Queenstown and Christchurch in May advice please

Hi, I'm heading to NZ in mid May with the family. Planning to spend a day riding in Queenstown and a day riding in Christchurch. Coming from North Queensland, I have no idea what to expect of the weather and what to wear. So any advice on what to bring and wear?

Cheers.
 

northvanguy

Likes Dirt
I just did 2 days in Chch and 3 days in Queenstown. Got back Sunday night....

Have lots of good info if you PM and let me know what type riding you want to do etc
 

Dozer

Heavy machinery.
Staff member
In May, it will be cold, short days and snow around on the hills. The bike park in Queenstown will be open until the middle of May but the park in Christchurch should be open all year round (if it's open again after the recent fires).
Take a trail bike though, there's tons of riding in Queenstown that will satisfy you. You could spend an entire day at 7 Mile and not ride the same trail too often and they are great enough to do multiple laps of! Queenstown bike taxi's will still be running and you can get tons of laps at Coronet (Rude Rock, Zoot etc).
 

uglybob

Likes Bikes
clothing wise - thermal undershirt(s) and a light riding jacket - it can get fairly chilly especially up high like on rude rock etc.

i am back there each year, and i generally have a merino undershirt on, as well as my Specialized Deflect H20 jacket in the camelbak if needed.
 

Nautonier

Eats Squid
ChCh bike park should be open again by then. Agree that a (capable) trail bike (~160mm) that you can ride up hills with opens up lots more possibilities other than just the bike parks. 160mm trail bikes are still super fun on all the DH tracks as well - just slightly less forgiving!
 
Only going to get a couple of rides in during my visit and never ridden a DH bike before so was thinking of hiring one. Wasn't planning on doing any climbing on the bike, hoping to let the gondola and chair lift do all of that work.

Sounds like merino layer under my riding shirt and a rain jacket should be suitable to keep dry and warm. What about the legs? Will I need leg warmers or will knee/shin pads do the trick?
 

Nautonier

Eats Squid
Only going to get a couple of rides in during my visit and never ridden a DH bike before so was thinking of hiring one. Wasn't planning on doing any climbing on the bike, hoping to let the gondola and chair lift do all of that work.

Sounds like merino layer under my riding shirt and a rain jacket should be suitable to keep dry and warm. What about the legs? Will I need leg warmers or will knee/shin pads do the trick?
Plenty of options to hire a DH bike in Queenstown and the perfect place to ride it. Don't reckon you'll need leg warmers, there could even be some warmish days. And you'll be riding up in an enclosed Gondola.
 
Z

Zaf

Guest
Hey guys, figured I might jump in on the thread. I'm planning on doing a month or so on the south Island in November this year, mainly around Christchurch. Just trying to get a scope of how close you can stay to the trails on the southern side of the city. When I went to Rotorua we stayed in accommodation just down the road from the geyser, so it was a quick pedal to get to the redwoods. I understand Christchurch is a fair bit larger than Rotorua, but has anyone done a similar style of trip? Or have any recommendations?
Is November far enough out of the snow to avoid the really cold parts of the year?
 

Kurtnz

Likes Bikes
What trails do you want to ride Zaf? Bike park? Port hills? Vic park?

You should be able to find something close to one of those, checkout https://www.holidayhouses.co.nz/Bro...2017-11-08&availableto=2017-11-15&location=13

Christchuch is generally very flat until you hit the Port Hills so it might be best to get somewhere near the bike park and use the lift to get to the top, from there you can either ride the park or ride around to Vic Park. To tackle the Port Hills there are various roads that link up to the trails but this might give you an idea of one of the climbs https://www.strava.com/activities/808321093

November might be okay, it's a bit of a mixed bag around then. Christchurch can get cold but cloud tends to clear and you get nice sunny days.
 
Z

Zaf

Guest
Cheers man.
Girlfriend actually just found a nice air bnb in Cashmere that's close to the Victoria park trails. I'm taking a full month (probably a bit more), so I'm gonna get stuck into a bit of everything!!

Really it's just a question of which bike to take now. My stoke levels are absolutely off the charts right now!!!
Guess I'll just have to sort out riding gear, small land mass, gotta be ready for quick weather changes.
 

Nautonier

Eats Squid
Hey guys, figured I might jump in on the thread. I'm planning on doing a month or so on the south Island in November this year, mainly around Christchurch. Just trying to get a scope of how close you can stay to the trails on the southern side of the city. When I went to Rotorua we stayed in accommodation just down the road from the geyser, so it was a quick pedal to get to the redwoods. I understand Christchurch is a fair bit larger than Rotorua, but has anyone done a similar style of trip? Or have any recommendations?
Is November far enough out of the snow to avoid the really cold parts of the year?
November in ChCh is totally fine, most locals ride all year round anyway. Cashmere is the perfect spot to stay. Hopefully the bike park will be up and running again by then, the latest I heard was that the retardant the helicopters was using to put out the fires was corrosive to the chairlift! Doh! On the up side, a lot of the forrest is still standing, so it's still going to be a bike park with trees, not some awful barren wasteland.

If the bike park isn't open by then, there's heaps of stuff in Vic park and the port hills all near where you are staying. If you can talk your GF into some shuttles up Dyers Pass Rd you'll save yourself some massive climbs and get to know the trails a lot better.

And as I've said before, it's totally worth hiring a car for a day and heading out to Craigieburn/Cheeseman to ride the epic trails out there. Just over an hour out of ChCh.
 
Z

Zaf

Guest
November in ChCh is totally fine, most locals ride all year round anyway. Cashmere is the perfect spot to stay. Hopefully the bike park will be up and running again by then, the latest I heard was that the retardant the helicopters was using to put out the fires was corrosive to the chairlift! Doh! On the up side, a lot of the forrest is still standing, so it's still going to be a bike park with trees, not some awful barren wasteland.

If the bike park isn't open by then, there's heaps of stuff in Vic park and the port hills all near where you are staying. If you can talk your GF into some shuttles up Dyers Pass Rd you'll save yourself some massive climbs and get to know the trails a lot better.

And as I've said before, it's totally worth hiring a car for a day and heading out to Craigieburn/Cheeseman to ride the epic trails out there. Just over an hour out of ChCh.
That sounds PERFECT!!!
I may have to just buck up and get a car sorted, it'll also help with some day trips and seeing other parts of the south island. I got an amazing deal on flights and accommodation, for five weeks (Oct 29-Dec 1st) it's only costing us $2300ea, which leaves plenty in the budget for spending and such.
ANy idea where the trails are that they used for filming the Yeti "Proven Here" clip for the SB5.5c? I don't want to go home without having put wheels to dirt on stuff like that!!
 

nzhumpy

Googlemeister who likes bikes and scandal
ANy idea where the trails are that they used for filming the Yeti "Proven Here" clip for the SB5.5c?
Queenstown- Coronet Peak and the stuff closer to the lake looks like The Remarkables.

The stuff from about 2.50 on, the lead in shot is Milford Sound and I doubt you're allowed bikes in the national park there, could be somewhere around Te Anau - definitely looks wet enough.
 
Z

Zaf

Guest
Leave approved this morning! I'm in! Gonna have to hit all th trails I can.
Stumpy or Strive?

Sent from my Agora 4G Pro using Tapatalk
 

Nautonier

Eats Squid
Leave approved this morning! I'm in! Gonna have to hit all th trails I can.
Stumpy or Strive?

Sent from my Agora 4G Pro using Tapatalk

Good stuff! I'd definitely do as much research as you can beforehand if you want to hits lots of awesome trails that aren't on the map or well known. Hit me up if you need info as I used to live in NZ and still ride there regularly.

Stumpy (FSR? 29er?) and Strive are pretty similar geo/travel, I'd go for whichever has the slackest HA! 66 on the Strive would probably be the win.
 
Z

Zaf

Guest
Good stuff! I'd definitely do as much research as you can beforehand if you want to hits lots of awesome trails that aren't on the map or well known. Hit me up if you need info as I used to live in NZ and still ride there regularly.

Stumpy (FSR? 29er?) and Strive are pretty similar geo/travel, I'd go for whichever has the slackest HA! 66 on the Strive would probably be the win.
I'll take you up on that offer!! I was looking at trailforks to give me an idea of where the trails are, but these never match local knowledge. I've heard that the local sneaky tracks are sort of death grip terrifying fun, usually takes a couple of days to just get used to the speed you carry on trails with actual vertical again; sadly don't get a lot of it out in Alice, gotta spin legs for speed out here.

Stumpy is an S-Works 29er FSR and she's recently been burled out in anticipation for 2018 Andes Pacifico (although, holy jesus, flights in and out of Santiago are unbelievably expensive!!). They're both pretty well mannered bikes, making it a genuinely difficult decision...should get the missus to take one, and I'll take the other; then I won't have to choose.
 

Nautonier

Eats Squid
(although, holy jesus, flights in and out of Santiago are unbelievably expensive!!)
Quantas has sales every year that are a fraction of the usual (extortionate) price. I've been over there twice and both times I paid only around $1k. You can sign up to receive alerts when the sales are on, you have to move fast as they sell out quickly. The riding over there is unbelievable!
 
Z

Zaf

Guest
Quantas has sales every year that are a fraction of the usual (extortionate) price. I've been over there twice and both times I paid only around $1k. You can sign up to receive alerts when the sales are on, you have to move fast as they sell out quickly. The riding over there is unbelievable!
I'm on it!! Thanks for the heads up on that one as well!! Gonna owe people some beers for all this.
It seems those are the deals running on NZ flights at the moment, it's about $1k return (just under) into Welli, ChCh and Aukland. Get it while the going is good.
 

Nautonier

Eats Squid
I'm on it!! Thanks for the heads up on that one as well!! Gonna owe people some beers for all this.
It seems those are the deals running on NZ flights at the moment, it's about $1k return (just under) into Welli, ChCh and Aukland. Get it while the going is good.
NZ to Santiago? Obviously you'd have to pay the Aus to NZ component on top of that, but usually you can get that for around $350 return, which, overall makes it still a very good deal.
 
Z

Zaf

Guest
NZ to Santiago? Obviously you'd have to pay the Aus to NZ component on top of that, but usually you can get that for around $350 return, which, overall makes it still a very good deal.

I explained that poorly, I'll likely be flying Melb/Sydney to Santiago come January. I was just commenting on how cheap flights to NZ are at the moment, especially out of Alice Springs, we get hammered with only a single airline for flights costs on the domestic leg of our travel.
The missus just confirmed her leave as well. Time to spend some money and lock it in!!
 
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