Landscape + climate

New Zealand has a lot to offer in terms of scenery. On our tour we drove along the sea, through beautiful forests, barren steppes and also over high passes.
During most of the time we had good to very good weather and the rainy days on which we rode the tandem can easily be counted on two hands. Towards the end of the tour in early/mid March we experienced a rather early autumnal cold snap, but it was still warm enough for camping and tandem riding.
Our highlights include Central Otago, Abel Tasman National Park, the Catlins, the East Cape area, Doubtfull Sound and Lindis Pass (difficult choice!).

Camping + food supply

The campsites in New Zealand are generally of a very good standard. Practically everywhere has kitchens and apart from some DOC campsites also showers. With the beautifully situated DOC campsites is to be noted as a cyclist unfortunately that these are partly relatively remote.
The distances between the villages with shopping and accommodation are usually a maximum of 40-80km. In more rural areas the supermarkets/shops are smaller and more expensive.
Some of the nicest campgrounds are the one in Wiaroa, Arthurs Point and Mount Sumers.

Roads + Traffic

The road network is good and the roadways are usually very rideable. We encountered only very few gravel roads. Sometimes there are steep and long climbs, but we did not find them to be a big problem, fortunately there is always an end to a climb (not so the headwind).
The traffic, however, is anything but bicycle-friendly. Many road users behave inconsiderately towards cyclists. Thus, we and actually all other cyclists with whom we talked about it, were sometimes very closely overtaken and sometimes pushed off the road. We felt that the buses were the worst road users. The milk tankers feared by many New Zealanders, we have as relatively considerate in memory.
Due to the traffic, we were happy to drive partly on less traveled side roads and the car-free Otago Central Rail Trail was great! Unfortunately, however, it is often not possible to avoid side roads.
We found big roads with wide shoulder more dangerous and rather enjoyed narrow roads without shoulder, as the other road users there usually drove much more considerate and overtook with more distance (despite less space!).
In the next few years we will not cycle again in New Zealand because of the traffic. In conversation, however, we learned that much is currently changing in this direction. So there is hope that New Zealand's roads will be more bike friendly in a few years. ( see The New Zealand Cycle Trail )
Among the "best" road sections for us are the Otago Central Rail Trail (bikes, horses and pedestrians only), Lindis Pass (state highway with little traffic), the Catlins and the East Cape.

Food

The New Zealand food culture is British influenced. But the hamburgers of the take-aways were an absolute highlight. In many places you can get good ice cream in different flavors. In cafes we often ordered an "Iced Chocolate". Unfortunately, not everyone understands the same thing. Ideally, this is a glass with cold chocolate milk, 1-2 scoops of vanilla ice cream and cream on top.

Tandem + Luggage

We would buy the same tandem with trailer in the same country again!
On the whole, we were very lucky with our equipment. Since we were able to buy Schwalbe Marathon tires we had no more flat tires. We had to replace the chains due to stretching.
Fortunately we got the tip on the way not to have the pedals in phase, so we could ride faster and reduce the strain on the rear chain. Further, we were also grateful for the tip to convert to clipless pedals.
We rode with a comparatively large amount of luggage, but we don't really want to leave much of it at home. We will reduce the clothing selection in the future.
We were very satisfied with our gasoline stove and the purchase of 0.6l gasoline caused astonished faces at the gas stations :-)

Numbers

Driving days: 52
Rest days: 25 ( also with tandem trips :-) )
Total km: 3205 ( in total we drove 4914 km with the tandem )
Driving time: 192h 51min
Longest daily distance: 121.11km (before the tour once 150km)
Longest riding time: 6h45 (at Akaroa trip even 7h20)
Daily average: 61.64 km / 3h42 / 16.62km/h