Das right! I got myself a new bike. I haven't actually seen it yet, but I'm expecting it should be pretty good. I will be picking it up in New Zealand 2 days before I join Ed on the "ride of my life" from Gisborne to Rotorua.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do about getting a bike to ride while in New Zealand, however my options were:

1. Ship my bike over to NZ. This would cost almost as much of the cost of my bike, so I didn't think this was a great option.
2. Borrow a bike from someone. This is the cheapest option, but still troublesome. I didn't actually ask any of my relatives, but I probably should have.
3. Hire a bike for a week. This would have cost me around $150/week, however extra costs would be incurred because we're not finishing in the same spot we're leaving from. Plus I had difficulties finding a bike hire in Rotorua that would hire for more than a day.
4. Buy a cheap second hand bike and leave/sell it in NZ. I could have purchased a shitty bike for $150 or something, and then donate it to Cash Converters or something afterwards, but I need to go almost 500km on the bike, so I didn't want anything to screw up (like a pedal falling off, for instance).
5. Buy a decent second hand bike and sell it in NZ. I didn't like my chances of selling a bike within 3 days, and figured the financial loss would be substantial.
6. Buy a decent second hand bike and ship it home. It costs around NZ$200 to send a bike home (I think), so I figured if I could find a decent bike with a decent discount, this could be a good option. UPDATE: Shipping it home would cost about $300, which includes handling fees and customs. I've decided to take it with me on the plane to Tonga, and then back to Brisbane. If my excess baggage is 10kg, it will cost me around $240 to get the bike home.

I had a look on trademe.co.uk (NZ version of eBay) and didn't find much. Most of the bikes were either out of my price range or were really shit, or weren't in a good location for me. I checked back a week later and found a new mountain bike for auction in Gisborne (where I leave from). It was a brand new 2007 model, unused, with a RRP of about $1799. I kept my eye on this beauty, until today when I finally bid on it (3 mins before closing). And I won! It'll cost me around $1350 once I pay currency conversion costs, and the discount I got from retail will pay for the shipping home. Here's a pic!



As you can see it's got hydraulic-powered disc brakes and clip-in pedals and a host of other sweet things my current bike doesn't have. Now I got this fast bike, I don't need to train for NZ.