The Rotorua Questions Thread

[creaky]

I'll start this as a general thread for questions and advice about Rotorua and nearby destinations, as I'm sure there would be 12 million individual threads eventually.

My start ...

1. We're planning a me, wife and 18month old trip to the north island for 2-3 weeks but unfortunately my wife's work commitments won't allow us to go until early-mid April. Is this getting later than ideal for riding in Rotorua, Taupo etc. ?

2. I've got a pass to go over to Rotorua 3 days earlier than the family to get some riding in but we are getting a camper van after that. Want to take my bike but don't really want to lug it around for two weeks after that ... Any suggestions about storage etc. ?

Thanks

 

[sbr511]

The fiancee is planning our honeymoon and mentioned NZ, is it rude to take my bike and leave her at the hotel??

 

[Knuckles]

The fiancee is planning our honeymoon and mentioned NZ, is it rude to take my bike and leave her at the hotel??

It'd be rude not to. Show that you respect and trust her enough, not to spend every moment chaperoning her.

 

[creaky]

The fiancee is planning our honeymoon and mentioned NZ, is it rude to take my bike and leave her at the hotel??

Act on the first day how you intend to act for the rest of time .... or else they'll complain you've changed !

 

[wesdadude]

I've lust lived in Rotorua for the last three months. I mainly rode the bike park but also Southstar shuttles at Wharewaka forest. AFAIK riding is fine year round. Not sure on your other queries though. Happy to answer and questions you may have.

 

[pink poodle]

The fiancee is planning our honeymoon and mentioned NZ, is it rude to take my bike and leave her at the hotel??

There is plenty for her to do while you ride. Ladies love hot springs and stuff. Discuss it with her before you commit to going there.

I've lust lived in Rotorua for the last three months. I mainly rode the bike park but also Southstar shuttles at Wharewaka forest. AFAIK riding is fine year round. Not sure on your other queries though. Happy to answer and questions you may have.

What is it like to "lust live"?

 

[wesdadude]

What is it like to "lust live"?

Not sure but it's about a K away from your real intentions.

 

[Zac Hinton]

It'd be rude not to

Be Rude Not To...is that a Freudian slip or massive coincidence?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBpVEeIIU-M

 

[pink poodle]

So...

- what is the riding like in June?
- which bike do I take, my glorious giant or pivot m4x?
- anyone flown Virgin with a bike before?

 

[shake_rattle_and_ roll]

So...

- what is the riding like in June?
- which bike do I take, my glorious giant or pivot m4x?
- anyone flown Virgin with a bike before?

Bank on there being a few damp days, but still hella fun.

Definitely take your Pivot if you've got it set up as a trail bike. You'll get to ride a truck-load of trails compared with the return of carting over your Glumy. Whakarewarewa/Redwoods will keep you nice & busy & it's jam-packed with rad trails. Skyline's a pay to play scenario & has very few trails, & there's infinitely better riding to be done in Whakarewarewa.

No, but I have had a couple of friends have bad experiences with them- damages, extortionate excess charges yaddayadda. I've always managed to grab well priced fares with Emirates & Air NZ, which means you get 30kg of checked baggage plus your carry-on (39lt/7kg- as stated earlier be nice, be helpful, behave & they won't even check your carry-on weight). Got back on Friday from our annual 2wk blat of the North Island & my return airfare with Emirates was $302 (ex-Melbourne/Auckland).

Stayed at the Rotorua Thermal Park so the trails were literally a 5min roll from our door. Well priced for comfortably basic cabin accom with a bike wash, good communal kitchen facilities/amenities, thermal pools etc. Pak n Save (one of NZ's supermarket majors & saviour to many a mtber) was a 10min roll down the road on Fenton St. We got 3 nights of rain & it made for some hilariously excitable 'almost crashed my brains out' moments retracing a few of the stages from the EWS. Got super goopy & wild but we all still had a great time with the 6 days of riding back in Roto.

 

[pink poodle]

Thanks for the reply. Just a few things further...
- I don't pedal up...I'm happy to lay for shuttles/lifts (I snowboard a wee bit so Im used to getting rodgered to get to the top).

- the pivot is pretty dirt jump...only has 100mm rear travel, but 160mm on the front. I take it the DH stuff I'm likely to encounter won't sweat that to much?

- I'm hoping to stay in town(ish). Not a particularly hectic party animal, but I like to look at girls and eat food someone else has cooked for me...

- I understand the mystical arts of sneaking extra weight on a plane...again with the snowboarding reference.

Thanks for the airline tips. Zuji ahoy!

 

[shake_rattle_and_ roll]

Thanks for the reply. Just a few things further...
- I don't pedal up...I'm happy to lay for shuttles/lifts (I snowboard a wee bit so Im used to getting rodgered to get to the top).

- the pivot is pretty dirt jump...only has 100mm rear travel, but 160mm on the front. I take it the DH stuff I'm likely to encounter won't sweat that to much?

- I'm hoping to stay in town(ish). Not a particularly hectic party animal, but I like to look at girls and eat food someone else has cooked for me...

- I understand the mystical arts of sneaking extra weight on a plane...again with the snowboarding reference.

Thanks for the airline tips. Zuji ahoy!

The shuttle runs on weekends in Whakarewarewa- $100 for 20 uplifts.

There's sufficient there to sweat on the National DH course but otherwise there's a bucketload to have fun on with your M4X. Even the Dodzy Skills Park area within the forest has some fun dirt jumps & a fun slalom course.

Just remember to maintain the holy trinity- bikes, beer, babes. In that order.

 

[pink poodle]

The shuttle runs on weekends in Whakarewarewa- $100 for 20 uplifts.

There's sufficient there to sweat on the National DH course but otherwise there's a bucketload to have fun on with your M4X. Even the Dodzy Skills Park area within the forest has some fun dirt jumps & a fun slalom course.

Just remember to maintain the holy trinity- bikes, beer, babes. In that order.

Thanks again.

 

[Joel_32]

The shuttle runs on weekends in Whakarewarewa- $100 for 20 uplifts.

There's sufficient there to sweat on the National DH course but otherwise there's a bucketload to have fun on with your M4X. Even the Dodzy Skills Park area within the forest has some fun dirt jumps & a fun slalom course.

Just remember to maintain the holy trinity- bikes, beer, babes. In that order.

South Star Shuttles, as well as weekends they do a mix of mid-week shuttles as well depending on time of year, school hols, etc so check either their webpage or facebook for latest info:
http://www.southstaradventures.com/schedule.html
We rode 6" trail bikes, more than enough for the trails we hit up in the Whakarewarewa Forest and allowed us to pedal up and explore other areas the shuttle doesnt access. Also found Skyline fun for a day, but pretty limited number of trails though this was a few weeks prior to Crankworx.
Air NZ (code share with virgin on some flights) has only 22kg limit, but was only $70 for extra bag whilst Qantas gave you 30kg but charged $90 per extra 5kg (we traveled with one bag and two bike boxes between us and a bunch of stuff jammed in our pockets and carry on).

 

[shake_rattle_and_ roll]

If it's absolutely puked rain/puking rain then your best (descending) riding is to be had over in the northern corner of the park (K2- awesome, steep & tech at speed, Roadside, Boulder Dash, Be Rude Not 2, Corridor, Eastern Spice, Turkish Delight, Tokorangi, Skills Park etc). They all drain really well & are an easy pedal up to from the bottom as the shuttle only services the southern end of the park. With that said there are some rad routes that we ride/link together to get you from the top drop-off area over to the northern side.

Because of the heavy rains & goop-fest I didn't get any usable footage of the iconic trails/EWS stages in the southern end of the park, but did manage to get these when there was a 3hr break in the weather early last Thurs morning.

Super-greasy run down Eagle vs Shark on my way over to K2 & the Challenge pocket:
[video=youtube;pAThsTlJDys]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAThsTlJDys[/video]

 

[shake_rattle_and_ roll]

A quick rip down Challenge Roadside (sadly it puked rain again climbing back up to film K2 & the other northern trails):
[video=youtube;acnI9_VH36o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acnI9_VH36o[/video]

 

[pink poodle]

That's some good runs! Looks like the pivot for the win. Thanks for the info folks.

 

[outtacontrol]

We got 3 nights of rain & it made for some hilariously excitable 'almost crashed my brains out' moments retracing a few of the stages from the EWS. Got super goopy & wild but we all still had a great time with the 6 days of riding back in Roto.

Which one was your favourite? We rode them during the festival in Feb and Frankenfurter was really loose and dry. There was some crashing haha...

 

[shake_rattle_and_ roll]

Which one was your favourite? We rode them during the festival in Feb and Frankenfurter was really loose and dry. There was some crashing haha...

It was anything but dry for our stint in Roto this time around. My favourite string of trails for the "pucker:fun" ratio was definitely that Frankenfurter/Riff Raff/Rocky Horror run (EWS-S3). Both days riding that string were rad but taxing with the conditions. You'd have no choice but to commit with as much speed as possible to carry yourself across these goopy masses of off-camber root mat sections & the whole mat would feel like it was shifting under you as you were foot out. Had us all yipping & wild. You know you're pulling some weird body shapes when by the end of stages/runs dudes are complaining that they think they've genuinely "torn a muscle somewhere between my ball sack & my freckle" & subsequently opt out of the arvo trail session. There were certainly some big moments & no one was spared. On Rocky Horror one of the crew had a massive OTB that we were sure was going to require an ambo; we saw him disappear off the drop ahead of us followed by his bike cartwheeling through air as it's exited the 8m diameter bomb hole you were dropping into. Despite the pile-driving luckily he landed head first into a soft bog of mud off to the side of the transition & only suffered a mild knock to the head & a broken brake lever/shifter. Comically those of us behind him all threw out the anchors in a mass of bikes & bodies at the lip & in the 10sec it took us to unravel ourselves Cam had gotten to his feet again but had a foot high wad of mud affixed to his head & was caked from the knees up in humus- poor dude looked like a giant troll had gobbled him up & shit him out.

 

[outtacontrol]

Sounds like the spot we ate shit too. Kataore was better. Very technical but heaps of fun. It was also bedded in so more rideable than Frank