Top 12 Overnight Rides
Dave Mitchell guides us on an epic mountain bike journey through New Zealand There is no substitute for turning over the pedals on dirt. A favourite mountain bike ride may...
Dave Mitchell
Riding high
Mt Arrowsmith Station, Lake Heron Sharyn Miller knows a thing or three about merino wool and the high country stations the sheep grow up on. Merino sheep have been keeping...
On a wing and a prayer
Top Hope Hut, Lake Sumner Forest Park Ditte and I were faced with an immaculate winter weather forecast, with another huge high locked over the country. This normally delivers severe...
Three tramping tops
Bounded by the Rangitata and Rakaia rivers, Hakatere Conservation Park offers spectacular vistas for those prepared to summit the park’s peaks. Dave Mitchell climbs three of the best One of...
Complete an overnight mountain bike ride
Think you’re a good tramper, sea kayaker, climber, mountain biker and skier? Shift your horizons with one of these game-changing adventures You have: Done a day ride like as...
Borland Saddle’s magic tops
Mount Burns, Fiordland National Park We parked at the top of Borland Saddle as the valley mist rolled over us and through the stunted dripping beech forest festooned with...
Rats on a hill
Rat Hill, Redcliffe Conservation Area Redcliffe Conservation Area and scenic reserve were created in October 2009 as part of the tenure review process. The reserve encompasses the Redcliffe Stream catchment...
No. 4 - Complete a long-distance cycle trail
No New Zealand cycle trail has a track packed in so much history, so many massive swingbridges and so much good riding, as the 85km Pureora Timber Trail. From the...
On any given Sunday
Mt Sunday Loop, Mt Richmond Forest Park, Marlborough With stunning views from the rambling tops, this well-marked loop track makes a great day trip at the northern end of the...
Christmas in Molesworth
Web exclusive, Mountain biking
If Molesworth Station was a country, it would be twice the size of Hong Kong and almost as large as Luxembourg. With a total population well below 100 humans, on...
From big bang to big rides
The 71km Great Lake Trail is one of the most engaging and rewarding rides in the North Island, offering expansive views of not only the largest lake in Australasia but...
Endless possibilities
Sandwiched between the headwaters of the Rakaia and Rangitata Rivers, Hakatere Conservation Park is a vast area of open tussock country, rolling foothills, mountains, rivers and lakes below the stunning...
A wild and woolly coast
The Wild Coast Track section of the Remutaka Cycle Trail traverses a spectacular chunk of rugged coastline between Orongorongo and Ocean Beach. Getting to the track head requires a pleasant...
Into the mineral belt
New Zealand’s first railway, the Dun Mountain Railway, was built from Nelson to Coppermine Saddle in 1861. The narrow gauge railway not only provided access to the chromite and copper...
Steam, steel and timber
With a mix of purpose-built single-track, old logging roads, massive swingbridges and a historic timber railway corridor to peddle along, cycle trails don’t get any better than the Timber Trail....
Sultans of swing
In 1862, a party of Māori prospectors discovered gold in the West Coast’s Lyell Creek and the rush was on. At its peak, Lyell boasted seven stores, five hotels, two...
Sunrise over the Motu
Opotiki proudly faces north, collecting the first rays of the morning sun as it rises over the Bay of Plenty. Sandwiched between the Otara and Waioeka Rivers, the town has...
Bike the Heaphy
Heaphy Track, Features, Great Walks, Mountain biking
There has been a long history of people riding the Heaphy Track, with locals and cycle touring clubs using it as a fun way of joining the dots between Golden...
Logged and loaded
Tongariro Forest’s 25,000 hectares are strategically wedged between Tongariro National Park and the top of the Erua Forest near National Park. Gazetted in 1900 as State Forest 42, the forest...
Queen of the slipstream
As part of the New Zealand Cycle Trail network, the 73km Queen Charlotte Track is at the very heart of the Marlborough Sounds. The trail climbs over beautiful bush-clad saddles, hugs...
Magic carpet ride
On a fine day with little or no wind, the Skyline Walkway and Red Rocks Track would have to be one of the best ridge-top point-to-point rides in New Zealand....
There’s more than one way to skin the St James
The St James Station was farmed since 1862 but when it was retired in 2008, the stunning scenery, mountain ranges and cool clear streams, rivers and lakes were encompassed into...
Old Coach road comes of age
Mt Ruapehu stands tallest amongst the North Island’s volcanoes, shining like a star when the snow comes to the high country. It serves as a magnificent backdrop to the Ohakune...
Bike the banks
The long craggy fingers of Banks Peninsula were formed by two massive volcanic eruptions between six and 11 million years ago. The resulting overlapping volcanic cones rose to over twice...
A legacy trail
Servicemen returning from Europe after fighting in the First World War were offered land in the Mangapurua and Kaiwhakauka valleys. The first to arrive cleared the dense bush from their holdings...
Hooning in Hunua
Auckland’s Hunua Ranges Regional Park once provided timber, food and refuge for local Māori. Around 1870 onwards, early settlers logged the massive kauri, rimu, totara and kahikatea and cleared the...
For the love of gold
We can thank New Zealand’s early gold miners for many of the best mountain bike tracks we ride today. Nowhere is this more apparent than on the South Island’s West...
Inclined to ride
For Wellingtonians, the 22,000ha Remutaka Forest Park makes for an easily-accessed outdoor playground with dozens of tracks and family-friendly huts. Among the park’s many attractions is the historic Remutaka Incline....
Big sky views
The Dusky Trail was named after the Dusky run block, and half of it travels through Pukaki Downs, Rhoboro and Ben Ohau stations on public easements. The rest of the...
Fantastic rides that bring great memories
My partner Ditte and I have ridden most of the cycle trails and pinch ourselves every ride – how lucky we are to be in the middle of a golden...
Kaikoura unchained
Massive earthquake uplift may have transformed the rugged Kaikoura coastline, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the spectacular backdrop of the often snow-capped Seaward Kaikoura Range. With a scenic...
What's in my pack: Dave Mitchell
BikeMy Norco Range climbs and descends almost anything so long as I’m feeling fit and brave. It’s a far cry from the non-suspended steel frame bikes of my youth. Bike...
Coromandel’s coasting connection
One of the most beautiful camping spots in the world can be found at Stony Bay at the northern point of the Coromandel Peninsula. Ancient, twisted and drooping pohutukawa tower...