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Heading down from Alaska

2K views 18 replies 8 participants last post by  Eric Malcolm 
#1 ·
A buddy and I are heading to New Zealand from December 19-January 5. Thinking of renting a camper van and putting the trip together ourselves vs hiring a guide service. I was hoping to get some trail name/loops/areas to hit while we are there together so we can get the most of our time there. Any suggestions or help would be awesome. Thanks .

Mark
 
#3 ·
Ok cool. Any specific trails to make sure and hit? Long epic day or good zone not to miss? We have 2 weeks. Also, hard tail 29 or full suspension 26 trail bike for what you folios have there? Thanks.
 
#7 ·
29r hardtack or a full suspension 26r for your rising there you think? Thanks.
Full suspension for sure. You can ride most/all of it on a hardtail, especially around Rotorua where there are not a lot of rocks, however any trails that can be shuttled will have lots of braking bumps from lots of big bike traffic.

I think south island trails are probably rockier and you'd definitely want suspension there.
 
#8 ·
Great to hear that as I like riding that bike better. Thanks for the info. We have two weeks do hoping to hit everything we need to in that time with some repeaters of the favorites.
 
#9 ·
Alright. We are a month out from our two week exploration of New Zealand by mountain bike. Hoping to put tires down all the technical routes and epic cross country trails we can in that amount of time. I picked up the recommended books and assume the epic trails on there are ones to hit for sure. Some of them say multi-day with cabins. Can you truly hit those in 1 long day though? How chilly does it get out there at night? Need sleeping bags and stuff?

We are planning on driving/sleeping in a van as we move from zone to zone to ride. Beach time and other excursions you recommend would be cool to know as well. We are mostly in shape, and what we aren't in shape for we don't mind suffering a little for. Looking forward to some warm sun and dirt trail riding. Thanks so much for any help, direction, recommendations, and guidance.
 
#10 ·
So where in NZ are you flying in/out of? How far do you want to drive? Do you want to do anything other than ride bikes?

At this time of year it doesn't get too cold at night, would still want a sleeping bag in most areas though. Long narrow north-south country has a fairly varied range of temperatures. Some of the over-nighters could be done as day trips, depending on how fit you are, some of them are definitely multi-day rides though. We did this one earlier this year as an out-and-back, only going as far as the swing bridge.
http://forums.mtbr.com/passion/best-article-you-will-read-today-watch-too-994570.html
Highly recommended if you're not afraid of carrying your bike and want some beautiful scenery with your epic downhills.
 
#11 ·
Sounds good

Flying into Auckland. Will have a camper van thing and able to drive wherever and don't mind driving at all. Hoping to chill on some beaches, ride to and climb a mountain, and really don't mind hike a biking at all. Just want to get there with some solid (can't miss while in New Zealand) objectives. For sure ok. With some suffer fest if needed to see and ride the cool stuff.

Thanks for your time
 
#12 ·
IMO, if you're coming in and out of Auckland you'd be better off focusing on the North Island and perhaps the top bit of the South Island with the time you have. Potentially you could make it to Queenstown and back, but you'd be driving past a whole lot of other cool stuff on the way. If you want to check out both islands then it would be worth it to pay the extra to drop off the camper in Christchurch or Queenstown and fly back to Auckland to leave, rather than spend 1.5-2 days extra driving.
 
#13 ·
Something to be aware of is it will be peak holiday season and everywhere will be busy camping wise, also I disagree about the temps, while yes it can be very warm at nights in Auckland I've been places where it also can get extremely cold at night (I remember Naseby getting down to 0 degrees celcius in Jan) so just don't get caught out.
 
#15 ·
Well

We fly into Queenstown after all. Sorry for the misinformation. Looking at the Heaphy Track, and some riding in that area. Honestly, will take your recommendations on where to go and what to do. The guidebooks are good, but hard to tell what trails are really worth the investment of time and effort based on what we like to do. Tough is good. Epic is good. Carrying is good. Long awesome day is good. Just want to maximize the time on a bike and play on some beaches a bit as well.
 
#18 ·
I know of people doing an out-and-back type ride on the OGR from the Lyell end, but I know after 30km of near continuous climbing I wouldn't really be in a state to enjoy the downhill! I'm heading down there in Feb for the first time [with my bike] and will be doing it end-to-end as an overnighter to make the most of it. We're also doing the Wakamarina track, again as a point-to-point with a shuttle. I've never ridden any of this, but the guys I'm riding with say they're two of the best the area has to offer.
Other than that I can't offer any more advice/help as I've only ever ridden in the north island.
 
#19 ·
Many of the trails in NZ are point to point rather than loop. Many of the trails are better suited to parking up at one end and riding part way and return. Move to the other end and do the same. A really good ride if you're in Queenstown is the ride from Arrowtown to Macetown and beyond. Lots of river crossings, an out and back ride, due to the nature of this ride, the opposite directions are completely different to experience.

Eric
 
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