{"id":462540,"date":"2026-06-05T15:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T15:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/462540\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T15:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T15:12:09","slug":"traversing-new-zealands-south-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/462540\/","title":{"rendered":"Traversing New Zealand’s South Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

After two years of planning, Joe Nation and Rufus Wenlock finally found time to ride across New Zealand\u2019s South Island, following a historic trade route that proved to be even more difficult than expected. Watch Joe\u2019s 35-minute video from their ride here\u2026<\/p>\n

The idea for Joe Nation and Rufus Wenlock\u2019s latest route was simple on paper: traverse New Zealand\u2019s South Island from coast to coast, but follow a slightly unconventional off-road route rather than the known roads. The trip was littered with unknowns, including a long stretch of riverbed they weren\u2019t sure they\u2019d ride or hike, a significant hike-a-bike over a mountain pass, and a good chunk of the route they were almost certain they\u2019d walk. <\/p>\n

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Their adventure started on a Saturday at 3 a.m., and they completed their traverse on Monday evening. Joe described it as \u201cthe gnarliest idea\u201d Rufus and he had ever conjured up, and by the looks of it, the conditions were incredibly challenging. The trail they were following was completely washed away in sections, progress was slow, and they crept across some sketchy rivers (more like waterfalls). This was a trip they soon won\u2019t forget. Watch the video below.<\/p>\n

Further Reading<\/p>\n

Make sure to dig into these related articles for more info…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Please keep the conversation civil, constructive, and inclusive, or your comment will be removed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After two years of planning, Joe Nation and Rufus Wenlock finally found time to ride across New Zealand\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[191812,191807,191808,191813,191816,191809,191810,111,43,139,69,191815,191811,274,191814],"class_list":["post-462540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-adventure-cycling","tag-bicycle-touring","tag-bike-touring","tag-bike-tours","tag-bike-packing","tag-bikepacking","tag-cycle-touring","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-stealth-camping","tag-touring-bikes","tag-travel","tag-world-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}