After 6750km, five sets of tyres and more than a few adventures, Dunedin teenager Hamish Kirkman knows just how he will celebrate his arrival back home this week.
''One of Nana and Grandad's roasts. We've been missing those.''
The 14-year-old and his father, Chris Kirkman, left home on December 15 and since then have travelled the length of New Zealand and back in a road trip that incorporated the Tour Aotearoa circuit.
Why? ''Just because'', and the trip had no purpose other than being a self-made personal adventure for a father-son duo who were ''good mates'' and keen cyclists and wanted to do ''something different'', Mr Kirkman said.
The pair spent one and a-half years planning the trip, which they did on Mr Kirkman's Specialized Stumpjumper and Hamish's Merida Big Nine cycles.
They slept in tents, ate fruit and freeze-dried meals, showered in camping grounds, went through five sets of tyres between them and had to contend with only one injury, to the back of Mr Kirkman's heel, which set them back a couple of days.
Other than that, they rode through some of New Zealand's best scenery and met ''lots of friendly cyclists'', travelling parts of the Otago Central Rail Trail and up the West Coast to Marlborough, heading up to Cape Reinga and back and then travelling through Queenstown down to Bluff, Stewart Island and up to the Catlins.
Yesterday, they rode from Lawrence to Clyde - with a boat trip through the Roxburgh Gorge on the way - and today they will cycle to Ranfurly, then continue through Middlemarch to arrive back home in Dunedin on Friday.
They will be welcomed by Hamish's mother and sister, who accompanied the duo by car for part of the trip, and it will be back to work and school for Hamish and his dad on Monday.
The Kaikorai Valley College pupil said he was looking forward to sleeping in a bed, but less excited about his return to school.
''This [cycling] is much more enjoyable.''
