North Island New Zealand riding spots

Wellington is a great spot with riding spread all over the city and a little bit north of there too. Probably the coolest city to hang out in if you're in to non-biking stuff IMO. Pretty far from Rotorua but there are tons of towns in between that have had growing trail networks in the last few years - Hawkes bay, New Plymouth (those are on opposite coasts though so maybe wouldn't try do both!), Palmerston North all appear to have some good riding I haven't had the chance to get to.

440 bike park North of Rotorua is good and shuttle accessed, plus the Coromandel is one of my favourite areas in general and places like Whangamata have been expanding their trails.

Where are you landing? Auckland?

Too easy. Working south from Auckland:

440 bike park. Should be open still. Uplifts bike parky vibes

whangamata bike park at the base of the coromandel. Sick surf spot too. Beach vibes.

Pirongia near Hamilton and near Raglan

Tokoroa near nowhere but close to everywhere. Mellow but fun

Roto, say no more

Rainbow Mountain south of Roto, tick the box

Theres a new heli bike option around Ruapehu but might be snowed out?

Napier has a decent forest and there’s riding on the peak, but only bother if you’re on that coast.

Dirt Farm new Palmerston North

Wellington is a hub of activity. Makara Peak, Mount Vic, epic spots in the Hutt Valley.

youll have an epic time riding here, the diversity in terrain, dirt and climate is unreal.

Looks like Twisted Nipple is your best guide for this, but I can vouch for 440. Uplifts in old 3 door land cruisers, active logging zone that they let the park develop trails on. The trails will most likely be different than what I rode there back in 2018, but they are some of the most fun shuttle trails you can imagine, rad flow with a bit of a natural feel for a bike park. 

You can also spend days in Rotorua riding a lot of different stuff.

Not sure what crew you are going with but vetoing South Island is sus! Nelson is not that hard to get to from Wellington if you are already going down that far on the North Island, and I suggest you would regret not going there more than you regret making the ferry. 

Twisted Nipple covered it all! 

You could add Woodhill (West of Aukland) to the list but I wouldn't go out of your way to include it. The trails there are ok, the best thing there are the jump and freeride lines (Avi8tor? is great if you're into wood structure jump/feature style tracks).

There is a small trail network (6 or so trails) at Raglan. If you're in that area you might as well check out Pirongia as mentioned, pretty cool place with new trails are being built regularly. 

I'm not a surfer but I believe travelling south along the west coast between Raglan and New Plymouth has great surfing, then New Plymouth has a pretty small but solid riding scene. Like others have mentioned there are some good spots close to Raglan like Pirongia. 

If/when you make it back to Rotorua there are popular surf beaches only an hour away at Mt Maunganui/Papamoa/Pukehina!

I shoudl have mentioned my friend Jamie runs a good youtube channel that covers a lot of New Zealand riding, especially the North Island- https://www.youtube.com/@NewZealandMountainBiking/featured

Whangamata has surf and trails... Might satisfy both camps!

The trail network isn't huge but it's very well maintained and fun if you're into the more flowy/jumpy style. 

Rotorua must be on the list, if there go to the Ride Rotorua store, they will tell you everything you want to know about riding in the forest, and if you need a bike they have Yeti and Trek to rent

I think its pretty obvious you need to ditch your surfing mates and go ride your bike.