Spending two weeks in NZ & visiting various places both North & South Islands.

Can anyone give me any possibilities to sneak in a good mtb ride in around the Whale Bay, Raglan area (within an hours drive) or Cromwell on the South Island?

when you going to cromwell ?

cromwells on the edge of the nevis (pronounced neevis in apparently ) hills

absolutely stunning riding.

did the bannockburn classic – starting 6 miles from cromwell they have pretty regular events up there !

unfortunantly land access is different in nz and you may not be able to ride there outside of events – can a resident kiwi confirm either way ?

I just got back from Oz, and had an Oz MTB Magazine to read on the plane.

As luck would have it – there was a massive article in the mag on NZ South Island mountain biking. I seem to remember Dunedin factored significanly as a base. Either way I will dig it out and post the significant factors here for you…

My only comment is that 2 weeks will be nowhere near enough…… HTH

Thanks guys, Ax3M4n, would there be any possibility of scanning/emailing the article to me.

Cromwell sound promising, I’m there for 2days so maybe able to sneak a ride in.

rotarua was brilliant but wanaka was a bit poor though did offer heli biking, unfortunately it was covered in snow when I was there

I am currently in the south island – I have only been here for five weeks but nearly everywhere I have been has had some very good mtb. The highlight for me was helibiking in queenstown. If i were you I would just wander into the local bike shop and ask – every time I asked I had a local show me his/her best trails

I’m off there in March and was wondering about the potential for some riding too. As I’ll be doing a few stops before NZ I won’t actually have a bike with me, so has anyone one on here hired bikes whilst out there? Where’s the best place to do it?

We’re in a motorhome for a few weeks so can travel almost anywhere really.

Cheers

I have hired a bike every time – when im back in a few weeks ,and not paying for internet i will e mail you with all the details

Oh legend. Thanks it will be appreciated.

+1 for info – i’m going out there in a few weeks time and plan on getting some riding in!

Just got back from the South Island, hired a bike in Dunedin, trails were good, hire bike was rubbish but worked (CycleSurgery). Good riding in Christchurch, Craigieburn Forest, Nelson and Queenstown. There is a book available in most of the bike shops that had all the trails in it.
Most trails seemed to be quite natural and rooty some very technical. While others were just like gravelled foot paths, most of the time you will need a map as very few are signposted

There’s some great riding in Hanmer Springs. I was on the South Island for a couple of weeks just over a year ago and managed to get a day’s riding in there. Go see the guy who owns the Krank bike shop there. There’s a pretty big trail building community which he’s involved in and he’ll give you a map and point you in the direction of some good riding. There’s some proper marked MTB trails plus plenty more natural stuff too.

There’s hot springs and a spa etc if you have a missus that needs entertaining for the day too.

Ahhh, I wanna go back!

Nice riding around Cromwell area. There is a Cycle Surgery in Cromwell mainly to serve the Rail Trail (nice ride but …). Head up into the Old Man Range – around Poolburn, Old Coach Rd etc. Have a look at the book Mountian Biking South available HERE for lots of ideas. Land access in this area is good, if you want to ride somewhere and it looks dodgy/private just find the nearest house and ask them – 9.999/10 they will be fine with access and possibly give you some pointers. Heaps of riding all over the place.

I rode out at Cromwell for a day with a guide from queenstown can’t rememder his name but it was outside sports who put me onto him . He also does helibiking trips from queenstown .

Plenty of hills inland from whale bay hope you get some surf tho we had nearly a week of 5/6 ft and clean, if surfing is your thing forget the bike for a few days so lucky ! There ain’t much else at whale bay otherwise !

I was fortunate enough to spend a few months with work in NZ and covered a fair few miles on the MTB.

I would recommend the Kennett Brothers guide book as a starting point. It is the definitive guide for most (if not all) of the trails in NZ.

Enjoy

I too have just returned from riding in NZ.
Highlights were:
Craigieburn forest, Canterbury. Real mountains. No room for error on the scree slopes though.
Christchurch port hills, especially Flying Nun.
Nelson, Marsden valley. Fire road slog up to 700m then drop down 4km of switch back singletrack heaven.

I got an ace days riding in at Rotorua after 6 days snowboarding in Wanaka/Queenstown last year.
The trails were great and super flowy. I ended up being shown round by one of the guys who had a trail named after him – the tickler, friendly chaps, the split enz trail is worth checking out too if you go.

I think there’s quite a lot of hire choice in the town, but I went for convenience & hired a beat up GT hardtail from a couple in the carpark, it was reasonably priced and did the job – but the couple are a bit weird and complained I brought it back too late, even though they hadn’t specified a time? I didn’t think I’d taken the michael, so no harm done.

After riding relaxed in the open air Polynesian Hot pools over looking the lake – Ace.

http://www.riderotorua.com/index.php

You can pick up trail maps from a big bike shop in town.

It’s a beautiful country, where ever you go you wont go wrong.
Enjoy!

forgot about port hills

the rail trail – gates are about as technical as it gets 😉

some good stuff round taupo on the north side – had some great fun there despite being ill as a dog !

is in sandy point , invercargill

and depending on how much time you have and how much gravel grinding your into – riding from te anau to queenstown via the tss earnslaw is highly reccomended for the scenary – unloaded and a fit rider could do it in a day – we took 2 fully loaded on the CX bikes

peakprowler – I sent you an email – I will send the mag to you.

I helped dig some of those Taupo trails!

special agent Krag is there at the moment, you wanna ask him!

Anyone turning up in Whakatane NZ can contact me and depending on their available time will show em around.

Ditto Wellington – if you are in the area and need a bike i have a spare (18″ 29er – choice of a Tallboy or a Ti Serotta – sorry nothing fancier than that 😉 )