"Rotorua to me now definitely feels like home," she said.
"I went back to Canberra recently and I felt like I was on holiday. I moved here for the biking and lifestyle - I just love it here."
But the 26-year-old admitted recent preparation had not gone to plan after she crashed in Whakarewarewa Forest during training on Monday, injuring her shoulder.
"I was very confident before the accident happened," she said.
"It was quite a bad fall and my shoulder has a lot of strapping on it. I'm having a lot of physio on it and pain killers so hopefully it won't affect me too much.
"I think the race may be a grin and bear it kind of one. But I've put in a lot of hours on the local tracks so that will shave precious seconds off for me and I know where I can hold back or where I need to push on. That's definitely an edge."
The Enduro course is made up of seven challenging stages. Hill-Wright, competing in her third Crankworx Rotorua and first Enduro World Series race, said her favourite trail was Whaki - at the end of the sixth stage.
"I know it inside out and what's coming so that means I can go as hard as I can," she said.
Kavanagh, 36, moved to the area from Hamilton in 2011, and has also had challenging preparation ahead of this weekend's premier event - only back on the saddle five months ago after the birth of her second child, Anton.
And although progress has been tough, Kavanagh finished second behind Hill-Wright at the recent local 2W Giant Enduro.
"Anton's nearly a year old so I took a good six months out. There were a lot of sleepless nights and of course that had a knock-on effect with training," Kavanagh said.
"I'm feeling good now though, I was stoked with my performance at the 2W [Giant Enduro] and have been getting stronger and stronger.
"I haven't put any pressure on myself though. If I'm in touching distance of the top riders I'll be happy. I know the tracks like the back of my hand so the course doesn't concern me."
Another local rider to watch out for is Annika Smail, who dominated her field, winning the premier six-stage female category at the second Giant 2W Gravity Enduro at the end of last year.
The Rotorua riders will face tough competition in a 50-riders field. The favourite is Cecile Ravanel (Commencal Vallnord Enduro Team) from France - the reigning world champion won seven out of her eight races last year.
Fellow Frenchwoman Isabeau Courdurier (SUNN) is likely to podium as well, as is Swiss rider Anita Gehrig (Ibis Cycles Enduro Race Team).
Other names to watch out for are Ines Thoma (Canyon Factory Enduro Race Team) from Germany, UK's Katy Winton, (Trek Factory Racing) and Anneke Beerten (GT Factory Racing) from the Netherlands.
Hill-Wright will compete in four other events while Kavanagh is looking to do two others at their home Crankworx - the first of four such festivals.
"I love this town," Kavanagh said.
"And I want everyone locally to feel the same after this Crankworx."
Hill-Wright said she aimed to compete in the next three Crankworx festivals, Les Gets, France, followed by Innsbruck, Austria and finally to its Canadian home base in Whistler, British Columbia, while Kavanagh is just targeting the end stop.
Crankworx will include 23 competitions in six disciplines in the points tally for the title.
2017 Giant Toa Enduro
Where: Whakarewarewa Forest, Rotorua.
When: Sunday, 7.30am-5pm / Awards: 6.15pm-6.30pm Eat St, Rotorua.
2017 Giant Toa Enduro course:
Stage One - Te Rua
Distance: 1.29km / Elevation drop: 262m
Stage Two - Tihi O Tawa, Billy T
Distance: 2km / Elevation drop: 176m
Stage Three - Hatu Patu, Dammit Janet
Distance: 1.67km / Elevation drop: 194m
Stage Four - Kung Fu Walrus (including extension)
Distance: 2.43km / Elevation drop: 247m
Stage Five - Frankenfurter, Riff Raff, Rocky Horror
Distance: 2.07km / Elevation drop: 334m
Stage Six - DH Mushroom line, Whaki
Distance: 1.9km / Elevation drop: 257m
Stage Seven - Corridor, Eastern Spice, Turkish, New Exit, Old Exit
Distance: 2.42km / Elevation drop: 203m
