Heading South on North Island

Rob Howard / 21.01.2010

Maria Leijerstam and Tori James have completed over 700k on their traverse NZ trip, cycling from Cape Regina, the northern tip of North Island, past Aukland on to Rotorua.

The journey began with a ‘welsh flag dance’ at Cape Regina and continued via New Zealand’s oldest tree, a 2000 year old Kauri tree, with the main challenges being the regular climbing, big trucks on the roads and headwinds. However, both riders say they are getting fitter and stronger as the journey progresses, have hit a top speed of 68.5km per hour and developed an addiction to muffins!
When the pair reached Auckland on Jan.13th where they took a break from their biking to be among some of the first people to walk the newly opened Hillary Trail, in memory of New Zealand’s greatest mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary. It was opened on 11 January by his son Peter Hillary and Governor General Sir Anand Satyanand and several hundred people were there to witness this prestigious event.

"It was a real privilege to walk the trail to mark the official opening," said Tori. "It was thanks to Gemma Wood who I met 2002 on an international conference for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, that we got to do this. Gemma is in charge of many expedition groups from the Auckland area and she and her mum Kathryn arranged for a group of Bronze, Silver and Gold level participants to walk the Hillary Trail for their qualifying expeditions. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in New Zealand now includes the Hillary name and is called the Duke of Edinbugh’s Hillary Award. We joined them in Piha at the end of their third day in preparation to walk the final day with them consisting of 27km through thick bush, sweeping black dunes and a spectacular coastline all the way to Muriwai Beach."

With a stop join in a veterans tennis game the route continued to Rotorua, with it’s famous scenery and sights, where there was a chance to join up with Brent Edwards of Team Orion Health and paddle on the lakes there.

“Rotorua is a absolute mecca for outdoor sports,” said Maria, “with some of the best mountain biking in the Southern Hemisphere, as well as plenty of lakes for whichever water sport takes your fancy. Soon after we arrived we headed off for a few hours on the water. After a little practice Tori and I got to grips with the blow-up kayak and paddled around amongst the black swans who were diving and ducking. Brent & Erin set off on a hard core training session in their multisports, speeding around the lake in no time at all. An early night and a very comfortable bed was exactly what was needed. Thanks Brent!”

Latest reports show Maria and Tori have now passed Lake Taupo after riding in some very wet weather and clocking up their biggest day with 150km covered.

You can follow their progress at <a href="#" onClick="javascript:newsitewindow('http://www.girlsbikenewzealand.com')" class="main">www.girlsbikenewzealand.com</a>.