Paz and Stu hit the road in an extremely emasculating Hyundai for a road trip from Hamilton to Rotorua, with the simple goal of being as awesome as possible.

Goal achieved.

Read more to follow.



The trip began with a cool drive from the Crosby residence in Hamilton, our humble abode for the week, to Rotorua about an hour and a half away.

Stu:





Paz:




Yes, there were lots of sheep:





Pulling into a small town we saw this dude, proof that the mid-life crisis is still alive and kicking:





And, I don't quite know how to explain this other than a giant dog ate Paz...:





Having survived old dudes in jeeps, giant dogs and sheep jokes, we finally made it to Rotorua, and our first port of call was mountain biking at the nearby forest.
We didn't know what to expect, but as it turned out the place was one of the coolest areas in the history of the universe for mountain biking. We rode there all day, stayed overnight at the backpackers and did it all again the next day. There were drops, bumps, jumps, berms, uphill bits, downhill bits, and everything was laid out perfectly so you never had to work too hard to get to cool stuff.

Here's some pics, starting with Stu at a lookout with a geyser, some hot springs and Lake Rotorua in the background:





And Paz:





Stu on the Blue Bullet (yes, that is a small ladies' bike) heading down a hill that looks waaay more scary in person than in a photo:





And Paz on Randy's Red Rocket (also a small ladies' bike):





Here's a shot from the last trail we did, Old Chevy, which was extra massively long and extra massively awesome:





And, because the trip was so awesome, the celebratory rocking-the-hell-out shot: