The Maori New Zealand Cycling Tour – from Auckland to Queenstown
Our New Zealand Bike Tour Overview
The Māori Cycling Tour of NZ crosses the length of this spectacular southern land, meandering the country, finding the highlights across both the North and the South Island — from the thermal wonderland of Rotorua, rich with Māori heritage, to the volcano country surrounding Tongariro National Park. From the wild west coast with its pristine nature to the stunning Southern Alps, our first epic adventure foray into the southern hemisphere ticks all the boxes. Keep reading to learn more about this spectacular cycling tour of NZ, but you may also like to consider Ride and Seek’s equally epic Strzelecki Bike Tour of Australia (from Sydney to Hobart).
A Little Background About this NZ Bike Tour
Having split from the super continent of Gondwana some 65 million years ago, New Zealand offers a distinctive bio-diversity that is comparable with the Galapagos Islands. A veritable geothermal wonderland, the country boasts an array of varying landscapes – which in part explains why it provided the backdrop for much of the Lord the Rings film series. With a population of just 5 million and a comparable land mass to that of the United Kingdom, this tour takes riders on the road less travelled and marks an extension of the RS program into the Southern Hemisphere. In keeping with the historical context, the Maori culture provides an intriguing backdrop for our travels. The uniqueness of the flora and fauna of NZ, remarkable landscapes, and a rich culture make this new tour a wonderful tenth edition to the RS Epic tour roster — take a look at the rest on our Epic Cycling Tours page.
Riders on this unforgettable bike tour of New Zealand will be treated to incredible landscapes including thermal wonderlands, volcanoes, wild unspoiled coastlines, and the stunning alps of the Southern Island, which will have you regularly grabbing for your camera. Finish each day at hand-picked hotels and lodges with ample opportunity to sample New Zealand’s world-class wine, fresh seafood, and seasonal vegetables. Keep a close eye on our New Zealand Bike Tours for more NZ cycling tours in the future and please reach out if you have any questions. Otherwise, please click the tabs along the top of the page to find out more about this once-in-a-lifetime cycling trip through New Zealand.
The North Island
The South Island
Team Members on this Tour
Ben Weigl - Trip Specialist
Ben has been working in the bike tour industry for over 10 years and has owned tour companies, designed itineraries and guided all over the world in that time. A traveller to the core he calls Adelaide home but is rarely there these days. When he is not designing and running tours for Ride and Seek he’ll be found pack-rafting in some remote part of the world or pursuing his charity efforts with Helping Helmets and Africa Goal. His enthusiasm, professionalism, media skills and general tour expertise make Ben a very valued member of the team.
First cycling memory:
Taking the training wheels of my police car painted bike, complete with flashing light and riding down the laneway behind my house with my brother and his fire engine bike. He became a firefighter, I stuck with the bike.
Favourite bike:
Without sounding too much like a hipster, my father’s old Japanese steel Koga - Miyata that I restored and converted into a single speed. Moved through Melbourne traffic like the wind and completed more compliments from bearded men than I care to mention.
Top climb:
Col Agnel, Hannibal - a magnificent history filled, yet little trafficked gateway to Italy
One thing on your bucket list:
Buy a bush plane and get my pilot's licence
A special skill you bring on tour:
Videography and photography….."Smile"!
Favourite Ride and Seek tour gastronomic experience:
The Artisan gelateria in Alba (the town that smells of Nutella), enjoyed as an extended dessert on Hannibal.
Languages:
English & German. My French and Spanish are coming on.
Ride and Seek tours you lead:
I've been involved with all of the Epics to date
Rich Mortiboys - Guide
Rich has been leading cycle tours for six years, beginning in Europe before switching hemispheres and relocating to the South Island of New Zealand, which has some fantastic roads (not to mention off-roads!) to explore. Prior to guiding, he organised trail run and triathlon events in the UK and spent time as manager of a restaurant on an organic farm in deepest Devon. He views the bicycle primarily as a form of transport from café stop to café stop, but also loves the sense of a journey that only a bike ride can really give. Highlights of his time on the road so far have been working for World Tour bike racing teams at le Tour and il Giro and guiding clients on the coastal roads of Norway.
First cycling memory:
Digging and sculpting what seemed at the time like huge jumps to ride BMX in the woods in the school holidays. This led to MTB explorations on Dartmoor before I saw sense and traded it all in for a road bike.
Favourite bike:
My trusty, steel Surly Pacer. Not as nimble as some of the carbon bikes I’ve ridden over the years, granted, but it’s served me well - first as a London commuter and now in soaking up the bumps of some of New Zealand’s rural back roads. It even goes well on gravel!
Top climb:
Can I have two? It would have to be split between the perfect switchbacks that lead up to Lago di Cancano out of Bormio in the Italian Alps and the 21km/1450m of climb from the shore of Geirangerfjord all the way up to Dalsnibba in Møre og Romsdal, Norway, riding past a huge frozen lake on the way up!
One thing on your bucket list:
To ride the Tour Aotearoa - 3000km of self-supported bike-packing from Cape Reinga to Bluff - the entire length of New Zealand.
A special skill you bring on tour:
I think it’s always important to remind folks to look up from the computer screen and really take in the environment we’re lucky enough to be pedalling through. If I can find a really scenic picnic spot, then all the better.
Favourite Ride and Seek tour gastronomic experience:
The food and hospitality of some of the hotels in Alto Adige, Dolomites. All that cheese and pasta is great, slow-burn, energy, not to mention the apfelstrudel.
Languages:
Always trying to improve my French and Italian, even if it’s proving tricky to get much practice here in NZ. Te Reo Māori is the indigenous language spoken here, so that’s the current challenge - Kia ora koutou katoa!
Ride and Seek tours you lead:
The Māori New Zealand Epic and Three Islands Epic
Anne-Maree Moore - Guide
First cycling memory:
Riding along the banks of the mighty Murray River, which ended up with a trip to hospital after a spectacular stack!
Favourite bike:
My Bianchi eBike which makes the rolling hills around home very enjoyable.
Top climb:
Mount Bogong on two-week pack ride with my favourite horses Buddy and Bailey, was an absolute highlight as was an overnight hike up Mount Feathertop.
One thing on your bucket list:
Full-time travel with Dave on our gap year!
A special skill you bring on tour:
My love for creating pretty, picnic lunch platters for hungry cyclists.
Favourite Ride and Seek tour gastronomic experience:
The amazing restaurants on the Strzelecki Tour in Australia, paired with a local Pinot Noir.
Languages:
English and Australian English.
Ride and Seek tours you lead:
Strzelecki, Australia & Maori, New Zealand
Dave Moore - Guide
First cycling memory:
Riding my bike over jumps in our rear lane here in Australia. Dreaming I was Roger de Coster, Belgian motorbike motorcross world champion
Favourite bike:
My giant TCR. It makes me feel much much quicker than I am, but that might change with my soon to arrive gravel bike
Top climb:
Mt Buffalo, in the Australian Alps for the sunrise. As a memory it would be up Mt Hotham with Dylan in blizzard like conditions
One thing on your bucket list:
So many mountains so little time...ride as many hills and mountains with as many people as possible
A special skill you bring on tour:
Dad jokes, so my family tells me. Im good at finding the funny things in trying conditions and I love hearing peoples stories
Favourite Ride and Seek tour gastronomic experience:
Sampling coffee and cake with country hospitality and the must have, refreshing craft beer at the Porepunkah pub after riding Mt Buffalo
Languages:
English and colourful at times
Ride and Seek tours you lead:
The Strzelecki Epic
Māori New Zealand Bike Tour Highlights
>Cycling along the rolling coastline of Queen Charlotte Sound.
>Exploring the geothermal wonderland around Rotorua with its geysers, fantastically coloured steaming pools and bubbling mud pools.
>Cycling through the land of volcanoes made famous through the Lord of the Rings films.
>Our ferry ride from the North Island across the Cook Strait to the South Island through Marlborough Sounds framed by lush forested hills.
>Discover Maori Culture, with its fascinating oral history rich in song and dance and seen throughout the country by the distinct wood carvings adorning the local Marae ( meeting grounds) and places of cultural importance.
>The west coast and the Southern Alps, with their snow-covered peaks, glacier-filled valleys spectacular array of waterfalls and rugged pristine coastline.
>New world gastronomy with the incredible choice of local produce makes dining a real highlight throughout the tour.
>Cycling up Mt Mount Ruapehu, a still active volcano and in winter the biggest ski field the southern hemisphere.
>New Zealand Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc rate with some of the best in the world, but it also has a growing reputation for chardonnay, pinot gris, riesling, merlot and methode traditionelle wines that are all worth tasting!
>Riding through pristine nature in numerous World Heritage National parks
>New Zealand wildlife is like no other, literally! 80% of its species aren’t found anywhere else in the world. A couple you may have heard of is the Kiwi bird and the Kea, the world’s only alpine parrot.
Māori New Zealand Tour Dates
| Stage | Start Date | End Date | Days | Distance | Cost (Euros) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Epic Māori – Auckland to Queenstown | TBA | TBA | 24 (23 nights) | 2052 km / 1275miles | TBA |
| Stage 1 – Auckland to Wellington | TBA | TBA | 12 (11 nights) | 1025 km / 636 miles | TBA |
| Stage 2 – Wellington to Queenstown | TBA | TBA | 13 (12 nights) | 1028 km / 638 miles | TBA |
All tours and individual stages are available as a custom tour for your group – contact us for details.
What’s Included?
- Accommodation in our carefully selected hotels
- Meals – hotel breakfasts, snacks en route and pre/post-ride nutrition, lunches including the famed Ride and Seek picnics, multi course group dinners with a focus on the local cuisine.*NB we include occasional independent lunches & dinners to break up the week
- Ride and Seek jersey
- Garmin 1030 use with all routes preloaded
- Ride and Seek water bottle
- Kit laundry service once a week
- Passionate, experienced and knowledgeable guides always on hand to help
Not Included
- Alcoholic beverages
- Bike hire
- Pre & post tour accommodation
Supplements
- Single supplement – Our prices are based on twin/double occupancy. If you wish to have your own room then a supplement is applicable.
Deposit
- To reserve a place on a stage of this tour we ask for a deposit of €1000 (or your local currency equivalent). We also accept payment in GB£ and AU$. The final invoice will include any applicable single supplements and bike hire costs.
Māori New Zealand Bike Tour Food and Wine
New Zealand is world renowned for their seafood, coffee culture, dairy and lamb as well their Marlborough Sounds South Island Sauvignon Blanc. The good news is that New Zealand isn’t defined by what they export so what’s locally available if even better!
The green lipped mussels that can be seen along the coast while riding in the South Island are amazing as the salmon on offer. Another highlight is the morning snack break as the coffee culture has spread far beyond the metropolitan areas and it can now be hard to find a bad coffee even in the remote corners of the country. It’s fair to say that Kiwis (the colloquial name for New Zealanders) have shrugged off the colonial influence of tea and become a nation obsessed with coffee with more roasters per capita than anywhere in the world.
New Zealand’s history has been closely tied to sheep and although the number has fallen in the last 30 years there are still 7 sheep here for every person so you can expect to see lamb on the menu.
New Zealand, with its warmer summers and volcanic soils in the north and cooler mountain valleys in the south, provides a wide range of climates that produce a delicious variety of excellent wines.
There are vineyards from our first day in Auckland (above) to some of the world’s most southerly vineyards at the end of our ride around Wanaka in the heart of the Southern Alps.
New Zealand is a young country so you won’t find any castles or centuries old monasteries converted into hotels – instead, we have modern hotels, many of them set amongst beautiful forest more ancient than anything you could find in Europe.
M Social – (Auckland) – Functionally chic, this contemporary hotel features rooms designed for all travellers. The only hotel that truly overlooks the vibrant Princes Wharf that’s home to a stunning array of dining, entertainment and shopping experiences.
All you need to do to experience it is step out the front door.
Distinction Fox Glacier – Situated beneath the Southern Alps on New Zealand’s West coast within walking distance from the impressive Fox Glacier, this Boutique Hotel offers modern, spacious rooms with balconies overlooking the lush native forest.
QT Queenstown – Incomparable views over the crystal clear Lake Wakatipu and breathtaking peaks of the Southern Alps set the scene at QT Queenstown. Sitting pretty in nature’s playground, this lush lakeside resort emulates nostalgic alpine and après-ski ambience – perfect for our final night on tour.
Māori New Zealand Reading
For a country that has been isolated for 80 million years and discovered by people only in the last 700 years, there is surprisingly much to read about this fantastic country on the edge of the world. The below selection of books (and movies) will have something of interest for everyone, from the history of New Zealand to Māori mythology and tradition to Booker Prize-winning fiction for those that want to experience what life was like at different points throughout this short, but fast-paced history.
The Penguin History of New Zealand (Micheal King) – New Zealand was the last country in the world to be discovered and settled by humankind. It was also the first to introduce full democracy. Between those events, and in the century that followed the franchise, the movements and conflicts of human history have been played out more intensively and more rapidly in New Zealand than anywhere else on Earth.
The Whale Rider (Witi Ihimaera) – Now also a beautiful movie – A mystical story of Maori culture. The birth of a daughter – Kahu – breaks the lineage of a Maori tribe. Rejected by her grandfather, Kahu develops the ability to communicate with whales, echoing those of the ancient Whale Rider after whom she was named.
Come On Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All: A New Zealand Story (Christina Thompson) – Thompson’s book is part personal memoir and part New Zealand history. She tells the story of her romance with her husband, Steven, who is Maori, and the struggles she faced with cultural clashes and mistrust between Westerners and the indigenous group. She also examines the history of the country itself and how its development led to many of these issues.
OK, so JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of The Rings (1954-55) aren’t about New Zealand at all. But that didn’t stop the five films of the series from being filmed there, inspiring many more people to discover the country’s stunning countryside for themselves. If you don’t want to read the books you might like to get yourself into the mood for your ride by watching the films and enjoying the wide empty landscapes.
Pounamu Pounamu (Witi Ihimaera) – When Pounamu Pounamu was published in 1972, it was a landmark occasion for New Zealand literature in many ways. It was the first work of fiction published by a Maori writer, it was the first collection of short stories that looked at contemporary Maori life and it launched the career of one of New Zealand’s best-known authors.
The Luminaries (Eleanor Catton) – The Luminaries is an extraordinary piece of fiction. It is full of narrative, linguistic and psychological pleasures, and has a fiendishly clever and original structuring device. Written in pitch-perfect historical register, richly evoking a mid-19th century world of shipping and banking and goldrush boom and bust, it is also a ghost story, and a gripping mystery
The Bone People – Keri Hulme has created what is at once a mystery, a love story, and an ambitious exploration of the zone where Maori and European New Zealand meet, clash, and sometimes merge. Winner of both a Booker Prize and Pegasus Prize for Literature, The Bone People is a work of unfettered wordplay and mesmerizing emotional complexity.
Māori New Zealand Bike Tour History
The Māori New Zealand Cycling Tour follows the journey of a fascinating and inspiring people as they travelled across the ocean 700 years ago to arrive on the North Island near the start of our tour. The Māori, as they came to be known, with only what they brought with them adapted well to a land that had never seen humans. Isolated from other landforms for 80 million years it had moved further east away from Australia and grew through volcanic activity in the North Island and mountain ranges in the South Island. A process that continues today.
This strange land was the last to be discovered of all the habitable land masses in the world and was different in that apart from bats, that had managed to fly there it was completely devoid of mammals. New Zealand was and still is a land of birds and reptiles!
As the newly formed settlements grew the Māori travelled south down through the land of volcanoes, geysers and colourful bubbling hot pools.
This geologically active part of New Zealand became an important part of the mythology of Māori culture. While the culture may be young, it is rich, diverse and has built on its Pacific island origins to become unique in its own right.
Using their impressive boat building skills the Māori continued south crossing the Cook Strait to reach the South Island where they settled the coastlines and mountain valleys right to its most southern point. The Māori population in the South Island remained much lower than in the North Island as the winters are difficult and the terrain tough. This is as true today as it was 150 years ago, with three-quarters of the New Zealand population residing in the North Island. It’s for this reason the South Island is thankfully still a part of the world that showcases how the earth once was with its largely untouched nature.
We hope you can come and explore it on the best form of transport of all, your bike!
The Maori Epic showcases the best of New Zealand from the road. In both Islands, we were treated daily to the amazing landscapes: thermal and volcanic regions in the north, glaciers rivers and lakes in the south. Add to this the extraordinary route planning, support, opportunities to explore the areas in which we stayed, to experience the value placed on conservation, to understand the history and culture of the diverse peoples who have settled there, and of course to enjoy the locally produced food and wine with a group of wonderful people who are proud to be part of the growing R&S family.
Cathy V
I greatly enjoyed my first trip with Ride and Seek. Everything worked seamlessly. The destination was all I hoped it would be. People who chose cycling as a “holiday” are likely to have enough in common to bond well and so it proved. The guides Ben and Rich were excellent. Friendly, supportive, available and knowledgeable.
Richard D
It is fair to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the trip even though I parachuted in halfway. The course was excellent. The guides were also first-class leaving nothing to be desired.
Tom B
The routes chosen for the country’s natural beauty were excellent. The locations for the rest days were ideal. Ben and Ritchie were knowledgeable, professional, accommodating, I really could go on and on. It was constantly obvious how in-depth they had prepared each day.
Kerrie S
A fun ride through New Zealand. We stayed at great hotels, stopped at unique cafés and ate good food. The sites ranged from big cities to small towns through rolling pastures and over volcanic mountains. We learned about Maori history and saw the extent to which Maori culture has been incorporated into everyday life.
Jack N
You’ve got a winner trip here in NZ. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride – Ben and Richie were excellent. Ben is the best, as you know. He has become like an old friend. Richie added lots of local history, culture and elaboration about plants and animals. Plus he is an ace bike mechanic.
Jim C
The Trip
Māori New Zealand is split into two stages covering almost the entirety of the country across the North Island and the South Island
Schedule a CallTour at a Glance
The Epic – Auckland to Queenstown Dates: TBA
Countries: New Zealand
Number of days: 24 days
Number of stages: 2
Price: TBA
Grading: 
Stage 1 – Auckland to Wellington Dates: TBA
Number of days: 12
Price: TBA
Grading:
Stage 2 – Wellington to Queenstown Dates: TBA
Number of days: 13
Price: TBA
Grading:
.