Riding South Island NZ

[fatfixie]

Hello

me and the missus are heading to the south island of NZ for two weeks to escape the West Australian heat

We are going to be driving round South Island only, initially staying in Christchurch for 3 days, then heading off....

We would like to hire some MTB's for a day or so somewhere nice and have a bit of a pootle round. The missus is a bit of an MTB novice so nothing too hard (plus i am as fit as a butcher ATM :-( )

Any suggestion from locals/ ppl who've been there?

Ta

Andy

 

[TheGreenRabbit]

Queenstown take the lift up and ride down all day, or if you want to peddale a little more these is a nice back road to Arrowtown or out onto the Francton Arm on the lake side trail. Wannaka has some good trails as well. From Christchurch the bike path out to Brighton is easy, then up onto the hills between Christchurch and Akaroa.

 

[grahame]

I've heard good things about the mountainbiking possibilities on the peninsula to the south east of Christchurch.

 

[Student Bob]

Queenstown take the lift up and ride down all day, or if you want to peddale a little more these is a nice back road to Arrowtown or out onto the Francton Arm on the lake side trail.

+1 for that - the chair lift is at Coronet Peak, probably not entirely suitable for novices though?

I'd also recommend Queenstown, the road out to Glenorchy is lovely and there's a smashing footpath alongside Sunshine Bay on that side of the lake that heads out towards Glenorchy that'd be great for novice/unfit peeps.

Arrowtown and Glenorchy are about 15-20 miles away, but there's some great tracks around Arrowtown and the Routeburn trailhead just outside of Glenorchy.

Not jealous....... much......

 

[TheGreenRabbit]

BITD the only one you could get a ride up on was the lift to the skyline restaraunt and then you could take a few trails or the access road back.

 

[Student Bob]

Doh!! Of course.... It's probably open for bikes anytime around now too.... I think the season on the Skyline was Jan to April or something like that. Some pretty good northshorey trails coming down too IIRC? It was quite pricey though when I was living there, about NZD30 (£20?) for a single trip and NZD70 (£50ish?) for a day pass?

I could never justify the expense, but then, I'm a weirdo who prefers riding uphill to downhill.....