© NZPocketGuide.com
© NZPocketGuide.com

Mountain Biking in Tongariro – Day 309

© NZPocketGuide.com

Day 309 on the Road

Biking the Fishers Track in Tongariro

Today we are mountain biking the Fishers Track! If you like this video and want to see more 365 Days: 365 Activities in New Zealand then head on over to our amazing YouTube Channel & Subscribe!

Today we’re going to experience the downhill thrills of the Fishers Track.

This morning we are leaving the town of Turangi and heading toward the Ruapehu district otherwise known as the Tongariro National Park where all those massive volcanoes are in New Zealand. But before we go exploring all those volcanoes that we definitely will be doing in the next few days, today we’re actually going to be doing one of the amazing mountain biking tracks in the area.

That’s right today we are hopping on a bike again. We are joining My Kiwi Adventure which is located right in National Park Village for a biking trail through the Fishers Track and because it’s not a super well-known and well-marked track we have been given a really good map.

The first part of the track is on the asphalt and then we are going all the way up so Laura’s really keen for that.

The Fishers Track is a 17km mountain biking track which starts in National Park Village and end pretty much in the middle of nowhere where Richard from My Kiwi Adventure is going to pick us up later so we’re just going to be doing a one way track. That means we’re gonna be taking a track that only goes in one direction over a stunning mountain range and through an amazing forested valley and at the other end we’re going to cycle a little bit longer about 11km longer on top of the Fishers Track where we’re gonna be meeting up from the team from My Kiwi Adventure who will take us in their shuttle back to the beginning.

The track starts off a bit of a ascent which means going up it’s about 3km but we do that actually quickly and then after it’s all the way downhill it’s one of the easiest and funnest mountain biking trail I have ever done in New Zealand.

The trail is taking us through amazing landscape, there’s a lot of farmland here but there’s also a lot of native bush we are following a beautiful cliff through native kanuka and manuka forest and there is heaps of fields as well so we are going to get to see a little bit of life.

The great thing about the Fishers Track is that it’s a very easy grade 2 meaning that it goes most of it downhill actually almost all the way downhill after those first 3km and it’s very flat meaning that there’s not too many bumps around it’s no much chances of bumping around.

The views are absolutely stunning. We actually take multiple opportunities to stop and embrace those amazing views plus there is quite a lot of wildlife around especially a lot of goats which have colonised the area after being released in the wild by the early settlers.

Back on our bikes this is where the best part of the Fishers Track begins, the track goes into a single lane in an absolute wilderness area as we’re making our way down the Retaruka Valley the views are absolutely stunning and track itself is challenging enough to keep you on your toes yet as we said it’s still a grade 2 so it’s not way too dangerous. At least that’s what it’s like for beginners like us but if you are an advanced rider you’re still gonna find heaps of fun in the Fishers Track. You can go as fast as you like and there’s still plenty to see and a lot of downhill thrills.

The Fishers Track track right here is pretty easy the entire thing we have to do is to control our speed we’re using the brake to decide how fast we’re gonna be going and the track is doing everything else. It’s a complete downhill and it’s super fun. Plus the track is going downhill quite a lot from the top of the track to where we’re gonna be finishing we’re going down 600m vertically.

The bikes provided by My Kiwi Adventure were really good super suspension or at least full suspension something like that, and the brakes were working really well to make sure we can stop when we want, plus on top of that the tyres were actually quite wide making sure that even if there were a few muddy sections there was no way we got stranded in those.

On top of that we were provided with a helmet because yes when doing any kind of mountain biking in New Zealand it is mandatory to wear a helmet but the best thing provided to us by My Kiwi Adventure was this map that you just saw it has a lot of landmarks seen a long the trail because there is absolutely no signs along the way that helps us know where we are and how long we still have to bike it’s super handy.

The Fishers Track is just a taste of the amazing mountain biking trails around the Ruapehu area for instance there are multi-day trails like the mountain to sea which takes 3 to 7 days to complete starting from Mt Ruapehu itself and ending at the river mouth of the Wanganui River there’s also the Timber Trail which takes one to two days to do and we’re actually going to show you guy that one in a few days time.

But for us now we are on the final leg of the Fishers Track or at least we’ve actually finished the Fishers Track and we’re making our way toward our meeting point where the guys at My Kiwi Adventure are gonna pick us up. This last section us around 11km to complete and we go through amazing farmland before ending our day back at National Park Village in Ruapehu.

Alright, so today we are mountain biking one of the very few tracks which is… what am I talking about?

One of the few tracks in New Zealand.

Today we are mountain biking through volcano country. No we’re not even. Today we are mountain biking through. Today we are mountain biking through Jurassic type landscape. Yeah that’s better. Today we’re mountain biking through Jurassic like landscape… ss… FORK. Today we are mountain biking through Jurassic type landscapes. What is wrong with you over there you complaining little…

I’m not complaining I’m laughing at your face.

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