The trip stretches from Cape Reinga to Bluff and follows a combination of cycle trails, tracks, paths and lanes connected by country roads.
Amelia said she had wanted to do Tour Aotearoa since she was 11 and planned the whole trip herself.
“I thought, imagine being crazy enough to do that, and all of a sudden I’m crazy enough.”
She researched the gear needed, searching online to purchase her kit, including bike bags, tools and her sleep system.
“I’ve spent hours and hours planning because I like to have things organised for me to figure it all out from top to bottom.”
Amelia was riding with her dad, and they were entirely self-supported.
She said she discovered spreadsheets in the planning process, using them to map out tide timings, ferry trips, and costs of equipment.
Amelia Twiss, after completing the rebel ride, a self-supported, bike-packing adventure from Hamilton to Taupo, in 2024.
“I’ve got some really good spreadsheets with hundreds of little columns of prices, the weights of items, the shipping costs, just everything.”
On Day 1, the journey began at Cape Reinga lighthouse and headed down 90 Mile Beach, with Amelia timing the trip carefully to match the tides.
“It is so hard because you only have a seven-hour window to ride along there, but there’s normally a massive headwind that makes people cry sometimes.”
She also planned which ferries to take and will ride five boats, including a special crossing of the Kaipara Harbour made for cyclists.
“We need to start with the right tide times to get in at a time where they can still be running the ferry.”
She carried a tent, a sleeping bag, food, a change of clothes to sleep in, tools and a first aid kit.
Her bag was about 2kg on the front, and about the same on the back, “plus water, and then food is the big one”.
She had been most excited about sleeping in a tent before her trip, but had expected that to wear off after a few nights.
“The tent is really good quality, super light and sturdy, waterproof and windproof.”
Across the 35 days on her bike, she will carry a tent, a sleeping bag, food, a change of clothes to sleep in, tools and a first aid kit.
Amelia learned from her ride to Parliament in July the importance of fuelling herself with the right food, but said her go-to was a block of hokey pokey Whittaker’s chocolate.
“I will also have dehydrated meals, lots of rice, cream rice, pasta, electrolytes, and protein bars are pretty good as well.”
Amelia rides 80km to 100km per day, including over Christmas and New Year’s, marking her first Christmas away from family.
Mum Toni Twiss said she was inspired by what Amelia had set her mind to.
“I guess it’s pushed both me and her dad right out of our comfort zones, but following someone passionate is such a joy, really, because they lead the way.”
Twiss said whatever Amelia put into the rides, she and her dad would match.
“She puts in the time, we’ll match it. She puts in the work, we’ll match it, and now I think it’s heavily weighted in her favour.
“It’s really amazing because this is all new to us, but we’re just trying to enable her.”
Kaitlyn Morrell is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.