More and more people are choosing lifestyle over corporate opportunities and three towns in particular are drawing more mountain bikers than any other. By Derek Morrison
Queenstown, Central Otago
For many years Queenstown had pockets of exceptional high-end trails like Dream Track – a mega-jump course near Fernhill and Gorge Road. It had some great trails too like the infamously challenging Fernhill Loop and the downhill-inspired Vertigo Track. But a few years ago it became supercharged for mountain biking when the locals finally infiltrated the Skyline Queenstown ranks in enough numbers to hold sway. They convinced them to trial the gondola as an access for mountain bikers. So it goes a little bit like this: buy a pass for $75 and ride the gondola 450 vertical metres to the top of the trail network at Ben Lomond Reserve then choose one of 12 trails to ride on your return to the base station to do it all over again. There are more than 30km of trails so start out with Hammy’s Track and branch out from there. Then try the network at Seven Mile or one of the area’s backcountry epics such as the Moke Lake Loop. Can you imagine any better way to spend a summer?Rotorua, Central Park
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Nelson, Tasman
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