Posts tagged backpakcing
August 22, 2011 · Filed under AUCKLAND, MTB BIKE, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged adventure, AUCKLAND, auckland blog, auckland mountain biking, backpack new zealand, backpakcing, bike blog, bike new zealand, canadians working abroad, iep new zealand, live and work in new zealand, maraetai forest, Maraetai mountain biking, mountain bike new zealand, new zealand blog, nz blog, shuttle runs in new zealand, travel blog, work new zealand
This past weekend I got to ride some new tracks around Auckland. I was pretty stoked to get shuttle-runs in, without having to make the 2.5 hour drive to Rotorua. The plan was to hit up Maraetai on Sunday where they run monthly shuttles. I always get a little nervous before I ride a new DH track, as you never really know what you are going yourself into, but in the end it wasnt too bad. They had 1 steep downhill track called ‘the trig’ which was wet, slippery and muddy. It wasnt a long track as it only took a few minutes to get to the bottom. It had some jumps, but overall it was just steep and slippery.The track def wasnt the best ive ridden, but not bad for around Auckland. The track needed some trail mainteneace as it was pretty rutted and in need a serious sweep since it was covered entirely in needles making line choice a bit sketchy. I think there were 8 trails at the drop point. I didnt ride all of them as i was told some were pretty cross-country which wasnt why i was there. I wanted down, fast, flowy with some jumps. I pretty much spent my time between ‘the trig’ and ‘two dead cows.’ My favorite of the day was definitely ‘two dead cows!’ It was a bit more flowy with a variety of jumps, from nice booters to some step ups.
Overall it was a great day! It is always good riding some new trails. Once summer hits and it really dries out it could be sick. The local mountain bike club is investing a lot time building so it is definitely a spot to watch. If you do plan to ride there make sure you get a permit as it you need one to be allowed in the forest.
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August 4, 2011 · Filed under AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged AUCKLAND, backpack new zealand, backpacking new zealand, backpakcing, bike new zealand, blog new zealand, canadian working in new zealand, canadians in auckland, canadians working abroad, canadians working overseas, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, nz blog, work abroad, work in new zealand, work new zealand, working abroad
It’s back to the grind for me! My month long vacation has come to an end and I am now back in New Zealand. My trip home was amazing. It was great to be able to catch up with my friends and family. My month consisted of visiting friends in my home town, a couple trips to Toronto to visit old co-workers, hanging out with my young niece and nephew, helping my brother move into his new house, and two weeks of bliss at the cottage. To be honest I think I forgot how beautiful Canada was. Maybe I took it for granted, but going home with fresh eyes made me realize how lucky I am to be able to live in Canada. I know I rave about how stunning and amazing New Zealand is, but Canada is right there beside New Zealand.
Im now working on obtaining residency in New Zealand and hopefully it will be a smoother process than obtaining my second work visa for New Zealand. I love being in New Zealand. It just feels like a second home. Flying into Auckland felt great, it just felt right. Don’t know why, but it did. I do think I will move back to Canada one day, but for now New Zealand is home and I feel lucky to be able to call it that.
So what is in the forecast for me? Of course lots and lots of riding! Taking a month of the bike has let my shoulder fully recover – sweet! I keep thinking to myself I should have a more balanced life, not just riding in all of my sparetime. This is easy for me to say and hard for me to do. All I want to do is ride on the weekends/evenings, but I am going to try and make a effort to mix it up. Meh.. we will see, but odds are Ill be riding just as much or more a year from now. Who am I kidding I live to ride and ride to live.
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May 17, 2011 · Filed under NEW ZEALAND · Tagged adventure, backpack new zealand, backpacking, backpacking new zealand, backpakcing, canadian working in new zealand, canadians working abroad, canadians working overseas, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, nz blog, puzzle world new zealand, puzzle world wanaka, queenstown new zealand, things to do in wanaka, travel blog, travel new zealand, travelling, travelling new zealand, wanaka, wanaka new zealand
For the final day in the Southern Lakes district we would take a bit of a tour to Wanaka. Up early as usual we hit up Bob’s Weigh for breakie. It’s a great little place downtown Queenstown that great food and coffee. After a good feed we loaded into the car and headed through Crown range, which I believe is the highest range in New Zealand. Once again, stunning scenery everywhere. This is the kind of road that buses aren’t allowed on as it is windy, narrow and steep!
The first stop of the day was for a beer at the Cardrona Hotel, located in the Cardrona Valley. It is one of New Zealand’s first hotels as it was established in 1863 because of the gold rush. Now a popular tourist stop, it’s a great place to have a drink and take a break while driving through the crown ranges.
After a beer it was back into the car and 45 mins to Wanaka. Wanaka is a small town that started because of the gold rush. Now it is your typical tourist town, with a huge number of people moving their over the winter months because of its close proximity to the ski hills. It’s located on the southern end of the Lake Wanaka, so it is busy in the summer with many locals visiting during their holidays. We didn’t spend too much time in Wanaka, as there isn’t much to do. Pubs, cafes, tourists shops pretty much own the town center.
From Wanaka we headed to puzzle world. Here you can find your way through a maze, (which completely frustrated me) visit the optical illusion rooms and try to figure you more puzzles from all over the world. We spent about two hours here and that was enough. I’m not one for puzzles, so not really my kind of stop, but when you are in the area.. why not!
Done with all of the games it was into Queenstown to head up the Gondola to watch the sunset. We managed to time this perfectly. Some photos on the viewing deck and beers in the pub. From here we had dinner at the speight’s ale house, where you can always count on a hardy meal. That pretty much sums up the last day of our southern trip. I love it down south and hope try life in the south sometime in the future.
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April 27, 2011 · Filed under NEW ZEALAND · Tagged addict, addiction, adrenalin in new zealand, adrenalin junkie, adventure in new zealand, aj hackett, aj hackett bungy, aj hackett canyon swing, aj hackett new zealand, backpack new zealand, backpacking, backpacking new zealand, backpakcing, bungy jumping in new zealand, canadians in auckland, canadians working overseas, extreme activities in new zealand, nevis bungy, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, nz blog, outdoor adventure, queenstown activities, queenstown new zealand, queenstown nz, things to do in queenstown, travel blog, travel new zealand, travelling new zealand
How do you start your day when you are visiting Queenstown, New Zealand? How about jumping off a 134 meter bridge and following it with the worlds largest canyon swing.. sound good? That is exactly how I started my day in Queenstown. First I headed into the A.J. Hackett office and registered for the bungy and canyon swing and then it’s a waiting game. They have videos playing of all of their jump locations and free use of computers so you can facebook all your mates around the world letting them know that you are about to do something extremely adrenalin filled.
Once you board the bus, the driver pokes a little fun at the situation, puts on some tunes and then it is off to the Nevis Valley. The ride takes roughly 40 minutes and the bus was pretty quiet, a nervous silence you could say. You could see the fear in the eyes of some and excitement in others. I was pretty stoked and a wee bit nervous too.
Upon arrival to the jump location you are briefed, geared out with a harness and then it is time to head out in a cable car to reach the jump pod which is hanging over the Nevis Valley. It’s high, really high! Once in the jump pod the fun begins. People get twitchy and even a little funny. Tears, laughter and excitement and is a common site. You sit and watch as people toss themselves from the jump pod. It is great to watch and then it’s your turn. I personally love doing bungy’s. They feel extremely safe to me and are a great shot of adrenalin. It’s crazy how plunging toward the earth with the ground rushing towards you makes you feel a live.
After the bungy it was off to do the worlds largest canyon swing. This was awesome. You first get to walk across a seriously wicked suspension bridge that sways with the wind! Since I had did the Nevis first, they said I should do it upside down and backwards.. sounds good to me! Strapped in, wave to the camera and then whoosh you are off screaming through the valley at mind blowing speeds.
Both the bungy and canyon swings are a must do! If it isn’t on your bucket list, added it! New Zealand is the home of the bungy, so you must do at least one while here and with the largest canyon swing right there why wouldn’t ya make it a doubele shot of adrenalin! Thanks Queenstown for the new addiction – my name is Mike and I am a adrenalin addict!
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April 2, 2011 · Filed under AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged adventure, AUCKLAND, auckland blog, backpack new zealand, backpacking, backpacking new zealand, backpakcing, bike new zealand, blog new zealand, canadian working in new zealand, canadians in auckland, canadians working abroad, canadians working overseas, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, nz blog, travel blog, travel new zealand, travelling, travelling new zealand, work abroad, work in new zealand, work new zealand, working overseas, www.swap.ca
I can’t believe I have been in New Zealand for one year now! The time has gone by so quickly. Looking back it is just one big fun ride! Ive enjoyed myself so much that I am looking to extend my stay in NZ for another year! Ill keep everyone posted on how that goes… at the moment it’s trying & stressful, but I am just trying to keep in positive spirits.
So I figure it is a goodtime to look at my to-do list and see what exactly I have or have not accomplished from it.
1. Heli-Bike – I cant say I have done this. I did push my bike up a mountain that is commonly heli-biked and hussed down, but no heli ride as of yet.
2. Bungee Jump – Done. Though I would still like to do the Nevis in Queenstown as it is much bigger than the Auckland Harbour Bridge Bungee.
3. Sky Dive – Nope.. still keen, just haven’t gotten around to it.
Learn to surf – Done… well I did a lesson and did ride a couple waves, but I am no surfer.
5. Abseil Waitomo – Done. I actually did this twice, so double check mark!
6. Hike Tangario – Half-done.. so I guess not done. Last year we hiked to summit but had to turn back because of a snow storm and 60km gust.. that was awesome!
7. Work in Bakery – hasn’t happened. I was luckily enough to secure a job a couple weeks before I arrived in NZ and it has been great. Working within the travel industry means discounts and freebies!
8. Learn Yoga – Nope.. didn’t realize how bloody expensive a class is.. yikes!
9. Go Whale Watching – haven’t made it out yet. I could go out in Auckland, but want to save it for Kaikoura as it is the best spot to see whales.
10. Scuba Dive – snorkel – nope.
11. Ride in Moa Beer race – nope. I totally forgot about this race and missed it. Ah well.. im not super keen. But I have drank my share of Moa.. half done ahah
12. WOOF – nope. Been working and had no time to woof.. maybe some other time.
13. Couch surf – haven’t done this, but have managed to meet locals and crash out at their place. So I consider it accomplished.
14. See All Blacks play. Done.. I watched them demolish Wales.
15. Kite-board – this came in as a suggestion and I am still keen. Just been lazy I guess. Being so mountain bike obsessed means that I pretty much ride in my spare time rather than trying some new things… must work on that!
Wow.. still have quite a few things to do! If I wasn’t so addicted to riding tracks over here Im sure I would have more checked off!
A lot of my motivation in NZ has been to ride mountain bike tracks all over this country and I would have to say ive been pretty successful at this. Ive rode tracks all over both the north and south islands and had a couple weeklong bike trips to some wild places. Ive met some amazing locals that have shown me tracks that I would have never had a chance to ride without their knowledge. Do I more tracks to ride and see… HELL YES! I have a few things in the works for riding this year and you will have to stay tuned to learn more.. but if it works out should be big epic rides!
Now what have I missed about home.. family. This was my first Christmas away from everyone and it was toughest time I had in NZ. My family is always in my thoughts and Im always thinking about what I am missing: my nephew and niece getting older, family get togethers, partying and getting way to carried away with my brother, the cottage, my mates and I could carry on with this list for ages, but who really wants to hear about.
So what is to come? First thing first I need to sort this visa out or I will be deported. At Easter I will be heading back down to Queenstown with Michelle and my mate Time (who is a Queenstown local) to see the sites. This is a none bike riding trip – so we plan to do Milford Sounds, Wanaka, Te Anau, Cromwell, Alexander, Glenorchy and whatever else comes a long. Ive got a couple work trips, where I will be taking my bike a long (of course) to ride. And like I wrote earlier, hopefully some big epic rides to come.
My advice to anyone who is thinking of heading to NZ or anywhere else in the world to work and travel… do it! It will most likely be the best experience of your life! Don’t just think about it, make a plan, pick a departure date and go!
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March 28, 2011 · Filed under MTB BIKE, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged adventure, adventure in queenstown, backpack new zealand, backpacking, backpacking new zealand, backpakcing, bike blog, bike new zealand, blog new zealand, canadians working abroad, i heart mountain biking, iep new zealand, mountain bike, mountain bike in new zealand, mountain bike new zealand, mountain bike nz, mountain biking in queenstown, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, nz blog, outdoor adventure, queenstown, queenstown bike, queenstown mountain biking, travel blog, travelling, travelling new zealand
Woke up way to early – 5:30am. Not sure why as the hostel was quiet, but for some reason I was up. I watched The Big Lebowski and managed to doze back off to sleep around 7ish. I woke up at 8:30 and packed my bags. I then dropped it in the storage room and headed off to find a coffee.
At 10am I was first mountain biker on the gondola and up the hill! I knew that I wouldn’t get the full morning session in as I had to break down my bike and get to the airport by mid afternoon, but I was hoping to get in at least 10 runs.
I started the day by riding Hammy’s track twice… what a fun trail! It is so wide open that you really don’t have to worry about crashing. It is not technical, just fun! I did see one mountain biker run into a tree, wrecking the front wheel and dislocating his shoulder. Shitty for him it was only his 2nd run down and he came up from Christchurch for the weekend. If you didn’t know – Moon Man, Ken Ring predicted that another earthquake would hitting Christchurch around the 20th of May, so a lot of locals left Christchurch trying to avoid another major shake. There was never another quake, but I did meet quiet a few mountain bikers from Christchurch in Queenstown. To me he was just being a fear monger!
I did a circuit of tracks like earlier in the week. Vertigo, Hammy’s, Ants, Thingymajig, The Oringinal, Shit Sandwhich.. I was taking advantage of all the amazing downhill tracks before I had to pack up.
The end of my riding came too soon. By 2pm I had managed to get my 10 runs in and it was time to head back to Nomads and grab my backpack. I then headed to Fergberger for one last amazing feast! I love that place! I took my burger to the park across from the bus pick up ate it and then broke down my bike, changed out of my riding gear and repacked by backpack.
I was at the airport only a ½ hour before my flight, not a good idea when flying with a bike. In the end I made it on my flight and I was off back to Auckland after 5 days of glorious downhilling!
Even if you do not downhill mountain bike you should give it a go in Queenstown. It will cost you roughly $100 for a full suspension downhill rig, full protection gear and your lift ticket for half a day. Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand, so while you are there bungee jumping, sky diving, canyon swinging you may as well huss down a hill on a bike! You never know you may just love it!
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March 26, 2011 · Filed under MTB BIKE, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged backpack new zealand, live and work in new zealand, blog new zealand, new zealand blog, work new zealand, bike new zealand, travel blog, backpakcing, mountain bike new zealand, adventure, backpacking, backpacking new zealand, nz mountain biking, queenstown mountain biking, mountain biking gondola queenstown, skyline queenstown, biking in queenstown new zealand
The view from the top of the hill! It was amazing in the morning/avro, but by the evening the clouds rolled in and skies opened up...boo!
Today we woke up to blue skies! We were planning on trying to ride a full day of downhill, but we woke up at 10am so that kind of put the end to that plan. On a previous trip to Queenstown Mark ended up doing 24 runs in one day, which is a course record and still stands. If you’ve ridden downhill you know how crazy 24 runs in one day is!
Since we woke up late we made a pretty big breakie – steak, eggs and mushrooms! I hadn’t showered the night before so I took advantage of the outdoor shower. Whenever I get a place of my own I think I would like to have an outdoor shower – so nice!
My mate’s house had a ping-pong table so our warm up of the day was an hour or so of ping-pong. I had a ping-pong table growing up and it is always a blast to bash a ball around. After that we cleaned our bikes and prepped for the afternoon of riding, aired out the tent and just chilled out.
The gondola runs in two timetables – morning runs is from10am to 3pm and the avro runs from 3pm to 7pm (8pm in the summer). At 2:45 we were sitting at the bottom of the gondola waiting to purchase our lift tickets when a group of professional riders rocked up. It was the Athertons from the UK. They are a family of riders who are hell fast and super talented. There are 2 brothers and a sister and I guess they are down in Queenstown warming up for the upcoming race season. I only saw them ride one section and was pretty blown away at the speed they ride. On a course that takes me 12 mins to get to the bottom they will ride it in 4min ahah. That is how stupid fast they go.
Today we rode the same tracks as yesterday, but tied in a couple news trails. The Original is blue track that bermed out, steep and fast. It has a couple good sets of jumps as well. Grundy was another new trail we rode today and I think it was the steepest of them all. Had lots of drops, some of which owned me. This was def the hardest day on the bike for me. I came off a handful of times! Another fun trail was Thingymajig. All of the tracks are pretty tight and off camber – there were def some holy shit moments, but if you just keep rolling it usually works out in your favour. There were sections/drops/jumps that were above my head, but like any good trail there is always a nana line so you don’t have to hit the big big stuff. Another nice feature of riding in Queenstown is that there is a bar at the top of the gondola. So mid way through the day we stopped for a beer.
We managed to get 14 runs in today. It was funny that on the first day after 8 runs I was beat to hell, but a day later I almost doubled that. I guess I knew the tracks a bit better and was feeling a bit more comfortable on the bike.
After riding we hit up Fergburger for a bite to eat. Fergburger is an institution in Queenstown. They make the best burgers Ive ever had and Im a burgeraholic! The place is always packed and I heard about it before I even came to NZ. So when you are in Queenstown you must visit Fergburger – you will not regret it.
By the evening the clouds had rolled in and the skies opened up. It rained hard. This was a little discouraging, as I knew the tracks would be shut down. Looks like tomorrow would be a rest day.
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March 21, 2011 · Filed under MTB BIKE, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged AUCKLAND, backpack new zealand, backpacking, backpacking new zealand, backpakcing, bike new zealand, blog new zealand, canadian working in new zealand, canadians in auckland, canadians working abroad, canadians working overseas, live and work in new zealand, mountain bike dunedin, mountain bike new zealand, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, nz blog, outdoor adventure, queenstown, queenstown mountain biking, queenstown mtb, skyline mountain biking in queenstown new zealand, travel blog, travel new zealand, travelling, travelling new zealand, work abroad, working abroad, working overseas
After a night of heavy rain I knew that it would be mid afternoon before we got on to the trails at the skyline. Up at 9 am there was plenty of time to make breakie and have a couple coffees. On the way to Queenstown my mate tire blew so we went to a local shop to get that fixed. We had a couple hours to kill as the afternoon riding starts at 3pm. See for the lift passes you can buy a morning, afternoon or all day pass. The morning was a washout since it rained so hard lastnight. From what we heard the only track that was open was Hammy’s and we wanted the black runs, so we decided to wait until later to go ride.
By 3pm the sun was out and there was a cool breaze drying the wet tracks. As we went up the gonola Mark kept telling me how much I was going to love these tracks. Steep, rooty, muddy, jumps, drops, northshore they had it all!
First track down we hit up Hammy’s. It’s a green track, so it is fairly easy and wide open. This is the trail that all the beginners and bike rental folk ride and it is heaps of fun. It’s flowy, with huge bermed corners, some wide open spots, cool north shore sections and a couple table tops for jumps. This is a great track to just let it all hang out!
Now that we were warmed up it was time to hit something a little more challenging. On too Vertigo which is a blue rated track that was steep, fast, had some drops and more challenging bits. Great track!!
After that we hit up Ants track which was pretty much all mud! It is rated a black track and it was a little more technical sketchy in spots. There were lots of roots and mud to deal with, plus the steepness of it made it extremely fun to ride.
Then there was Rock Garden, which had some good drops plus of course a rock garden section to cruise through. Another great trail that is rated black.
We would usually tie a bunch of different trails together as we bombed down. Start on Hammy’s, hit up Vertigo, on to Rock Garden and then back on to Vertigo. There were so many ways to tie the trails together that no run was the same. We would just ride one section of one track and then tack it together with another. So much fun!
Im pretty sure we rode another couple tracks but I cant remember which ones. I was just concentrating on staying on the bike and trying to keep up with Mark! After 8 runs my forearms were burning and my hands were cramping. This was definitely some of the best downhill Ive ridden in New Zealand. Some of the tracks had some serious breaking bumps making the arm pump massive. It was like doing 200 pushups while riding down the hills.. intense!
After riding we headed down town to grab a bite to eat. We settled on Indian and then headed off to a mates place for a catch up. By 10pm I was beat and we were back home. I pushed off to bed as the plan was for a full day of downhilling the next day. I wasn’t sure how my body was going to handle that, has a half-day owned me. Day one on the gondola was epic!
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March 13, 2011 · Filed under MTB BIKE, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged backpack new zealand, NEW ZEALAND, blog new zealand, new zealand blog, canadian working in new zealand, auckland blog, canadians in auckland, travel blog, canadians working overseas, backpakcing, outdoor adventure, i heart mountain biking, canadians working abroad, backpacking, travelling, backpacking new zealand, www.swap.ca, nz mountain biking, queenstown nz, things to do in new zealand, queenstown new zealand, mountain biking in queenstown, bobs peak queenstown, gondola queestown, things to do in queenstown, queenstown blog
This week I am off to Queenstown to ride the gondola and shred some downhill! Pretty stoked to get down south and on the bike. I was in Queenstown last year for work, but it was only a day and I didn’t have anytime to ride or play! I haven’t ridden in Queenstown yet, but from what Ive heard from my mates, it is the place to be! This is the first year in while they’ve had the gondola running taking riders to the top of Bob’s Peak! STOKED! Ive got the bike in check – new break pads, fresh bleeds, new tires – should be good to go! I have no idea where I will be staying. I do know Ill be camping, which could be a bit cool as they had some snow on the ground in Wanaka last week. Brr. I know it didn’t stick around, but it could be chilly in a tent.
My mates from down south spent a week riding in Queenstown about a month ago and have raved about it. They managed to get 27 runs down in a day and want to break the record on this trip. 27 runs is CRAZY! I have no idea how I will hold up, but Ill give it a go! I believe we will be hitting a couple other spots while in Queenstown. Im hoping to get up Cornet Peak and maybe over to the Sticky Forest for some single track riding as well. Im sure whatever is in the cards will be gnarly, sketchy and heaps of fun as that is how these trips usually go.
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February 27, 2011 · Filed under AUCKLAND, MTB BIKE, NEW ZEALAND · Tagged adventure, AUCKLAND, backpack new zealand, backpacking, backpakcing, bike blog, bike new zealand, blog new zealand, canadians in auckland, canadians working abroad, live and work in new zealand, mountain bike, mountain bike blog, mountain biking in auckland, mountain biking in new zealand, mountain biking in the whitford forest, mountain biking in whitford forest, NEW ZEALAND, new zealand blog, sports blog, travel blog, whitford forest bike tracks, whitford forest new zealand, work in new zealand, work new zealand, working abroad
The weekend I ended up heading out to the Whitford Forest Bike Park. It was the first time Ive been out there so I really didn’t know what to expect. The forest is about ½ hour outside of Auckland, so much closer then heading to Rotorua! You need to pick up a trail pass for $5 at the Howick information center. The tracks are about 6 km outside of Whitford and can be found once you hop the gate and ride down the dirt road. There is a trail map, which could be replaced, as it was pretty faded and hard to read. I couldn’t find a map online, so I just took a look at the map and then headed off into the forest. The tracks were pretty decent. Lots of single track, plenty of roots and off camber sections. There are also some tight and technical sections. They also have a couple downhill tracks and stuff with jumps, drops and north shore structures. I can’t remember the names of the tracks I rode, but they were enjoyable. I was able to ride for 3 hours and didn’t many different tracks. The trails do need some love and attention. Some of the jumps and structures have seen better days. It is a pine tree forest so the tracks are littered with pine needles – pretty easy to wander off the trail. They could also put up some new trail signs, as the ones they have out there are really faded and almost impossible to read. I ended up getting lost, getting found and getting lost once again. The forest isn’t so big that you can’t find your way out. Overall it’s a fun place to ride and I would give it a 7 out of 10. Definitely one of the better spots in the Auckland area.
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