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Travelling to New Zealand - Point me where to go

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Travelling to New Zealand - Point me where to go

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flag bigdan30
Posted: Jan 30, 2014 at 19:03 Quote
So my wife and I are planning a trip to NZ at the end of the year, and I want to spend some time biking while I'm there. Ideally, I'd like to just rent an all-mountain bike from a local shop, have them point me in the direction of a nice long climb paired with a nice long descent (or two), kind of an all day thing. I'd also be interested in some lift-access riding if it's nearby and available. I'm a solid rider, comfortable on jumps and DH, but I'd love me some long and fast single track through the mountains as well.

Like I said, we're planning a long ways from now (November), so I'm just kind of poking around to see where I should be doing this, how much it will roughly cost, and what you would suggest me doing. I'm open to your suggestions too! I've heard of Gorge Rd. and while that looks sick, I'd rather spend my time using the mountains. No idea which part of the country we'll be in, so I could possibly base my stop around the biking, because this trip would just be a touchdown between home and her destination of Thailand.

Thanks for your help!
flag StackingItSince1991
Posted: Jan 31, 2014 at 23:17 Quote
There is good riding all round NZ but the two hotspots are Rotorua (North Island) and Queenstown (South Island). Both are tourist towns so plenty of non biking activities to be had. Rotorua has a shuttle service that runs weekends and has a big network of trails. Queenstown has one gondola accessed bike park and a heap of shuttled rides as well (e.g. Rude Rock - as featured on Follow Me).
flag bigdan30
Posted: Feb 1, 2014 at 6:25 Quote
Awesome! Thanks so much, I need stuff like this so I can at least figure out where to start.
flag atomlized
Posted: Feb 20, 2014 at 23:46 Quote
The top of the south island has some great trails to!, a city called nelson at the top of the south island has some amazing tracks e.g. the heaphy track, its a couple of days long but it has the most amazing views,
the have some really good downhill tracks in nelson too!.
the have to tracks there which the hold nationals downhill on so that says enough haha.
so yea if you do travel around the whole country then nelson is one place worth stopping by and trying out their great trails!
hope it helped?
flag bigdan30
Posted: Feb 22, 2014 at 9:10 Quote
Everything helps. Thanks guys
flag atomlized
Posted: Feb 22, 2014 at 22:52 Quote
ohh and dont forget dunedin! it has some of the countries best dh tracks!
rode it last year and damm its awesome!
tarmac road to top so its great to get to the top in any car..
here is a link for it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2YW2bAxtF4

cheers
flag samurite
Posted: Dec 2, 2014 at 15:31 Quote
Hi I've just got myself a working visa for a year out in NZ Big Grin woo
I'll be there in November 2015, I'm doing a tour of north and south islands which finishes in christ church after two weeks, my plan is just to backpack to queens town where I can get my bike posted to Smile
Any suggestions on tips to plan the trip??
Any and all advice greatly appreaciated Smile
flag YogiNZ
Posted: Dec 12, 2014 at 12:04 Quote
samurite wrote:
Hi I've just got myself a working visa for a year out in NZ Big Grin woo
I'll be there in November 2015, I'm doing a tour of north and south islands which finishes in christ church after two weeks, my plan is just to backpack to queens town where I can get my bike posted to Smile
Any suggestions on tips to plan the trip??
Any and all advice greatly appreaciated Smile

For anyone tripping around NZ cycling, purchase these guide books before you come and plan your trip around what takes your fancy: http://www.kennett.co.nz/product/classic-nz-mtb-rides-boxed-set/

The Kennett Brothers are the Gurus of MTB'ing in NZ and their guides cover all the best tracks throughout the country. In terms of where the best biking is, it's hands down Queenstown and Rotorua. You'll get everything from lifts and shuttles, as well as all day epics if you want. There's plenty of quality riding in between in too. I'd avoid any time in or around Auckland though, even though it's the largest city, it's barren riding country there. 440 MTB park about 1 hour away is worth a look if you are sight seeing around the Coromandel Peninsula though.

Worthy mentionables are Nelson for its brutal technical riding in amazing scenery. Wellington for hundreds of km's of track all rideable from the centre of the city's bars and cafes. Christchurch is hit or miss at the moment. Maybe worth a day but the best riding is outside of Chch in places like Craigieburn. Taupo near Rotorua is like an extension of the tracks around Rotorua. Dunedin if you're that far south otherwise don't burn the petrol, save it for Queenstown. Also worth the cash is helibiking in Nelson and along the South Islands West Coast (Old Ghost Rd, Kirwins, etc).

In terms of bike hire, you can pick up quality bikes in the main biking hubs such as Rotorua, Queenstown, Wellington, possibly Nelson. If your tripping around though it'd be best to bring your own bike as bike hire is expensive. Make sure the bike is sterile clean when entering the country or else you'll get pinged under our Biosecurity rules. Don't want your foreign pests settling in NZ.
flag bigdan30
Posted: Feb 1, 2015 at 6:36 Quote
Alright, so I'm only a few days away from NZ and it's looking like I'll probably do a day of riding in Rotorua and a day in Queenstown. Just need a couple opinions.
Would you recommend doing a day shuttle of Southstar, or just rent an all mountain fully and fart around on my own? Or something else (Skyline?)? Also, I kind of have riding Rude Rock from Follow Me stuck in my head as something I wanna do, but not sure if it's actually worth it haha.
Because I'll have been travelling for two months, budget is kind of a concern. Id like to probably do one day of shuttle and one of lift access, unless it's totally worth it to do two days of lift access.
Another thing is I've been lucky to have ridden 8 different lift access parks all over North America this year, but riding a 2 hour shuttle in Utah was one of my favourite rides just cause it was something totally different from what I'm used to. So if there's something more different or unique (not just brake bump covered berm trails) Id rather go that route. If you were me, what would you do? Two days is my max both cost and time-wise.
Also, where's the best/cheapest place to rent? Probably a DH bike in Queenstown and an all mountain or DH in Rotorua.
Sorry for the long post, just getting excited
flag atomlized
Posted: Feb 2, 2015 at 1:20 Quote
dude go to Blenheim and nelson, you will love it! and ill organize some shuttles!
flag YogiNZ
Posted: Feb 2, 2015 at 13:20 Quote
bigdan30 wrote:
Alright, so I'm only a few days away from NZ and it's looking like I'll probably do a day of riding in Rotorua and a day in Queenstown....

Only a day in each place??? Oh man! You'll have to come back. Good choices on Rotorua and Queenstown for that limited amount of time. Do both and you won't regret it, even if after your first day riding (where ever it is) you just want to spend another day there, force yourself out of it. Both are unique in their own way and you won't regret riding both.

Word of warning on hiring: hire bikes in NZ are expensive. You won't find a decent bike at a cheap price, our market is too small I guess.

Rotorua:

I haven't ridden the Skyline MTB Park yet and although everyone say's it's fun, most of my mates seem to recommend only spending a day there and the rest of the time in Whakarewarewa Forest still... so going off that, maybe skip the gondola and head in to do the shuttles at Whaka's. Hire a 150-160mm bike (or there abouts... something you can pedal around on). Pick up a map of the forest from a bike shop in town and they'll be able to point you in the direction to the shuttle pick up in the forest. Get a multiple trip ticket for the shuttle to save a bit of money. If you find someone else to ride with you can share 1 multi-ticket between you meaning you can get something like a 10 trip ticket.

Make sure you hit up Huckleberry Hound, Little Red Riding Huck, Corners, Eagle vs. Shark, Billy T, Split Enz. These are all best done via the shuttle and you'll want to do them multiple times. If you're not hammered after that, go and find Rock Drop (becoming one of the most photographed tracks in Rotorua it seems... nice gnarly rock feature in it), and explore some of the tracks in between. If you haven't finished the day with a big smile on your face, there is something wrong with you.

Full suspension hire bikes:

Outdoorsman HQ - about $90 a day (Yeti)
MTB Rotorua - $140 a day (Giant Reign?)
Rotorua Cycle Centre - $130 a day (Giant Reign)
Planet Bike - not sure but worth checking what they have, poss. Banshee?

Queenstown:

First time riding since the Skyline MTB Park opened for me over Christmas just been.... great fun except they shut access to MTB's on the gondola due to the number of tourists so never got in there to ride. Since you only have a day though, just go ride the gondola. It's open again to bikes. Hire a DH and go smash yourself up.

IF you have time and can get someone/find a shuttle service, go and ride Rude Rock. It's friggen amaze balls but you'll want to hit it up several times. It may be a bit cut up after the summer traffic though unless QTMTBC have been in to work on it. It's about 4km's long and takes about 40mins to ride back up to the start if you're unlucky enough to not have a car and driver. There was a shuttle service running over Christmas... it may still be. I think Coronet Peak Ski Field were running it, but check in with whoever you hire your bike from.

Bike hire:

Start with Vertigo Bikes and shop around.


Hope that helps. Also, I hope some locals adopt you as it'll be a lot more fun. Don't be afraid hitting other riders up to ride with whilst you're out here. Most NZ riders are GC's and if they don't seem that keen it'd probably be they're a bit shy.
flag bigdan30
Posted: Feb 6, 2015 at 9:50 Quote
YogiNZ wrote:
bigdan30 wrote:
Alright, so I'm only a few days away from NZ and it's looking like I'll probably do a day of riding in Rotorua and a day in Queenstown....

Only a day in each place??? Oh man! You'll have to come back. Good choices on Rotorua and Queenstown for that limited amount of time. Do both and you won't regret it, even if after your first day riding (where ever it is) you just want to spend another day there, force yourself out of it. Both are unique in their own way and you won't regret riding both.

Word of warning on hiring: hire bikes in NZ are expensive. You won't find a decent bike at a cheap price, our market is too small I guess.

Rotorua:

I haven't ridden the Skyline MTB Park yet and although everyone say's it's fun, most of my mates seem to recommend only spending a day there and the rest of the time in Whakarewarewa Forest still... so going off that, maybe skip the gondola and head in to do the shuttles at Whaka's. Hire a 150-160mm bike (or there abouts... something you can pedal around on). Pick up a map of the forest from a bike shop in town and they'll be able to point you in the direction to the shuttle pick up in the forest. Get a multiple trip ticket for the shuttle to save a bit of money. If you find someone else to ride with you can share 1 multi-ticket between you meaning you can get something like a 10 trip ticket.

Make sure you hit up Huckleberry Hound, Little Red Riding Huck, Corners, Eagle vs. Shark, Billy T, Split Enz. These are all best done via the shuttle and you'll want to do them multiple times. If you're not hammered after that, go and find Rock Drop (becoming one of the most photographed tracks in Rotorua it seems... nice gnarly rock feature in it), and explore some of the tracks in between. If you haven't finished the day with a big smile on your face, there is something wrong with you.

Full suspension hire bikes:

Outdoorsman HQ - about $90 a day (Yeti)
MTB Rotorua - $140 a day (Giant Reign?)
Rotorua Cycle Centre - $130 a day (Giant Reign)
Planet Bike - not sure but worth checking what they have, poss. Banshee?

Queenstown:

First time riding since the Skyline MTB Park opened for me over Christmas just been.... great fun except they shut access to MTB's on the gondola due to the number of tourists so never got in there to ride. Since you only have a day though, just go ride the gondola. It's open again to bikes. Hire a DH and go smash yourself up.

IF you have time and can get someone/find a shuttle service, go and ride Rude Rock. It's friggen amaze balls but you'll want to hit it up several times. It may be a bit cut up after the summer traffic though unless QTMTBC have been in to work on it. It's about 4km's long and takes about 40mins to ride back up to the start if you're unlucky enough to not have a car and driver. There was a shuttle service running over Christmas... it may still be. I think Coronet Peak Ski Field were running it, but check in with whoever you hire your bike from.

Bike hire:

Start with Vertigo Bikes and shop around.


Hope that helps. Also, I hope some locals adopt you as it'll be a lot more fun. Don't be afraid hitting other riders up to ride with whilst you're out here. Most NZ riders are GC's and if they don't seem that keen it'd probably be they're a bit shy.

Perfect man, this is what I was looking for. I knew it wouldn't be cheap to rent, but these don't seem too out of hand. I'll definitely look into what you said. Thanks!
And thanks to the other suggestions...yeah, kinda sucks I'll only get 2 days for sure, but we've got a lot of land to see in the next few week haha. I haven't ridden since September, so anything will be fantastic
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