my 4 months in New Zealand

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

this is the Garage Project micro brewery, they make good beer!!
IMG_5087 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

so this is what the workshop looks like before the bikes are put out, there were 4 of us working full time in here and we only just kept up!
IMG_5089 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

another retro Orange 5 on the trails!
IMG_5108 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

we got up to the top of Makara peak after overtaking a couple of bikers, they were dressed as a bride and groom (sort of) because they were getting married at the top, their friends however drove up the 4x4 track!
IMG_5110 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

when i moved to the second place i lived at for the last month i was there one of the girls had a cat, meet Boston!
IMG_5114 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

i was gutted when i had to do this for a customer.
IMG_5115 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

these guys were good as gold, both might heading over here at some point as well which will be awesome, Jeremy and Mark
IMG_5116 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

trail fund NZ, Orange and Hope
IMG_5122 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

me and my buddy Boston
IMG_5127 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

want!
IMG_5129 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

back at the speedway!
IMG_5134 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_5135 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_5138 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

Crankworx, this was the pump track racing, this is the younger brother of one of the guys i worked with last year who i brought back to England with me, you may remember him as he raced in one of the 10 man teams at Mayhem last year, he was called Ben aka B3, this is his brother James racing against the big boys and he did pretty well, top 10 if memory serves
IMG_5152 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the pump track
IMG_5153 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

James again ready to race!
IMG_5164 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

Brandon Semenuk on the last jump of the Kelly McGarry Slopestyle contest
IMG_5176 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

for this of you that don't get the relevance of "McGazza", Kelly McGarry is to NZ what Jason McCroy was to us, Kelly died while training about a month before this event, he was the guy who crashed massively at the red bull great wall of china free ride comp and he also did a massive backflip at the red bull rampage, he was pretty epic
IMG_5206 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

this was the second place run but it was the fan favourite!

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjTg9uVmpKQ[/youtube]

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

first time playing with Etap Sram Red groupset
IMG_5207 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_5208 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_5209 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

All Pete needed was the vodka!
IMG_5211 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

Lat ride with the guys, up at Rotorua, Dan, me, Mark and Pete
IMG_5212 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

so after Crankworx i headed back up to Auckland to fly out, i had the guts of a day to waste before getting on a plane though so i had a good look around the city starting with the Skytower
IMG_6235 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

view from the top
IMG_6219 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

view looking down
IMG_6217 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

panoramic
IMG_6231 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

and last but not least, if you ever go to NZ, buy these, they are yummy
IMG_6237 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

 

[al-onestare]

Excellent, thanks for sharing. So what's next on the agenda?

 

[longun]

Re:

A beer at mayhem hopefully?......

 

[kenaltobelli]

Re:

Yes just to add a thanks,looks a great way to spend the winter

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

hey guys,

thanks for the comments, i won't be racing at mayhem this year, several reasons, the main one being that i'm just in the process of opening my own repair shop :shock: but if all goes well i was thinking of turning up for a social beer or 4 once the shop has closed on the saturday

NZ is a cool place but as much as i like it i don't think i'd want to be there permanently, england is home.

 

[longun]

Re:

Well good luck buddy and see you saturday evening at mayhem then

 

[lae]

Re:

NZ is an amazing place, I just got back from 3 years working in Dunedin. It's a small place and funnily enough, having done a fair bit of graphic design in the bike business, I recognise a few of those characters.

Next time you should go to the South Island, it makes the North Island look flat...

Great riding in Queenstown, Alexandra, Wanaka, and enough wilderness that you can ride for days/weeks/forever without riding on a tarmac road.