[Transcend]

So, is anyone here headed to 2006 worlds in rotorua?

I am looking for someone to share a ride form the Auckland airport and possibly a hotel room with in Rotorua. I believe I leave Canada on the 19th of August and arrive late on the 21st in Auckland?

(Its a 38hr flight + the date line...you fly against time, but add on 2 days. My head is spinning).

Drop me a line if you are going and your schedule may coincide.


UPDATE: Thanks to a kick ass family friend travel agent, I now have a much nicer itinerary.

Montreal > LAX on the 18th, then LAX direct to auckland. 18hours flying and I arrive in Auckland on the early morning of the 20th.

I seem to also have lodging arranged with a few Aussie buddies, so it's game on.

Now let's just change this thread SUBJECT to: WHO WANTS TO PARTY IN ROTORUA?

 

[ragin-sagin]

28 hour flight??? Not unless you are coming from iceland...
I may try to get up there...lemme get back to ya today.

 

[Transcend]

28 hour flight??? Not unless you are coming from iceland...
I may try to get up there...lemme get back to ya today.

It's a 38 hour flight for me. Montreal-Vancouver, Vancouver-Sydney, Sydney-Auckland. With a 7 hour layover in Vancouver I think. 30 hours coming back, no layovers.

Lemme know! I've been calling around like mad all day, waiting to hear back from the Canadian team people.

 

[ragin-sagin]

Oi. Thats an ugly itinerary! Its 12 hours from LA to Auckland...direct, but sometimes they try and screw ya with that trip to Sydney.
You got a rental car yet?

 

[Transcend]

Oi. Thats an ugly itinerary! Its 12 hours from LA to Auckland...direct, but sometimes they try and screw ya with that trip to Sydney.
You got a rental car yet?

Super ugly itinerary, ya. That is the best flight too, go figure.

Naw no rental car, I don't drive. Probably split one if necessary with someone, but hoping to not have to and save a bit of $ for booze and a nicer hotel.

 

[ioscope]

Stay in the Alpin Inn.
The guy there is really nice, he showed me around whaka forest on his xc bike.
The price is good enough, and it's only about a 3 or 4 mile ride to the worlds course!

I actually went in February and got a chance to ride all of whaka, rotorua town, xc worlds course, and DH worlds course on my dirt jumper. They have an OK skatepark too.

I love Roto.

 

[Transcend]

Nice, I will keep that in mind. Any idea on pricing? I am trying to figure out the best place to stay (closest to venue) as well as figure out what sort of pricing to expect.

There is a list of "official" hotels with reduced pricing for media, so I'll most likely stay at one of them. The $1.40cnd / $1 NZ certainly is a nice change.

 

[ragin-sagin]

The exchange rate is in your favour these days for sure. The NZ peso is not very strong lately. Mutton futures market is very touchy.

 

[Transcend]

The exchange rate is in your favour these days for sure. The NZ peso is not very strong lately. Mutton futures market is very touchy.

The first thing i am buying is a novelty inflateable sheep to keep me company.

 

[ragin-sagin]

Since you are going to be there for almost a week I would suggest a serviced apartment if they have them in Roto. My company has put me up in one for the past month and its pretty slick. Somewhere around 300 bucks a week...I would bet there is some price gouging though...and if not, they may all be booked up.

 

[Transcend]

Since you are going to be there for almost a week I would suggest a serviced apartment if they have them in Roto. My company has put me up in one for the past month and its pretty slick. Somewhere around 300 bucks a week...I would bet there is some price gouging though...and if not, they may all be booked up.

Whoa - that's super cheap. I'll look into that.

I will be there for 8 days I think arrive in auckland on the 21st at 2:30pm and leave the 29th 7 am. I suppose I will be spending the night in the airport if i have to take the bus, ugh.

 

[ragin-sagin]

Very cheap...and super nice too. HOWEVER, most good hotels are pricey...like 120-150 a night. Typically anybody traveling on a budget stays in the hostels. Lots of them offer 'en suittes' which just means you have your own bath instead of a shared one.
They are usually pretty nice, and you get to chill out with smelly Swiss backpacker chicks that mock you because your beer is less than 8% alcohol.

 

[ragin-sagin]

this one looks ok:
http://www.treks.co.nz/accommodation.asp
Only 68 bucks a night for a double en suitte..

 

[Transcend]

I'm probably looking at the tiara, the rydges or the millenium. I can get any of the 3 for about $110NZ a night, that's under 100cnd. If I can find someone to split a hotel with, I am laughing as they are 4 or 5 star resorts and that price is per room....

 

[Demomonkey]

"and possibly a hotel room with in Rotorua"

You will want to book soon, i understand there are not alot of beds left in rotorua.

Good luck and hopefully...see you there!

 

[Transcend]

This is what I understand. Luckily all the places I have check out have plenty of rooms left. Maybe it's because they are the more expensive ones?

 

[Rye_Bread]

when is worlds?

 

[Transcend]

Aug 20-28

 

[Rye_Bread]

who do you all think will win it?

 

[Transcend]

Doesn't matter to me, the event will be a blast either way.

 

[Frorider1]

I will be going, but im flying out from the east coast of the U.S, sorry.

 

[Transcend]

I will be going, but im flying out from the east coast of the U.S, sorry.

And i'm flying out from the east coast of Canada - what's the difference? We all go through LAX or Vancouver.

 

[Frorider1]

IM leaving the 19th out of Boston and arriving in San Francisco, then going form there to Auckland.. anyone close to the same route?

 

[DIRTWRKS]

It's a 38 hour flight for me. Montreal-Vancouver, Vancouver-Sydney, Sydney-Auckland. With a 7 hour layover in Vancouver I think. 30 hours coming back, no layovers.

Lemme know! I've been calling around like mad all day, waiting to hear back from the Canadian team people.

Well there aren't very many Canadians making the trip this year in DH anyways, last I heard the CCA are only taking two Juniors and maybe three Senior Elites on the mens side. Oh of course they have to pay all their own expenses and possibly some of their trainers expenses as well !
The CCA is trying real hard to kill DH racing for Canadians on a national and international level. But they have plenty of money for their XC racers , they will point out that olympic sports are all they care about!

 

[Transcend]

Well there aren't very many Canadians making the trip this year in DH anyways, last I heard the CCA are only taking two Juniors and maybe three Senior Elites on the mens side. Oh of course they have to pay all their own expenses and possibly some of their trainers expenses as well !
The CCA is trying real hard to kill DH racing for Canadians on a national and international level. But they have plenty of money for their XC racers , they will point out that olympic sports are all they care about!

Talked to Colbeck today. They are taking 2 juniors and 3 seniors. Top World Cup contender (Andrew Mitchell), national champ (in 2 weeks in whistler) and a coach's pick.

And as much as I hate to admit it, to be fair, the CCA's money comes from the olympic development fund...which is exactly what they are doing: developing olympians. Not taking all 5 seniors and all 3 juniors allocated to them however is just absurd seeing as they pay their own way anyways.

I am not there to cover the Canadians exclusively, as Canadian companies are pretty bad when it comes to buying photos. It does look like I will be doing some stuff there for pedal mag however, so you can expect some Canadian Flavour there. I'm trying to arrange my travel with them, as 30+ hours on a plane by myself will more than likely make me suicidal or star raving mad - your pick.

 

[Cave Dweller]

Vancouver-Sydney, Sydney-Auckland..

You should stop over in sydney for a couple of days, some good riding around.

 

[narlus]

Naw no rental car, I don't drive.

what's that all about?

 

[Transcend]

You should stop over in sydney for a couple of days, some good riding around.

Won't have time unfortunately. I have to be back to do laundry and then leave for Austria. Before i will be sealing up some last web jobs in the 2 weeks between Crankworx and getting on a plane again.

I really do need my own private Lear.

 

[Transcend]

what's that all about?

Long story.

 

[narlus]

?

 

[Transcend]

?

 

[Sherpa]

How fast?

 

[Transcend]

sooo......who else is going to rotorua?

 

[Banga]

sooo......who else is going to rotorua?

Im going, me and my mates will be the loudest in the larches.

You should take a day out to ride the xc trails, as bad as it sounds they are all fast flowy single track, very cool.

 

[Transcend]

I'm just gonna run around with a camera in one hand, beer in the other yelling oi alot.

 

[FARQ]

I'll be there in my dreams! Gotta love middleearth. Land of the hobbits, orcs and elves. My girl is prolly from there, she's sorta elvish.

 

[Kram]

This is what I understand. Luckily all the places I have check out have plenty of rooms left. Maybe it's because they are the more expensive ones?

$100 for a motel/hotel is average. $60 is cheap. The expensive are expensive!!!
Although Roto will be full, a lot of the locals will be going for the cheapo accomodation (motor camps, tents etc) so ya should be sweet. I wouldn't muck around though if i were you.

It's gonna be a great week. Hopefully the horendous winter we been having so far will calm down. On the flip side bring ya snowboard - Mt Ruapehu has had a great early season dump so will be in great shape by the end of August. Under 2 hours from Rotorua.
http://www.mtruapehu.com/

 

[Transcend]

Well these places were pretty fancy 4 star type places. Rydges, Tiara etc. Media rate was pretty damn sweet.

Is the weather really shiite right now? Iw a shoping for some decent photo weather. Will I be swimming in rain and mud all week at this rate?

 

[Kram]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3722590a11,00.html

http://www.vorb.org.nz/ftopict-41748-snow.html

Cant find any good info about the weather lately but yeah it's been full on for the last month. Major storms coming up from Antartic. Cold,wet, lots of snow.
It should be ok though. Most of this has been in the South Island and lower North Island. Rotorua is slightly more tropical and the end of August is the start of spring

Do come prepared though - All of NZ is well known for being freezing one day and awesome the next. Our weather patterns aren't very consistant at all

 

[SlackBoy]

Im going, me and my mates will be the loudest in the larches.

You should take a day out to ride the xc trails, as bad as it sounds they are all fast flowy single track, very cool.

Your gonna have to step up big boy. I don't think you can yell loud enuff. And your gonna have to try and drown out me.

At least you won't be concussed walking thru the larches this time