From the start, we’ve thought of New Zealand as a turning point in our world tour. From now on, each step will bring us closer and closer to home. It’s already been six months, or half of the scheduled duration of our trip, since we began our tour in Nepal.

We’re also leaving – for the first time – the countries of the so-called “South”, and rediscovering (not without some apprehension) the pleasures of the Western world. In addition, our parents came to visit us here in the land of the kiwis, and we split up our team of three for ten days, with each family leaving for their own tour of the beautiful South Island. Apart from the pleasure of seeing the people we care about once again, their presence allowed us to enjoy a level of comfort that we hadn’t experienced for quite some time – for which we’d like to express our heartfelt thanks!

Once our families returned home, we headed off for a 10-day stretch of cycling, which fit perfectly into the FTT plan: Wellington to Auckland, in the North Island, 700 km.

For the first few days, conditions weren’t ideal for cycling – traffic, high winds and rain, and the landscape was limited to industrial areas. We remember a lunch cooked over a camping stove in a public toilet in a storm: a real case of the blues.
Fortunately, we quickly changed our route to find ourselves in the New Zealand countryside, with fields of cows, sheep and mountains, and farm vistas extending as far as the eye could see, just as we’d imagined. Then our prevailing feeling was of peacefulness and an intoxicating sense of space!

No problems with the bikes – the only difficulty was a problem with Ben’s knee tendon, which was quickly treated. The nights? Spent under canvas, generally in the garden of a New Zealander – they’re very friendly – if possible. The first night, we blithely pitched our tent by the side of the road, not knowing that a violent storm had been forecast. By taking the advice of a passer-by and moving to a protected campground, we avoided a nightmare night! We reached the Tongariro National Park, in the centre of the island, in five days. Its fame convinced us to stay on for a day of “rest”.

The hike that we took, considered to be “the best one-day hike in the world”, left us absolutely stunned. Lunar landscapes, a particularly challenging climb up a volcano at 2,200m, emerald and turquoise lakes. It was without a doubt one of the highlights of New Zealand, if not of the whole of our world tour. For aficionados, Peter Jackson, the director of “Lord of the Rings”, chose this park as the setting for “Mordor”.
In the end, the day was more tiring than covering 100 km on our bikes, and we set off on the road to Auckland with an unbelievable set of aches and pains.

This stage of the trip lasted another four days and three nights, but we only pitched the tent twice. At the end of the second day, we were invited to stay in the home of some New Zealanders who we had asked for permission to pitch our tent on their land for the night. Our extraordinary hosts were Barrie and Diane, to whom we told our travellers tales over barbeque and a bottle of New Zealand wine – some of the best in the world!

On the ninth and final day, as we approached Auckland, we made our way through industrial areas and had a terrible time finding the centre of town in the country’s economic capital. One-third of the population, or some 1.5 million people, make their homes there – the rest of the country is virtually empty by comparison. We are met by two students from ESSCA, and hardly have time to visit – two days after our dramatic arrival, we’re already on a flight to Chile!
These nine consecutive days of cycling were particularly challenging for the three of us, but we leave for South America with a real sense of accomplishment.