After a two-month odyssey on a Russian container ship, Josie Dew and her bicycle finally arrived on dry land -the one the Maori call The Land of the Long White Cloud. The rest of us call it New Zealand, but Josie developed a few other, less romantic names.

For this was the wettest, windiest and stormiest year since records began,and Josie, buffeted across some of the most spectacular scenery on earth,experienced the country in all its captivating, challenging glory.

After a two-month odyssey on a Russian container ship, Josie Dew and her bicycle finally arrived on dry land -the one the Maori call The Land of the Long White Cloud. The rest of us call it New Zealand, but Josie developed a few other, less romantic names.

For this was the wettest, windiest and stormiest year since records began,and Josie, buffeted across some of the most spectacular scenery on earth,experienced the country in all its captivating, challenging glory.

The wildlife enchanted - and sometimes enervated -the lone cyclist.Possums both dead and alive; exotic birds like the eerie moreporks;the odd ostrich with a penchant for chasing her; and harriers who divebombed her. English farm animals presented more familiar obstacles in the shape of sheep-jams and cow-blocks - reminders that this is a place where visitors on two wheels get short shrift from residents on four legs.

Acknowledgements

Maps

1 Auckland, 24 December 2003

2 Near Amodeo Bay, Coromandel Peninsula,31 December

3 Omokoroa, Bay of Plenty, 15January

4 Te Kaha, Eastland, 25January

5 Wairoa, Hawke's Bay, 4 February

6 Dannevirke, 12 February

7 Picton, Marlborough, South Island, 20 February

8 Kaikoura, Canterbury, 23 February

9 Moana, Lake Brunner, West Coast, 3 March

10 Lake Pearson, Selwyn, Canterbury, 6 March

11 Wanaka, Otago, 1 April

12 Timaru, South Canterbury, 20 April

13 Blenheim, Marlborough, 6 May

14 Wellington, North Island, 16 May

15 Parakai, Auckland North, 15June

16 Rotorua, 7 August

Appendix: Equipment Department