Enter mountain biking heaven amongst towering redwoods and lush native bush – and discover why Rotorua is up there with the world’s best. Known simply as ‘The Redwoods’, the 5600-hectare Whakarewarewa Forest is a mountain biking mecca, and the envy of other mountain bike hubs not only throughout New Zealand, but the world. Red Bull TV even claims that ‘when we die and go to mountain bike heaven, there’s a good chance it will probably look like Rotorua.’ It is also one of the reasons Rotorua was awarded gold-level ride centre status by the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) – one of only six centres in the world. The epi centre of mountain biking in Rotorua, the Redwoods are located just south of central city, and comprises lush native bush, stands of towering Californian Redwoods, and other exotic trees.