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South Island Dirt Seeker MTB
Duration
7 days
Site savings
$43
From
$1,280 USD
The South Island is renowned for its outstanding beauty and adventures. Plant your feet on your pedals as you take a spin on some of the most thrilling and perfectly crafted trails the mighty South Island has to offer. Naturally you’ll take in Queenstown in all its glory, as well as areas handpicked by the expert MTB guides such as Arrowtown, Wanaka and Christchurch’s all new MTB park. As well as the varied tour, add an extra dose of awesome by including some fantastic add-on options such as Heli-Biking and skydiving.
- CategoryMountain Biking
- TypeFully Guided
- Duration7 days
- Culture LevelFamiliar
- Skill Level4 - Advanced
- Activity Level4 - Challenging
- Elevation4 - Challenging
- TerrainFlow Trail
Quick Stats
- Duration7 days
- Main DestinationSouth Island
- Elevation4 - Challenging
- TerrainFlow Trail
Route Map (click to view larger image)
Itinerary Details
- Day 1Christchurch to Castle Hill
Kia Ora, and welcome to New Zealand for some of the best mountain biking you are going to find anywhere in the world. You will start early, meeting at 7am in the lounge of the lodge in Christchurch, where your guide will have set up a continental breakfast.
Over breakfast, your guide will introduce everyone to the group and run through everything you need to know to maximize your time here. Then you’ll head out to the cream of the crop: Christchurch trails. These are seriously fun rides.
From the superb winding singletrack around Godley Head, to tracks with names such as Flying Nun and Anaconda, you know you will be in for a good time on the perfectly built XC and DH trails in Christchurch that only the locals know.
Panoramic views of the looming Southern Alps, right out over Banks Peninsula and the Pacific Ocean will wow you; on a clear day it doesn’t get much better than this.
In the afternoon, head to the Christchurch Adventure Park for some lunch and fun laps. After riding your fair share of Christchurch's best, the group will head to the next destination in the afternoon: Castle Hill!Accommodations for the night will be at the epic Porters Lodge where a scrumptious dinner will be served. There are fun trails nearby which will keep you entertained until sundown.
Please note that private accommodation upgrades are not available for this night due to the limited availability of accommodation in the area.
TRAIL INFO
Port Hills Trails
Trails available from Intermediate to Advanced
60.5 kilometers of trails
Grades: 3–6
Christchurch Adventure Park
Trails available from Intermediate to Advanced
40 kilometers of trails
Grades: 1–6- 29.7 miles
- 9,635.8 ft
9,635.8 ft - Porters Lodge
- Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
- Day 2Castle Hill
A white knuckle classic today: the Craigieburn Edge Track.
A short 30 minute journey takes you up and over Porters Pass, to enter the Castle Hill Basin, home to mystical limestone rocks scattered among golden tussocklands.
Then drive deeper into the mountains with their grey scree faces for some hardcore stuff! The chosen trails are true alpine tracks, crossing 37 degree scree slopes, dipping in and out of the bush.
Pioneered for ski touring over 70 years ago, these were ridden by cyclists before mountain biking was even a thing.
If you want something a little cruisier there is the newly constructed Hogs Back Track. A perfect blend of natural trails tickled up with tools just in the right spots to create flow.
Tonight will be your final night at Porters Lodge where you can swap stories with your adventure buddies and rest up for more shenanigans the following day.Please note that private accommodation upgrades are not available for this night due to the limited availability of accommodation in the area.
TRAIL INFO
Craigieburn Trails
Trails available from Intermediate to Advanced
24 kilometres of trails
Grades: 3–6Total Ride Time: 3 - 4 hours
- 9.6 miles
- 1,715.9 ft
- Porters Lodge
- Breakfast and Dinner
- Day 3Castle Hill to Wanaka
Even though it’s difficult to leave the fantastic views you've seen so far, you’ll press on to another vividly picturesque South Island haven: Wanaka.
En route there will be a stop at Mt Hutt for some fun laps on their beautiful network of flowing trails which then heads towards Geraldine for a well-deserved lunch.Enjoy a pleasant drive after lunch as you cruise on scenic roads with views of Lake Tekapo and Aoraki Mt Cook before finally reaching Wanaka.
Wanaka is a lovely lakeside town with incredible bars and restaurants where you can kick back and unwind in.
TRAIL INFO
Mt Hutt Bike Park
Intermediate to Advanced
36 trails
Grades: 2 - 6- 6.4 miles
- 941.6 ft
- YHA Wanaka
- Breakfast
- Day 4Wanaka to Queenstown
Get cracking in the morning with a ride through pine trees in the local Sticky Forest. Once you've had your fill head back to town for a bite to eat before loading the bikes onto the trailer and heading to Alexandra.
Alexandra is a mountain biker's dream with out-of-this-world terrain. It has multi-line trails allowing riders to take it easy or go on gnarlier drops and rock lines.
After all the adrenaline rush in Alexandra, you'll take a short drive to Queenstown to check-in at your new accommodation and home base for the duration of the tour. There are countless bars and eateries around town which your guide would gladly point out.
TRAIL INFO
Sticky Forest
Beginner to Advanced
30+ kilometres
Grades: 1–6
Alexandria Trails
Intermediate to Hard
17.5 kilometres
Grades 3–6- 13.7 miles
- 1,624 ft
- Haka Lodge
- Breakfast
- Day 5Queenstown
Waking up in the adventure capital of New Zealand is a fantastic experience in itself, with such impressive scenery and colossal peaks towering over the energetic lakeside town. The South Island’s answer to Rotorua, this MTB Mecca has a lot to offer.
Look to the skies and see New Zealand’s first-ever Gondola assisted bike lift, providing direct access to Queenstown Bike Park. Get your suspension ready and heart pumping; there will be no granny gears here!
With over 26 world class mountain biking trails and varying terrain for all abilities, in amongst the pine trees of the Ben Lomond Reserve, Queenstown Bike Park boasts over 30 km (18.5 mi) of tracks and a longest run of 6 km (4 mi). A 450-meter (1500-foot) vertical rise via the Skyline Gondola gives you easy access to one of New Zealand’s best mountain bike parks.
Attach your mountain bike to your Gondola cabin at the Skyline Queenstown base and enjoy the leisurely uphill Gondola ride before detaching your bike and taking on the legendary challenges of the Queenstown Bike Park. The grin will be stuck on your face for days!
Please note that this is a scheduled day of rest for your awesome guide.
TRAIL INFO
Queenstown Bike Park
Trails available from Beginner to Advanced
30 kilometres of trails
Grades: 2–6Ride Time: Approximately 3 hours or more
- 18.6 miles
- Haka Lodge
- Breakfast
- Day 6Queenstown
Next up, there’s the unmissable option of enjoying the local favourites. The trails descending from New Zealand's first commercial ski resort, Coronet Peak, are world class.
Rude Rock and the Zoot Track have been voted as some of the top tracks in Queenstown by locals and visitors alike. Once you blast around them we're sure you'll agree! You might even be saved from the uphill sections and be carted to the top so you can fly through the downhill without delay.
If that's not enough you can continue to areas such as Remarkables DH and Gold Digger. But if a chilled ride is more preferred then you can loop a few lakeside laps at 7 Mile. There are so many options available that a superb day is guaranteed.
The afternoon would be a great time to get additional activities under your belt. A heli-bike trip is highly recommended as its one of the most jaw-dropping and exhilarating activities you can do.
TRAIL INFO
*Cardrona Mountain Bike Park (December 1 - March 31 only)
Trails available from Beginner to Advanced
25+ kilometres of trails
Grades 1–5
Coronet Peak (Rude Rock & Zoot Track)
Intermediate to Advanced
7+ kilometres
Grade 3-47 Mile Bike Park
Intermediate to Advanced
17.5 kilometres
Grade 3-5- 4.2 miles
- 85.3 ft
- Haka Lodge
- Breakfast
- Day 7Queenstown
Your tour ends this afternoon, however not before you've gotten through a morning of adventure! Queenstown is the perfect place to wrap up your Kiwi adventure!
But there's still time for one last scenic loop in the mountains to end the tour on a high, the classic Moke Lake Loop. This ride is filled with incredible views of several lakes high in the mountains with some awesome scenery.
The options are endless: jump on one of Queenstown’s many adventure activities such as jet boating, bungy jumping, luging, skydiving or rafting, or give your tires another spin and shoot out around the extensive and impressive trail network over at 7 Mile Delta, just a short ride from Queenstown on the Awatea and Sunshine Tracks.
While the tour ends this afternoon the fun doesn’t have to! You have the option to extend your stay at Haka Lodge in Queenstown to keep the adventure going. There are many more magnificent trails around the area to experience and explore.TRAIL INFO
Moke Lake Loop
22 kilometres of trails
Grades: 2 - 3- Breakfast