Cycling New Zealand top to tail - advice needed.

[spriag]

Hi,

In January me and a few friends will be cycling the length of New Zealand (and maybe go back another route if we enjoyed it).

I have a few questions which would be great if you had any thoughts on them.

Recently I completed the Santiago de Compostella (sp?) by bike (roughly 1000km). For this I used panniers. However with this NZ trip we plan on going away from 'towns' for longer periods of time. I've recently come across the method of using a trailer. To me it looks unwieldy, but for this trip (around 4 months) do you think a trailer would be a better idea? Terrain will be changeable but hopefully as 'off' road as we can come across.

Secondly does anyone know of any companies down there which will do rental for this period of time in NZ? I found one company which does buy backs but their bike selection was pretty crap so if anyone has done this with info would be great.

I've got a thousand more questions but i'll try to figure them out myself so for now the two above. Any insights would be welcome.

Thanks.

[Galloper]

As a general recommendation, try and get hold of a copy of Josie Dew's book, Long Cloud Ride.   It's a great read and all about her bike trip through NZ