Napier and the Eskdale forrest

Was in Napier the last couple of days the place is the Art deco capital after it was destroyed by a massive earthquake in 1950 i think its a cool place on the east coast right next to the beach. I camped at the Top 10 Campsite again and met a guy called stephan from South Africa, he worked in the gold mines and was sound as!! we got bevveyed up and just talked shit like you do when your drunk.
The weather was sound i went up to the Eskdale forest mountain bike tracks and had a blast there.. The tracks are well good and its an easy ride up the road to get to the top.
The Dh tracks are steep and fast technical with some big jumps road gaps and drop offs it's a bit like Ae forest mixed with Hamsterley.

I had a couple off crashes and sliced my left fuck you finger cause i thought it would be alright if i never had my gloves on what a prick iam..Im leaving tomorrow for Wellington and that should be good as the MTB tracks there are supposed to be technical and tight.

NZ I'm Here

I touched down in Auckland This morning at 06:20 and the temperature was 16'C the flight over was real good with a stop in L.A. to re-fuel, we flew over Las Vegas and you could make out the MGM grand and a few other buildings the place looks mint from the air.
Once into LA you have to enter the country and then get put in a holding pen while the plane re-fuels!! It's a bit of a farce as you have to fill in immigration forms in just to transit but at least the passport get's stamped, so that's another one for the collection.

I got a Shuttle bus from Auckland airport to my sisters which is in the C.B.D (Central Business district) or the city centre, the place where she stays is amazing its basicaly a 5*hotel that have the odd apartments bought out in it, Its well smart, has amazing views and only 2min walk to the main shopping bit. So on that note im gonna grab a shower and head in to see what's on the go..

Dont Fly Quantas

Got to the ceck in dest friday morning to go to NZ Quantas wanted £1100 to take my bike to NZ i tried for hours to get it changed but they would't budge.. The BA girls could not belive it as they only charge £30 and Air NZ only £50.. I even put on there website that i was taking my bike and it never said nothing about having to pay £1100.. So il have had to re-book for tuesday with NZ airways il be out in NZ for the 29th Jan.... Im trying to claim back the cost of my flight from Quantas now....

Glentress mincing

Malcolm Renton

I was up until 5am watching Ricky "Hitman" Hatton take Paulii Malanagi to boxin school in there world title fight knowing that i had to be up at 9am to head over to Glentress for a day's riding.

I looked out the window just before i went to bed and could't belive that it was snowing, it was about 3inches, 3hrs ago it had just been a cold and dull night and now i was loking at a mini blizzard. I got up and it was white i thought about cancelling but decided not to as it had been planned with Malcolm earlier in the week. He turned up and we headed for Glentress. 

Me after the first small black section.

The weather was crap at glentress dull and wet. We set off and straight away i was getting a wet arse from all the wet spray coming up of my tyre i new this was gonna be a wet one. We made it up to the top of spooky woods eventually, Malcolm's fitness almost non-existent Ha Ha (to much letting the girlfriemd ran about after you i think.) 

www.7stanes.gov.uk

We headed down the spooky woods run whitch is like a big boy's bmx train with it's perfectly smooth berms and fast flowing motorways, it's not really what i like to ride but you can't knock it for what it is and it's perfect for beginers or novices (not that im any kind of super rider) or just generally getting out with your mates for a laugh. I was soaking after the first run down and my legs were freezing as we pused back up for another run down. We done 2 loops of spooky woods then headed down the rest of the red/black runs, the 2 run's after spooky woods trail are my favourites because they have some fast rooty/rocky sections in them and you can pick some good flowing speed up. We headed up to the Black run and i showed Malcolm where the north shore (ish) stuff is then we made are way down the black runs, these are good steepish descents and have the odd rock garden tight fast wood sections so you get a good mixture of everything here. Once at the bottom we had to make are way up to the van, a little ride up the road taking about 5min.

Soaking, wet and muddy....Buzz.

We got changed and headed to the hub cafe for a cuppa and a roll, the prices in this cafe have gone through the roof boardering on mental they want £7 for a full english breakfast!! i ordered a takeaway Latte and was handed the smallest takeaway container i have seen smaler than the petrol station one's and was charged £1.60, 2 sipps and it was gone.... Im not going back there again ripping off Bas*@rds. Overall it was a good day and now im knackered going for a shower and heading to my scratcher....