On North Island the best riding spots are:
Woodhill (near Auckland)
Rotorua
Craters of the Moon (Taupo)
42 Traverse
and Wellington (my personal fav but I live there so I'm biased)

South Island

Queen Charlotte track (closed for the peak season in summer)
Nelson area
Craigieburn (though this is much better in winter for skiing)
Plenty of stuff around Christchurch
Wanaka/Queenstown even though the chairlift uplift has shut at Coronet Peak.

The Kennet Bros book is a good place to start, also have a look at http://www.tracks.org.nz and http://www.vorb.org.nz

If you want to hire a bike of half decent quality you'll struggle outside of Rotorua, Welly, Chch and Queenstown. I think there is a place in the Abel Tasman area that has good bikes and offers a package of a couple of days riding and accommodation. Loads of backpackers type places hire out some rather suspect old bikes which are fine for a gentle pootle along some flat trails but I wouldn't fancy taking them anywhere remote or technical for the most part.

I've heard good things about Fat Tyre Bikes in Queenstown. Gregg who runs it is a well experienced biker and will tailor trips dependent on ability.

Hamilton is the Chlamydia capitol of NZ.

+1 For what NZCol said about LA.

Cathay were the cheapest when I booked for flights the other way a month or so ago. There are only a handful of airlines that fly to NZ (Cathay, Korean and Lan being the only ones I can think of that haven't been mentioned).

Royal Brunei are OK. Fairly old planes with an old entertainment system but I'd be perfectly happy to fly on them.

Air NZ are the only ones who do it direct. Stopovers in HK or LA but same aircraft all the way, thats why they are the quickest.

Neither.

Derrick May is God

I've been looking into doing it next year as a slightly differant way of travelling from NZ to UK.

Best website I've seen for info is seat61

I changed from being a Mechanical Tech on oil rigs to being an Air Traffic Controller a few years back. I had a young family and got sick of spending 2+ weeks away from them on a shitty little metal island in the middle of the North Sea.

I had absolutely no knowledge of the aviation industry before I started but now there is no chance I would change again. Great job, minimal formal qualifications required but the selection and training process is rather testing. Some people with multiple degrees failed to make the grade, others with nothing except A levels sailed through.

My clan tearing it up at Rotorua.

Doesn't sound like there is much then. Kinda what I was expecting.
If I do go for the job there I'll probably look at getting a boat so I'm sure that will fill my time nicely.
Slicks on the hardtail for fitness rides on the road and regular trips to visit family in Scotland with a couple of alpine trips thrown in could be the way to go.

If you have to try to be cool then by definition you are not cool.
It's something some people just have naturally, just buying a gadget will never make you cool, you'll just have the same gadget as someone who is cool.

You beat me to it Col. I was just about to post that,

An older Spesh Enduro (2006 model)?
My S works is respectable at climbing. I'd never say it was good uphill but it's not too bad. My local hill is around 1600ft climbing with an average gradient of 13.5% and OK on that
Downhill wise I've ridden several DH courses here in NZ on it (Rotorua, Long Gully, Coronet Peak) and the bike can handle way more than I can.
Build it light with a DHX air and 36 TALAS or burly with 66's and a DHX coil

Just think of that nice cup'o'tea and game of bingo in Eastbourne and the last bit will be a breeze.

Dan

It's not quite as shiny now.

Would have to be the Kea. Cheeky little gits. Kinda like the NED of the bird world.

So much fun sitting at the South Island ski resorts and watching them destroy other peoples cars/skis/boards/bikes etc

Motion X for me.

GSTQ is a crap national anthem. I hate the queen bit and the god bit. It's like a bloody funeral dirge. All these things have been said before many times.

However as an expat brit it makes me miss home whenever I hear it, brings a lump to my throat and makes the hairs on the back of my neck standup with pride at being English and British. For that reason alone it should not be changed.

I quite like the Kiwi one

E Ihow? Atua,
O ng? iwi m?tou r?
?ta whakarangona;
Me aroha noa
Kia hua ko te pai;
Kia tau t? atawhai;
Manaakitia mai
Aotearoa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlN0dBkGGcs

Just wish they'd drop the haka though. It's getting a little tiring and performed far too much.

As an air traffic controller myself I thought I should add my tuppence worth.

There is bugger all wrong with it in some ways. His dad would have had his headset plugged in to the same frequency in the mentor socket and if he'd used his PTT it would have cut out anything his son was saying. I'm sure any responsible controller would not have done it during a bust period and it's not that much different from training a new controller (apart from the fact they would have done several months in a training centre

However it is against the conditions of his dads licence to let someone without an RT licence transmit over the frequency even if they are being closely watched and told what to say.

I've occasionally had my kids in the tower with me but there is not a hope in hell I'd let them transmit anything.

I've had a look at Enterprise and they do seem to be that wee bit cheaper.

I don't specifically need an estate car, but I think with 1 adult, 4 kids, luggage for a month and my bike and biking gear I may struggle with a hatchback or saloon.

I shall have a look at the pair of them, thanks.

Because pubs are full of older men drinking real ale with stupid names and moaning about how things aren't as good as they used to be.

My son has a black, green and white one.

Seen here tearing round the trails in Rotorua, NZ

Conc was kind of fly by wire. It passed electrical signals directly from the control inputs to the control surfaces rather than using a mechanical system.

A modern FBW control system processes the signal as well (or the pilot moves the controls which tells the computer what what to do to the control surfaces).

No, this is a website called Singletrackworld.

I think you'll find Glasgow is a city in Scotland.

Island Bay butchers haggis for me as well. Quite impressed that an Antipodean could make it so well.
They do make bloody good sausages as well. Best in the country IMHO

I used to love them, even seriously considered spending lots of money learning to fly them, now after spending far to many hours flying back and forth to work offshore they've kind of lost their appeal…

I used to hate heli's after a few trips offshore.
Then I discovered the one true purpose of a helicopter.

What choppers were made for

So in the event of an incident your eyes are already accustomed to the dark and you'll be better able to escape.

Wellington, NZ

It is a good job and nowhere near as stressful as most people think. You're right about the annual leave. When I was in the UK I used to take a fortnight off every other month.

I am one.

"saippuakivikauppias"

It's Finish for 'Soap Stone Seller"

The ex-mother-in-law

Looks like fun. You should go up at night with lights for some night boarding.

Dan

Don't accept your insurers first offer.

I like this one

When I lived in Hamilton I questioned one of the staff at Chatelherault about the no cycling signs there. I was told (off the record) that they knew the signs needed to be removed but they didn't have the enough funds to actually remove them!!!

I've been using the Lite version for a while now. I liked it so much I went for the paid version.
Doesn't do anything fancy but it works well and is easy to use.

Ping On was my favourite Chinese when I lived there many years ago. It was down in Leith somewhere I think but I'm not sure if it's still there.

Anything from a pig, especially belly with crispy crunchy skin

Most major airlines have bassinets available for little ones.
It's usually up to 24 months old for sitting on a lap/bassinet.