Before heading back on the ferry up to the North Island for Xterra, I had a couple of weeks left on the South Island to explore a few of the many great trails for riding. I spent a few days in the Golden Bay area trying to fit in as much swimming as possible and I also did the Remeka Track, a great natural singletrack descent which was great fun. I then met up with one of the downhill girls in NZ, Harriet Harper and we teamed up to do the Whakamarina trail, one that someone had told me I must do before I leave! It was a classic NZ trail in the middle of the bush ! We drove the car up a very dodgy gravel road and then set off on the trail following little orange arrows in the trees for the next 35km ! There was some pretty steep climbing at first and then about a 40 min push, but the rest was just natural unspoilt walking track, tonnes of roots and rocks and about 1hr of awesome switchbacks down through the bush. I think the only other people that use most of these trails are crazy New Zealand pig hunters !! The next day we experienced even more wilderness thanks to a helicopter dropping us in the middle of nowhere !!

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