bike tours in NZ?

Mary,

I did a 15 day tour through the S Island a couple of years ago with a US
outfit called Backroads (http://www.backroads.com/index_flash.html). It was
a great trip (a brief travelogue is at
http://www.kirkanddonna.com/donna/Ne...me1Source1.htm).
However, with that said, NZ is EXTREMELY cyclist friendly and I would say if
you're EVER going to do a trip like this on your own, NZ is the place to do
it. We started in Nelson and cycled down to Queenstown (632 miles). Not
sure if that's the distance you were thinking, but the scenery was
unbeatable, and the people are wonderful. That side of the island is VERY
sparsely populated, which makes for some great riding (but not too
sparsely). Just watch out for the sandflies. They are nasty.

Donna
http://www.KirkandDonna.com/

"Mary P." wrote in message
...
Hi folks! Wondering if I can draw on your collective wisdom for some
advice...

My partner and I are going to NZ (South Island only) in November for
2-3 weeks and were hoping to do about a week-long bike trip as part of
our stay. We're fit enough to bike a good distance every day, but
since we're not as young as we used to be, we like the idea of someone
to carry our gear, arrange for accomodations, etc!

So I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with the various outfits
in New Zealand that run guided cycling tours. A couple of places we've
looked into a

http://www.advsouth.co.nz/
http://www.pedaltours.co.nz/
http://www.natureshighway.co.nz/

...or should we just buck up and do the bike tour on our own?? ;-)

Thanks for any advice,

Best,

Mary P.