help me plan my ride through NZ - Cape Reinga to Stewart Island

help me plan my ride through NZ - Cape Reinga to Stewart Island

as much as I have been riding around NZ for the last 10 years or so there is a few places that I have not been to yet also I have yet to do an end to end ride- Cape Reinga to stewart island I have done many loop rides of place (like when I ride from horse show to horse show helping out at the shows) back in 2007 I went down the west coast of the south island to wanaka where I got a lift around parts of southland? before having to head back to the north island. in 2006/2008-09 and in 2012 I did loop rides of parts of the middle  and the top of the south island - most of my riding has been in  the north island because of the cost of the ferry to the south island also because when i am helping at the shows most of the 4-5 months around summer are spent at helping at shows or getting to the next show (that may be 2-300+ km away from the last show)

so I have decided that when I get back on the road (Im have been stuck in Te Kuiti at my mums place  as my bike has needer some parts - they should be here latter this week of next week - A big thank you to cyclepro bike shop in hamilton that has been helping me get back on the road after I had killed most of the drive chain on the bike as well as a few other parts that I needer to replace - living on the road tends to be hard on bike parts ) I might do a few short (about a week)loop trips before heading north up to cape reinga to start an end to end ride - yes I know its winter time - I will just need to pack warmer gear and good rain gear - when I went down the  south island west coast back in 07 I seem to remember that I had 3 days when it did not rain out of the 3 weeks I was on the coast (I did have 1 day of riding in the snow- that was fun : ) 

so Im looking for nice/fun places to see along the way also any places/people that I may be able to camp/stay over night at I will be trying to stay on back roads as much as I can - gravel roads and hills don’t worry me 

What about training for the 8 lap lake taupo ride?

I will be using this ride for part of the training over the next few months doing the odd longer ride (rides over 120+ km )with out the gear on the bike (day rides) when I get my bike lights worked out I might do the odd over night ride just to add to the fun : ) I tend to do any thing from 30 km to 160+ km a day  with 1-2 days off  the bike a week when touring on the bike - as I don't know which way I'm going yet I don't know long it will take - its not like I need to be any where any time soon - its one of the up sides of how I live my life

I will be posting on my facebook page and this blog (also maybe twitter if I can work it out : ) what Im getting up to and where I am in NZ when I can (thats to say when I can find the time and where my cell phone works : )