Finishing Sounds to Sounds!!! 😁 (1500 km solo cycling adventure on the South Island of New Zealand)

This is my 10th and final video from the Sounds to Sounds route that I cycled up the length of New Zealand's South Island in March 2023. In this video, I finish the Sounds to Sounds "reverse" route by riding from Picton through to Ship Cove, through the beautiful Queen Charlotte Track in the Marlborough Sounds! When I get to Ship Cove, this video also marks the completion of my 4500 km Tour Aotearoa - Sounds to Sounds combo ride around all of New Zealand!! The Tour Aotearoa is a 3000 km bikepacking route that goes down the length of New Zealand, from Cape Reinga to Bluff (http://www.touraotearoa.nz/). Sounds to Sounds is a 1500 km bikepacking route typically done from north to south down the length of NZ's South Island, from Queen Charlotte Sound to Milford Sound (http://www.touraotearoa.nz/p/sound-to.... In March 2023, I decided to ride Sounds to Sounds in reverse, from Milford Sound to Queen Charlotte Sound, after completing the Tour Aotearoa (TA) route down the length of NZ and deciding that I wanted to keep riding. :-) As I mention towards the end of this video, this cycling adventure was truly life-changing for me. I am so excited to continue doing more adventures like this in the months and years to come. If you are curious for more of the story, keep reading... I started the Tour Aotearoa at Cape Reinga at the end of January 2023, telling myself that I could always stop at home in Auckland and do something else if I wasn’t into it. I was on an extended sabbatical leave from work, just looking to make the most it by attempting a new outdoor adventure (on the $750 NZD beginner mountain bike I had bought at Torpedo7 at the start of 2020!). I was a completely novice, inexperienced cyclist when I started at Cape Reinga. I don’t think I had ever cycled more than 40 or 50 km in a day beforehand, and I was entirely new to mountain biking and gravel (which those of you who've watched my initial videos already know 🤣). By the time I got to Wellington, I was riding over 120-150 km a day, and I bought the Sounds to Sounds book at a local bike shop because I was pretty sure I would want to keep cycling once I got to Bluff. And I did. And by the time I finished the Sounds to Sounds route and arrived in Ship Cove at the end of this video, I had decided to resign from my full-time job so that I could continue doing more cycling adventures like this in NZ and around the world in the months and years to come! This was not an easy decision to make, as I really love my work, and I wasn't looking to make a big career change when I set off on this ride. I do plan to continue consulting for my non-cycling job part-time, both during and in-between big rides & adventures. But WOW I feel so lucky to have stumbled upon something I love doing so much every day that I just want to keep going and going. I'm so excited to continue this journey with more adventures in NZ and around the world while I have this rare window of opportunity & the momentum to do so. I also do hope to keep sharing my adventures for those of you who are interested in following along. #bikepacking #soundstosounds #touraotearoa #newzealand