides.

We have chosen remote and little known back-roads and tracks that not only get us to the next destination but also to show you the real New Zealand. With full vehicle support, this trip can be enjoyed by anyone with some off-road cycling experience and reasonable fitness level. At various parts of the journey you will have the choice of a more or less challenging biking or walking options to suit your abilities.

At the end of each day we stay in a variety of guesthouses, hostels and lodges with the ever-present hot showers, cold beers and opportunities to experience some of our favourite South Island spots.

trip profile

13 days Christchurch to Picton (or return to Christchurch with optional train journey).
8-10 days biking on a mixture of paved and dirt roads, and non-technical single track.
Total biking distance 350-550km.
5 hiking options from 1hr to full day.
1 day sea-kayaking.
100% vehicle supported. Our trusty support vehicle carries all your luggage, helps you up those hills (if you like) and always has lunch, snacks and water at hand.
Accommodation: 12 nights hotels, guesthouses, motels, hostels and lodges.
Food – 3 meals a day included from evening on day 1 to breakfast on day 13, except when stated on the detailed itinerary. (Some evening meals are not included to give you a chance to experience some of New Zealand's local cuisine of your own choosing).
Group size: minimum 4, maximum 10; plus Escape leaders.
Bike hire is available, contact us for more information.

day-by-day itinerary

Day 1:	AM: Scenic Tranz-Alpine train journey across the Southern Alps to Greymouth. PM: Coastal walk.
Day 2:	50kms biking. Rugged West Coast.
Day 3:	Hike OR bike the Charming Creek walkway.
Day 4:	Mountain valley ride to Nelson Lakes National Park.
Day 5:	A free day to hike in Nelson Lakes National Park - hiking, single track biking options.
Day 6:	Big biking day - farmland, forest and river valleys to the coast.
Day 7:	An optional big climb and then a choice of road or single track options down to stunning Golden Bay.
Day 8:	We explore Golden Bay by bike and by vehicle and foot.
Day 9:	A day of sea kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park.
Day 10:	AM: Coastal ride around of Nelson’s vineyards. PM: transfer to Nelson City.
Day 11:	First of two day ride on the Queen Charlotte track.
Day 12:	Queen Charlotte Track continued and boat transfer to Picton.
Day 13:	Finish or take Tranz Coastal train back to Christchurch City.

small group adventure holiday

Typically you will be sharing your experiences with between 2-10 like minded travellers (depending on the trip and how many others are booked on the trip) and you'll have a group leader with you. Whether you are travelling alone or with friends it's good value, and a great way to meet new people! While itineraries are pre-planned there is some flexibility and you'll have plenty of privacy. This trip will appeal to travellers of all ages who enjoy meeting new people as well as seeing new places.

how this holiday makes a difference

It is important to us that when we travel to different parts of our amazing planet that our exchange is always a mutual one and that we make a positive contribution to people and places that we visit along the way.

These days ‘responsible travel' and ‘Sustainability' are hot topics. Responsible travel is not about donating large sums of money to charity (at least not without thoroughly researching the long-term intentions or effects of the charity). We believe responsible travel is about taking time to think about how our actions can benefit or how they impact the people, communities, economies, environments and eco-systems we visit, and then use this to make a difference (or sometimes more appropriately - how we can NOT make a difference). We are constantly considering our actions and how we and the people who travel with us can improve our impact on the places we visit.

Here are just some of the ways that we ‘make a difference’:

New Zealand activity holiday

Social integration with the local people is a central part of our trips. Simply travelling by bike is a great start – a great way for our bikers and local people to meet and start a conversation.
We buy locally grown and produced food as much as possible; we support local businesses by staying in locally owned guesthouses, eating in local restaurants and taking our bikers to local operations and parks.
Educate our bikers – about the effects of buying products that come from endangered species, or products that are destructive to wildlife or the environment (feeding some of the New Zealand wildlife can cause a lot of problems for example).
Waste/rubbish management – when we travel we should treat our surrounding as we would treat our home (or better!). We do our best to avoid ‘single use packaging’ only using reusable or recyclable packaging. We re use what can be reused, recycle what can be recycled, and limit what needs to go into landfill as much as possible.
We have an environmentally conscious office – To avoid paper waste we aim to use as much computer technology as possible in our office. And when we do print we use paper from recycled sources!
For every person who flies to join our trips we donate 10 trees to a local reforestation project.
As this is a new trip for us in 2008 and we will be looking into an environmental project for our trip to support.
We are active members of New Zealand Forest and Bird, and Greenpeace.

Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people.

We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel.

'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left).

We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays.

We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism.

This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards.