having a 2nd breakfast only some kms away from Havelock.
Think I will go on a bit...

that's much better to get started... Smooth ascent on a nice road with great views, not much traffic, good music and fine weather :)

1st pause on the Marlborough Drive from Picton to Havelock

the little shelter at the end of the track was much appreciated by everybody

30mins before it was a real nice sunny warm day...
Plan was to go on from here directly in direction of Nelson, but with that wind I changed my mind and went back to Picton again for a night at the Tombstone backpacker which was a lot more comfy then the alternatives ;)

almost no pedalling to get here during the last 1h.... :)

scenery could hardly be better :)

if there are some trails on those mountains?!?!

As always the day started with a "nice little climb"
This time it took around 2h to get to the top in the end...
Would be nice to have the possibility to wake up first and do the work later! ;)

woke up in the middle of the night (think it was ~4 in the morning) and decided to have a quick look outside...
Haven't seen soooo many stars for quite a while.
Shutter speed of 60secs can be a looooong time when you're standing outside just in your boxer shorts... ;)

decided not to ride on till Te Mahia, but to stay in the Treetops backpackers here in Portage Bay to have a nice, early end of the 2nd day and to have more of that unbelievably great riding left for tomorrow ;)
Turned out to be a good idea as the sunset was amazing...

the way I came from

really curious if there is better riding to be found throughout NZ :)

thats how the trail was like for kms........

Absolutely stunning to ride a trail with so much flow and those views to the sides :D

view back to the photo spot before some hours later

the way followed that hill to the left for the next hours...

2nd day
started with a steep ascent again :(
but weather is much nicer :)

nice little bay right down the campsite

thats the way to go

this rainforest setting is soooooooo cool :)

who can spot the bike? ;)

tried to put these two together in one picture but was not able to :(
If anybody knows how...

the views are even great with the bad weather and always a nice cause for a pause ;)

could easily be on some trail in Finale Ligure :)

Every now and then there are nice picnic sites along the way

absolutely amazing to ride through this rainforest

No way of ride the bike up there with all baggage or without.
Took me ~45min to push the bike up that 1st section incl getting dressed up for a rainy day in this jungle

starting point @ Ship Cove

...and sight to the left of the boat...
looks like the weather is about to change a bit

sight to the right side of the boat...

another beautiful bay

Beautiful sunny day :)
And the drive through the sounds is just amazing...

departure in Picton the next morning.
Heading for Ship Cove, start of Queen Charlotte Trek :)

1st sight of the south island.
Just another 30min till arrival in Picton

early morning @ Wellington harbour.

Hiho!

At the moment I'm lying in my tent at Pylorus Bridge DOC campsite.

As it's a beautifully situated campsite directly by the riverside, I decided to stay 2 nights here before I move on to the Nelson area to find some work.

Was a nice ride here along the Marlborough Road over Havelock from Picton exept the wind was coming from the wrong direction especially during the last few km from Havelock... ;)

The 3 days before I did the whole Queen Charlotte Trek from Ship Cove to Anakiwa which is like 71km of finest and best singletrail :D

That was by far the best thing I've done by MTB so far :) How could it get possibly get better?!??!
Unbelievable scenery and sooooooo sweeeeet trails through there........ Has been such a pleasure!!

But no way of riding these steep ascents on the way (my average speed during the first part was 8km/h and topspeed ~23km/h).

I took all my baggage with me, as I wanted to find out if it's possible to ride trails with all the stuff.

Turned out it's absolutely nothing to worry about. Of course going uphill gets sweaty quite quickly and there's a lot of walking with the bike aside, but so I'm forced to make more pauses and can enjoy the surroundings. There's always a positive aspect ;)

Even with the weather being bad during the first day it was absolutely amazing and i'm looking forward to the next trails :)