Please can you help me?!

Please can you help me?!

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Greetings!

My name is Nic "Dutch" Holland.  I am a serving member of the UK Royal AIr Force, currently workingin Saudi Arabia.  In Dec/Jan 2011/2 I plan to cycle the length of NZ for a holiday and also to raise some money along the way for Forces Charities.  However, I have never been to NZ and could do with some, well probably a lot of help.  Please can anyone provide me any detaisl on the following:

1.  Am I allowed to cycle on all roads in NZ?
2.  Has anyone got a route - time is short so I am looking for shortest/quickest possible route?
3.  Which direction should I am to do it in?  What is the mean wind direction?
4.  I believe helmets are compulsory, is this true?
5.  Is a distance of 100-120km per day realistic?

I would appreciate any help that you could give me on these questions or any other top tips you may have.

My email address is nfh70@hotmail.com

Thank you again!!!

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Hi there

I know its been a while since you posted, but thought I'd reply anyway.

1. You can cycle on most roads. Cycling is forbidden on motorways, and they are usually pretty clearly signposted. Any other road is fine. Some roads can be quite dangerous though, particularly rural state highways through gorges/forest, etc. Not much passing space! I'd recommend wearing some fluro and maybe some bike lights.

2. Not sure about that. Following State Highway 1 would be the quickest, but not necessarily the safest route.

3. As it would be summer, I'd go north to south as I think there are more northerly winds during summer.

4. Correct.

5. Sounds pretty realistic to me, but I've never done anything like that.

Have fun!