Sunday was our last day in resort heaven at Taupo, with Keeds taking a rest day, while I forced myself onto the bike for a last jaunt around Craters. I found some new trails/trails I hadn't done before, like Ferret, Fast Eddie and Inwards Goods. Then it was up the Grinder climb to reap the sweet Buzzard downhill. It rained on me pretty hard up the climb, but by the top it was all clear again, and the fun began. At the bottom I decided to cross over to the Drone trail, which was still being bedded in last time I rode it. Then I discovered a new trail, Outback. It was real nice, quite a long loop, meandering through the pines then up through some new growth and climbing steadily before ripping back down and around and up n down and... you get the idea. Very cool. To finish off I chose Coaster, always a good buzz. Back along the highway to the resort, a solid 30km of trails. A nice way to end our Taupo stay.
Monday morning we loaded the Laser to the hilt and did the quick drive up to Rotorua. The interesting odours announced that we were in town, and it was to the motel (slightly more modest at $69 a night, but very good location, better pillows than the resort, and a friendly couple running it) then straight onto the bikes and up into the Redwoods.
Drop In NZ Aussie stylee!
I took Kedan on roughly the same route that Timmy had taken us on last year, and the hills soon took their toll on the K-man. 'K' certainly doesn't stand for 'Klimber'! We did Gunna Gotta, A Trail, Tickler, up another big climb to Hot X Buns, then up again to Chestnut Link, Rollercoaster, Chop Suey, Spring Roll and Sweet n Sour.
B Rude Not To sent us back down towards the 'intermediate' trails, and we tooled around on the flowing bermed corners and little jumps as we made our way back to the car. All up about 36km's, and the legs were aware they'd been used.
Today it was a beautiful sunny morning, we've been blessed with fantastic weather all trip, only a few showers, and we aren't envious when we see the soaring temperatures back in Aus on the news at night. We hit Redwoods about mid morning, and the car park was chockers with all types of riders hitting the trails as today is a public holiday to celebrate Waitangi Day, NZ's day of Federation of Chiefs in 1835 (according to the nice old Maori man I just asked in the net cafe!).
We did a few trails down below which I'd never done before, and it was a nice easy warm-up which kept Kedan (and me) happier. We then hit 'A' Trail (sweeeeet flow), and back up to Chestnut, and a few other new-to-us trails on the way back to the car park. I've never seen so many women on bikes as I have in the last two days, and hot ones on hot bikes too, who can ride! We spoke to a couple on Specializeds', an Epic and a Stumpy. The Epic girl was a Czech who lives here now, and her Kiwi friend.
By the time we got back to the car we were empty of leg and stomach, with another 40km under our belts. I've done 140 off-road k's in 4days, and am feeling like a bike rider again. Lovin it. I'm seriously thinking that this is MTB heaven, and I'm a bit more impressed with the town this time. The guy at Bike Vegas spotted me and said "you've been here before!" after my last visit to the shop. Everyone is real friendly and it's been a good stay so far. We'll probably stay a few more nights here then head back down towards Welly for the swim across to the South.
After the most perfect weather for two weeks, we finally got some rain on Monday at Hanmer Springs. Some idiot told me before I left that it always rains in NZ, while some other idiot reckoned there are no hot chicks in NZ. The combination of the two has left us with sunburned eyeballs, if ya know wot I mean. But I digress. 
With the rain (it wasn't even proper rain, more like a persistent drizzle) set in overnight and in the morning, we lazed around the small resort/ski town until it cleared for a two hour window in the afternoon. 
We took our chance with both hands, and headed up the 2km gravel road climb to the start of the singletrack. 
We slipped and slid our way through some of the nicest trails we have encountered so far, no nasty climbs, and with the famous flow we have come to expect from every ride. The mud didn't worry us at all, in fact I think it added to the experience. 
In the dry these trails would rival Rotorua, just there are less of them, though we didn't get to do one section as the light was fading and we could see the weather getting nasty again from the top of Jolliffe's Saddle. There were some tricky 'XXX' sections, rooty and steep, just the sort of thing to get the heart racing as the bikes took their own course through the trees. 
The lady at the holiday park where we were staying looked like she'd seen a couple of aliens when we arrived back, albeit a couple of muddied, wildly grinning aliens. She kindly let us use her hose, and we basically had our showers in the middle of the park. 
For dinner we had the world's most expensive pizza, but it was almost worth it, piled high with good stuff, and a bread loaf drizzled with pesto, sweet chilli and garlic... lush. We can't say the same for an $8 Southo and Coke or $5 beer while we waited though. Pure rip-off. I guess the usual calibre of tourist that comes through here doesn't really care what they pay. 
It's worth looking like these two dickheads when the smiles are on the dials!
The rain started again after we'd cleaned up, and we were happy that we got to sample the fine offerings. There is a 12 hour race there in April, could be worth heading back for.
We had dinner and decided to continue the night at another venue, dropping in to his digs for a change of strides, as we were still all in shorts. He mentioned he was staying with Chris and Bob. I recognised these names immediately as writers for Spoke magazine. While Ross was getting changed, Chris arrived back after a 10 hour ride, and we got chatting. He gave me Tama Easton's number, who is the editor of Spoke. Shit was just falling in my lap. Kedan wasn't up for any more alcohol hi-jinks, so he dropped us off in town and we weren't even inside a club before we met up with some girls, and a couple of guys, who took us to a bar. One of the guys, Shannon, bought us a round and then insisted we skull our pints with the words "see you at the bottom". I wasn't too keen, but Ross had an empty glass before you could say "geez I'm pissed". After a few hours of frivolity, we grabbed a taxi and headed home in a state of disrepair. Apparently being at sea level, Ross isn't effected by the hills or the beer. He smashed me in the bar, and I'm not looking forward to getting smashed by him on the bike over the next couple of weeks, as he is keen to take Kedan's spot in the Laser, and ride some of the sweet trails as we head back North.
The next day was living hell, waking with a bad head and having to drive the 4 hours to Hanmer Springs. I made it about 2 hours before succumbing to tiredness, with Kman taking the wheel for the last half, while I slipped in and out of conciousness. We stopped for a break at Mariua Falls, which was pretty damn cool. By the time we arrived in Hanmer we weren't thinking about riding, just eating and sleeping. This morning we looked outside and it was raining like this.......
Well, it was a constant drizzle, and just cold enough to make us stay in bed for a few hours more. Now it looks like clearing, but I've said that about a dozen times today, and then it starts again. Might have to don the thermals and get muddy. See you at the bottom!
It was pretty cool, our guide was a pretty funny dude, giving the Aussies and Poms a hard time, and vise-versa. We saw real live Kiwis (birds, not people, seen plenty of them), and a traditional Maori gretting ceremony with lots of cool singing and hakas, wood carving and of course the gurgling, spraying stuff. 
In the arvo I decided to get a last taste (for now) of the sweet trails, and headed up on my own as Keeds was onto his third Southo and Coke. Once again I tried to do trails I hadn't done before, and made the looong climb up tp Billy T, the newest trail in the park. Overnight rain had made it a little slippy, but it was a nice ride down, linking up with Chestnut and Rollercoaster. Another 2 hours and 25km in the legs, and I was sated. In the morning we packed up and went into BikeVegas to see the guys, Dave the owner has offered me a job there if I want it, and I'm thinking it could be worth it for the amazing riding.
We caught the ski lift up as far as it would go, then were told it was another 2 or 3 hour trek to the lake. It was getting too late in the day tro risk it, so we trekked up a way to some snow drifts, which was cool enough for us. arriving back at the Chateau, I made up a story that my parents had been in an accident and we had to get to Wanganui. 
The guy bought it, and we drove to the pretty little river city and spent the night arranging a ferry for the trip over the Cook Strait the next day. Somehow I managed to double book us, and on arrival in Wellington on Friday, we were in a fluster as we tried in vain to contact the booking agency to cancel the extra booking. But no-one at the ferry company knew anything about it or us, and eventually we got a standby spot, got the other bookings cancelled (they actually hadn't been booked!) and we were on our way. Three hours later we were docking in Picton, 
and then another couple of hours drive to Nelson. What a cool place this is... on the top of the island, coastal, mountainous, a cool vibe and trails. Well the trails aren't as good as Rotorua, no way, a lot of steep ups and very technical downs, not a great deal of flow, but we really only scratched the surface. Helping us to scratch that itch was 'Wayne Train', a local XC/Tri/XTerra guru we met at the markets this morning. We were cruising around the stalls, checking out the local produce (oh boy, the locals...) and I spotted a nice bike at a stall. Got talking to Wayne, and asked if he'd like to take us on a spin, which he happily agreed to. A top bloke, and a hell of a rider, ripping our legs off up the climbs, and railing the nasty switchbacks and drops on a 3.5 inch XC bike with sketchy tyres and flat bars, saddle up! 
I was skating around with seat down and fork at 140mm, while Keeds tested the human-catching abilities of the trees as he launched a wooden drop and overshot the next turn by a good 15 metres. They used these trails for the National XC round a few weeks back, that's REAL XC racing right there. Wayne punished us some more uphill on the way up to 'Centre of NZ', a lookout over town. I left the camera in the car again, so no pics yet, but I'll get some when I come back in a week or so. Could be here for a long time yet, the city is so damn cool, there's work apparently, but the trails will have to pick up their act a little to rival Vegas. 
not too shabby for hackers. Then we checked out the Huka Falls jet boat, and splurged on a wild ride up the river. Freekin awesome, heading straight at trees in the water and flicking it around them at 80kmh, madness. We met a Japanese girl, Nana, who was squealing with delight (from the boat ride, from the boat ride). Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me, but it would've got soaked anyway. The arvo we rode down to the falls, where we'd been up to in the boat, and it's an amazing sight, pumping enough water down to fill an Olympic sized pool every 5 seconds. 
There is a great singletrack ride along the river down to the Aratahaia (?) Dam, whic opens up every 2 hours, and we got there just in time to witness this spectacle.
The rush of water into the valley was cool, filling up in minutes. 
before....
After...(well, during) 
And we weren't disappointed. It climbed, twisted and rolled through ferny bush, with some techy rocky sections. At the top the view was breathtaking,
but the ride back down was even better. We had trouble removing the grins from our faces, and Kedan needed to take a rest stop to recover. 
Now I sit here in the internet cafe, typing as fast as possible so I can go and have a beer. We called out "NAAAAANAAAAAAHHHHH" in the main street, but I don't think she can understand our accent. One more day here, then it's onto Rotorua on Monday. Stay tuned.