Te Anau couple Stef and Adrian Braaksma have taken their three young children on the cycle adventure of their lifetime, riding the length of New Zealand while promoting Fiordland’s advantages to the travellers they meet along the way.

Stef owns a massage therapy business in Te Anau and Adrian works for the Department of Conservation as an avalanche ranger.

The keen adventurers decided to take this year out and introduce Jazz, 11, Mahe, 9 and Charlie, 6, to the joys of long-distance cycling.

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The family intends covering New Zealand in a zig-zag fashion, using as many off road trails as possible, at a pace of about 30km per day, sometimes less.

Along the way, the family intends talking with people they meet about Fiordland and encouraging them to visit. 

Speaking from Twizel on Monday (January 11), Stef said the family were enjoying some time out from touring in a friend’s house.

“We have been on the road for three weeks now. We did Bluff to Kaka Point in the last school holidays to trial our gear, so we started at Kaka Point,” she said.

So far, the family has ridden the Clutha Gold Trail, the Otago Rail Trail, and over the Omarama Saddle.

They are now in the middle of the Ocean to Alps Trail and heading towards Tekapo and Geraldine.

High in the high country - the Braaksma family take a break from cycling. PHOTO: Supplied

“If we went the direct route it would probably be 3000km but because we are zigzagging, it will be more like 4000km. But our mode is to get away from the crazy traffic . . . It is about the journey for us, exploring along the way. We are only doing 30km a day, what with stops and things to explore.”

Stef is working remotely on marketing her business, while staff members keep it ticking over at home. 

Adrian has taken some time off from his DOC work and the children have been enrolled in correspondence school for the year.

The family have plastered Fiordland and Te Anau stickers over their bikes and the children are wearing Fiordland tee-shirts to help promote awareness of their home.

It is not the children’s first adventure. Four years ago, they and their parents did a month- long trip down the Yukon River in Alaska and Canada.

They have also had many, shorter, outdoor adventures with their parents in New Zealand.

However, the length of this year’s adventure makes things quite different. 

“They are great. Everyone is a bit tired. We are actually at a friend’s house because we need to have a little bit of a break from camping . . . We have had our moments of sitting beside the trail in tears. But as we go along, they are getting stronger in physical and mental stamina,” Stef said.

The children are keeping a diary of their adventure and once term one kicks in, they will do their school lessons on the road.

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The Braaksmas intend to return to Fiordland at least a couple of times this year. 

They have a wedding to go to in February, and they have accepted a contract to manage a remote hunting lodge in Preservation Inlet during May, June and July.

By then, the family hopes to have completed the South Island so that they can pick up their bike tour in the North Island after the winter.

Stef said since starting the journey, the couple have received messages from travellers who went on to visit Fiordland.

Follow Braaksma Adventures on Facebook HERE.