We unearth the ultimate mountain bike adventure just a few hours from the East Coast of Australia. Bring your brave.
Rotorua, New Zealand, is not just a hotbed of mountain biking trails, it’s an actual hotbed: the whole region sits on an active field of volcanoes.
If you’re lucky, you’ll get to witness a geothermal geyser reach boiling point and spurt a jet of scalding hot water metres into the air. Mud pools and steam vents are littered through town and some rivers run at 35°C plus with hot waterfalls attracting scantily clad backpackers in throngs.
Protracted across this wild landscape are some of the finest mountain biking trails in the world.
But where do you start? Let’s start at the beating heart of it all… Whakarewarewa Forest, on the outskirts of town.
Ready for the adventure? FIND THE COMPLETE 7-DAY ITINERARY in the heart and trails of Rotorua on the August/September issue of What Tradies Want.