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By Nick Verhoeven
Mountain Bike Academy Coordinator at The Cathedral School

The Cathedral Mountain Bike Academy (CMBA) visited New Zealand in early 2026 for an adventure-filled, nine-day mountain biking and cultural tour.

The group flew to Auckland via Melbourne and rented a couple of cars for the drive South to Rotorua. The Itinerary include three days of riding at the World renowned Redwoods Mountain Bike Park just outside Rotorua as well as a trip to Hobbiton, Rafting on the Kaituna river including the 7m Tutea Falls (the highest rafting waterfall in the world), the Waitomo Glow Worm caves, a Maori cultural dinner and show as well as a ride on the Skyline gondala and a couple of luge rides.

Day 1:
Mitch and I woke up on time for our breakfast at the buffet with the rest of the team, after a short discussion about punctuality. Thanks Nick. After Rueben and the rest of us polished off our pastries and other food for breaky, the Bryant’s took off for a “little detour.” Nick, Mitch, Sid, Hamish, and I drove an hour down the road to Hamilton Gardens. It was a great smoko at the cafe, followed by a walk around the gardens and Hamish on the turntable at the playground. We let him off and continued on our way to the blue springs, where Nick bravely allowed us to swim. We couldn’t. National Parks NZ or whoever said we weren’t able to. Rats. We had a great walk along the side of the creek however, with some great chat. The walk – a solid 8/10. The quote of the day came from this such walk, being “Yeah nah I won’t eat lunch, I’ll eat the water.” – Hamish. Nick then directed us back to the Ute and into Rotarua. We rocked up in the best looking hotel, and after a lengthy discussion with the lady at the front desk, he led us to our rooms. (Don’t tell Nick but Mitch and I have a bathtub/Jacuzzi!) The gang (minus the Bryant family and Nick) went for a stroll up the street and had a look around at the local bike shop, and admired the stench of the Sulfur lake. Overall, good day, good fun, and can’t wait to go riding. PS – Hope you’re not dizzy anymore, Hamish.
– Steve.

Day 2:
To start the day off we had a nice and freezing dip at blue spring (emphasis on the freezing). After the swim there was a trail walk where we enjoyed natures beauty until Steve assaulted me and put a hole in my knee. My rating a 9/10. After warming up on the trip ….. where mitch and Reuben went surfing while Matt and Gianluca went swimming while everyone else enjoyed the ocean from land. My rating a 7/10. To finish off the day a tour around hobbiton movie set was enjoyed by everyone I think even though we could sadly not catch the eel that had a terrible sense of survival skills. My rating a 9/10. Quote of the day “I’m stubbless”.
– Hamish.

Day 3:
Today was the first riding day, so we kicked off with some light breakfast and then head off to pick up our bikes for the day. The trails were pristinely kept and the morning flew by as we explored the area. The downhill trails were a 10/10. For lunch we stopped off at a cafe near the trails, with some nice pies and burgers, Mitch and Steve deciding to have a light lunch of muesli bars. After that we split up to a few groups riding around the trails, Mitch and Steve exploring further up around the summit. After returning our bikes and having a rest we enjoyed an incredible dinner at a local BBQ place, Steve, Mitch and I polishing off a massive platter of varied meats. (Steve and Mitch especially hungrily). All in all, a great day, and I’m sure we’re all excited to explore the trails further.

Day 4:
After spending yesterday getting an understanding of the trail network we were ready to hit the Rotorua Mountain Bike Park full steam ahead, and that we did. Before we even manage to get on the shuttle bus, Ruben axed himself into the ground off a jump that was described as “quite a heavy landing.”8.5/10 crash. After checking Ruben was okay we jumped straight into the shuttle bus, getting dropped off at the top summit and split up. With me and Steve dropping straight into Heckle and Ride classified a grade 5 (difficulty is ranked 1 to 6) which was recommended to us by a 13 year-old on the shuttle bus. The rest of the team spread out and covered a few different tracks such as Hot X Buns and Te Poaka. These tracks were fast, flowing and a highlight for everyone, no rocks! For lunch today, me and Steve met at the bike shop where we smashed a feed of cliff bars and smuggled pastries from the breakfast buffet. Whilst the rest of the team met up for a lunch at the cafe. For the afternoon writing Steve and I spent a good hour following our way down a grade 6 track called ultra Rosa. This is quite the challenge and there’s lots of videos of Steve attempting many of the A line features. The rest of the crew continued to enjoy the luxury of shuttles and the smooth flowing terrain of Rotorua. For the quote of the day: Me Hamish and Sydney were driving back from dinner with Nick, where the boys pointed out a school sign that they read as “designed by Apple” However, after further investigation I was able to inform them it actually read Distinguished by Apple. Follow up with “You might need to brush up on your reading boys, if a dyslexic is telling you, you got that wrong”.

Day 5
This morning me Sid and Nick begrudgingly got out of bed to eat breaky in the room. After we finished our nutri-grain we got our stuff ready for white water rafting. Before rafting Steve, Gianluca, Sid and Mitch fought it out in an intense fuse ball game. Mitch and Sid came out victorious after a 5 – 0 come back. 9/10 match. As the safety instructions were explained to us I was glad to find out that the water was only 25 degrees and didn’t need the wet suit. But over all my highlight of rafting was the 7m water fall. Overall 9.7/10. The quote of the day being from me before I got in the water (I’ll do it because Steve is making me). The rest of today was pretty chill after going shopping and having a war with Steve, doing nothing was a pretty popular choice amongst everyone. Me Sid and Steve walked down to the restaurant and everyone else drove. The Mexican food was great and then we all headed off for an early night preparing for the caves tomorrow morning.

Day 6
On Monday, which was supposed to be another rest day, we found ourselves doing a lot of random stuff. We left early in the morning for the glow worm caves, which were absolutely stunning and almost entirely worth the two-hour drive. In the car park, the gang witnessed an incredible feat of driving- a guy in a minivan had a burnout whilst trying to reverse out of his park. The drive back took a long scenic route, which meant we ended up at the wrong lake. Instead of crumbling, our valiant coach Nick took it in his stride and decided we would have lunch there. Seven orders of Steak and Chips later and the gang went on a bit of an explore. Steve, Sidney and Hamish went off and played in the play ground like gentlemen, whilst the Bryant boys engaged in an intense duel of Clash-For-Kids (chess, this time with giant pieces). The elder Bryant and reigning champion came out on top once more (scoreboard?), and the gang continued on our way. The next stop was the Zorb balls, which entailed rolling down a hill in a large inflatable sphere. Of all the lads, Steve performed most valiantly, trying his darndest to keep on his feet. It was discovered that putting multiple people in one Zorb is a recipe for chaotic fun. Once sufficient time had been spent playing with Balls, the gang went home to rest. At around five thirty, they were picked up for the Maori dinner experience. Hamish left his phone on the bus. Lots of culture was discussed, and food cooked in a hole was consumed. Soon, someone had to be elected as a chief to represent the group against the local tribe. Steven was chosen for this role due to his charisma and social confidence, as well as his imposing, Maori-like figure. Chief Steve represented the group well and was met with thunderous applause and respect from the local community. After the songs and dances had been performed, the group continued on, travelling to the nearby recreated Maori village. The local chief, a white haired man, remarked to resemble our Coach Nick. The Local Chief was also coincidentally carved out of wood, but still stood proudly next to our own Chief Steve as the two posed for a photograph. As the evening came to a close, the glowworms came out to honour our chief. Hamish forgot his wallet on the bus, again. This will need some action tomorrow.

In short, it was an amazing trip with many students travelling overseas for the first time. The CMBA intends to hold another NZ MTB and Cultural tour in 2027.

The riders attending were:

Mitchell V. – Year 12
Gianluca B. – Year 12
Steve S. – Year 11
Reuben B. – Year 10
Sidney S. – Year 9
Hamish M. – Year 9
Plus Matt (Gianluca and Reuben’s Dad).