No sailing this week as we went to Rotoroa for a week of riding mountain bikes. Luckily, the Crankworx festival was in town, which was great getting to see all the dudes getting stoked. In fact, according to the Onion, dudes were getting stoked at quite an alarming rate. The trails were fun, not much vert, and really LUSH. We were hoping to ride some of the more cross country style routes but the weather was cool, overcast and rainy for the majority of the week. Gave me time to try to find my favorite NZ beer. I'm still working on that one. Top current contender: Panhead APA.
We watched the Crankworx DH race, pretty exciting, some epic jumps and a few wrecks. The view is out over Rotorua Lake.
The trails are mostly purpose built, made for bikes, IMBA approved. Smooth lines, lots of flow, and super veggie.
Great Lake Trail by Lake Taupo. 74 km of point to point trail along the biggest lake in NZ.
Super fun flow.
I did not ride the big bad wolf. I did ride frontal lobotomy, flintstones, and bam bam, though.
Rotorua trails, it's like riding through a forest tunnel. It's also a bit claustrophobic, if you're used to the Rocky Mountain west. Still haven't found any trail of the caliber of the Bangtail Divide. Or Upper Mystic. Or Greenhorn Gulch.
Yeah, stay out hikers!
More preparations underway. Martin went up the mast to free the topping lift and re-rig the lazy jacks between rain storms today.
I love our pressure cooker. This little charmer makes a great risotto in 6 minutes. Our first lid rusted out so GSI sent us a new one, gratis, awesome customer service.
Local high school kids painted this mural last year in Kaeo.
The latest addition to our toy collection. It's a spear gun, donated by some great friends on a boat called Tayrona (http://errantries.com/). We met Pete & Miranda way back in Panama. Now they are sailing on to Australia and putting their catamaran up for sale. Just the start of another adventure for these two! 
