Pureora Forest

On the way back from Tauranga we did a couple of side trips to explore some mountain bike tracks that we hadn't ridden before. Pureora Forest is just to the west of Lake Taupo and is an old logging area that has been reforested with a few remnants of original podocarp forest with Rimu, Kauri, Totara and other native trees. There are several tracks for mountain biking in the forest, mostly disused logging tracks, we headed to the northern one "Okahukura Loop". This was a fun, relatively short ride through some really spectacular forest. It wasn't too technical, and fairly undulating, but there were a few muddy spots.... it had been dry for weeks, but it had rained the night before. Therefore, I wouldn't recommend riding this after lots of rain... We also did a couple of short walks within the forest, one of which was to the centre of the north island - why? because we could! Lots more exploring to be done in this forest!


Camp setup - including our new tent!


Aaron stuck in the mud!


Geographic centre of the North Island