For at least a decade, if an Australian mountain biker wanted to go on an awesome overseas mountain biking holiday, they’d be heading to Rotorua or Whistler. While there are countless epic places to go and ride your bike around the world, both of these locations were well-known to mix trails, accommodation and services all in good proximity. Sure, you could scope out other places, ride park in Morzine, hunt out trails with the good ol’ boys in America’s deep south, or traverse ridgelines and valleys in Switzerland. But both Rotorua and Whistler were easy – rock up, check in and ride. Ride lots.
Times change of course, and while both Whistler and Rotorua have world-class riding, we have countless more options as well, including closer to home. Tasmania has stolen a lot of New Zealand’s limelight in the past 5 years, given travel there is typically faster and cheaper, and you don’t need to scrub your bike to oblivion on the way in and out. The riding in Derby, Maydena and the West Coast and beyond is pretty epic to boot. But I’ve had New Zealand on my mind since I last visited in late 2018. On that trip
