Rotorua was awesome! Plenty of good coffee shops, good restaurants and awesome mountain bike trails! We took our cross bikes up a few of the intermediate trails. They are in such a good shape, very well maintained. You wouldn’t be able to tell that so many riders use them and so much rain fell on them lately. I could have spent many more days riding there!

Sadly, Kelsey fell and broke her hand. She will be able to continue riding, but we will adapt the itinerary.

The rotten egg smell of Rotorua’s thermal activity is getting to me. I am quite happy to get back to farm country.

We are taking the Te Ara Ahi trail today, 45 km of pavement, gravel and single track taking us to Waikite Valley and it’s amazing thermal pools. We didn’t spend more then 2 minutes on the highway, it was bike paths and trails for most of the ride:) Partly sunny, totally windy, lots of good climbs, it was a good day. The free hot pools included with our $35 campsite were also awesome! It was great to soak for an hour and warm up after that cold windy day.

Back on the road tomorrow for even more remoteness!