When consuming 3000-4000 calories a day to keep your legs pedalling, cheap calories become important. But in New Zealand many high-calorie foods cheap in Canada can cost twice as much. For example, $2.50 for a regular-sized chocolate bar.

So it was good to find out pre-tour that ice cream would be the best food deal we’d find.

And what a deal it was! After ordering my first cone and watching the cashier pile it on, I had to ask, “that’s the single-scoop right?”. “Um, yes, a single scoop.” Dear me, then what does the double scoop look like??

A serving larger than my fist and delicious to boot. They know how to use their dairy in New Zealand.

Any guide will tell you about the national flavour, “hokey pokey” – vanilla ice cream with chunks of honeycomb toffee (think of the inside of a Crunchie bar):

Yummy, but pretty sweet. Didn’t find myself craving it again on the trip.

My recommendation: anything berry was pulled-off quite well, staying true to the berry flavoured and not tasting of pink sugar.