Tukino

A mountain bike ride on the dry side of the magic mountain. The best down hill ride on the planet..

Tukino village is a couple of ski lodges nestled on the eastern slopes of Ruapehu. It's a neat spot on a magic mountain. A four wheel drive track winds its way up there from the Desert Road. It's the kind of place that, once you've been there, you keep wanting to come back. It's that long and windy road kind of thing.

We parked our cars out of sight a couple of kilometers up the track and continued on by mountain bike.

The Rangipo Desert is really a desert. Well, almost. It's dry, cold, wind-blown and not much grows there. The views are unobstructed and beyond beautiful. This picture shows Mt Ngauruhoe.

Rushing is not something you want to do on this ride. There is too much to see. And pretty soon it starts to climb. Lots.

Nobody can remember how long it took to reach the village. This photo was taken about where the 'round the mountain track' crosses the road. It's about when you start to appreciate that this is a real mountain.

We had a long debate about the landscape on the left. It's got to be a lava flow. Maybe it flowed down a valley of ash which has since been eroded away. Maybe the valleys have since been gouged out by long gone ice age glaciers.

As you can see we did this ride in summer. It would be interesting but very different in winter.

We reached the village after a 600m climb and savoured the raw beauty of the mountain over lunch. Then we headed down. There is no better down hill ride on the planet. In places you can leave the road and ride the raw mountain sides. It is truly stunning. And yes, next time we'll get some pictures of riders.

Never cross the desert road without checking out the Tukino track. It's not to be missed.