January 28 - Rotorua to Taupo - 82 km

 Hi, again:

A long, but easy ride today.  A 200 meter gentle climb out of the crater of Rotorua and then generally downhill and flat to Taupo.

We started off early - for those of you .who have been here before, the picture at left proves we were in the MacDonald's in Rotorua.  They have entire walls of Maori carvings.  A quick brekky of pancakes and off at 0730 before the heat gets us.

Along the road we passed various steam vents.  The whole of the central part of the north island is volcanic with a tectonic plate boundary directly beneath.  So, there are steam vents (we passed 6 or more today)  and the morning news often reports earthquakes.  We passed a power station today, but I don't know if it is geothermal (I suspect it is gas fed).



  The photo above is a group of inactive (probably not extinct) volcanoes north of Taupo.

Today, we had our first bike problem - I got a flat tire.  Actually, I think this is my first flat since Trois Riviere on our Canada trip in 2008.

Since we got an early start, we got into Taupo about 130 pm, so we only got some of the noon heat.

If you look at a map of New Zealand, there is a big lake in the centre of the North Island - Taupo is at the northern end.

My first impression of Taupo - Penticton!  It's a nice, touristy lake town.  As is typical, it is very clean and friendly.  On the lake front street, there are a lot of familiar signs - Pizza Hut, Burger King, Wendy;'s & McD's for example.

Except, Penticton doesn't have any of these - would you go for as pee in a Super Loo?"

Being a curious sort, I had to try it out, so I went for a coffee to give me an excuse to go.

It costs 40 cents, but you could also have a shower there.

Laura went off to scour shops, so I visited the museum (you don't think the Super Loo would be my only cultural foray in Taupo, did you?)

And, I had to take a picture if this, whatever the heck it is. I think I would hit the ditch if I saw this coming toward me.  Gypsy something or other, I guess.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day - 105 km to National Park with lots of uphill and possibly some rain and headwinds.  We'll give it our best shot.

January 27 - around Rotorua

As I mentioned yesterday, today is a free day around Rotorua, and we are playing tourist.  We also dropped into the bike shops to get some route advice.

Background - Rotorua Lake is a crater lake.  There is lots of steam activity still and as you walk around town you occasionaly get whiffs of sulphur smell - kinda like living in a pulp mill town except you can't blame a company.  Laura has looked at me sideways once or twice and asked if I'm responsible for the smell - I have plausible deniability!

Our main visit today was to Te Puia Cultural Centre for a tour of the geyser and pools and a Maori concert.  Their website is www.tepuia.com.   Here is a shot of the geyser when it is quiet.  It will shoot 90 feet when it erupts.

One of the bubbling mud pools.  Yesterday in town at the Maori village there, when I told the lady what we are doing she gave me a tube of Thermal Mud body rub, to releive aches and pains!

A view up the hill, showing how there are various vents and pools everywhere.  If you look carefully, you can see a couple of guys in visi-vests wandering around (sacrificing a maiden?).

I did take some videos of the volcanic activity with my camera - some of them came out not badly.  However, I can't upload them to the blog without using up my Internet account.  There is no such thing as free wireless 

here and you pay for Internet access by the megabyte.  Ouch!

Onto the Maori culture.  3 shots of the village.  Note the detail carving in the last shot.

 And the Maori dancers.  My camera didn't work well inside, so the photos aren't good.  The concert
was great.  I did some more videos which came out surprisingly well, except I shake a lot.

And check out the chief's reaction when Laura told him about our cycling rouite across NZ.

Back into town for a wander about.  This is the Spa building, built in 1908 as NZ's first major attempt at tourism. It's now a museum.  Beautiful building and immaculate grounds, including the lawn bowling greens and Croquet Pavillion and grounds.  They even had a BC totem, donated by of the tribes from Kingcome Inlet.

On the right is is a view of the lakefront, showing the results of all the activity.  I'm not sure I would pay big bucks for this lakefront.  Other parts of the lakeshore looked pretty normal.

Lastly, just for you Al - we saw this bike in one of the shops.  In case you can't read the tag it is $11,699.  

We would have bought you one, but I know you don't like red and they didn't have one in blue.

We're off to Taupo tomorrow.  Heavy rain is forecast for the weekend, but they think it will stay in the north (where we've been) so it should miss us.

January 26 - Tauranga to Rotorua - 63 km

We got going early and had bacon and eggs in Tauranga to prepare for the big climb into Rotorua today.  The weather has improved; clouds and sun, so sun screen was the order of the day.

For those of you complaining about only seeing pictures of Laura's backside, here's one of her frontside.  And, bonus, she's smiling (we're not to the Gorge yet).

This is Mangorewa Kaharoa Gorge.  Laura wouldn't be smiling if she was in this shot.  Actually, today's ride wasn't too bad.  We had to climb from just above sea level to 500 meters, with multiple additional hills.  Our total vertical climbing was 734 meters. Laura figures this climb was tougher than the one to Rotorua on her previous NZ cycle trip. 

This shot is our profile today.  The gorge is the notch at the top of the climb. We wore off some brake pad on that one. (Sorry, but I can't get the profiles any larger on this computer, due to the way my software works).

These are some swans at the lake in Rotorua.  Rotorua Lake is the remains of a volcanic crater filled with water.  Lake Taupo (south of here) is even larger.  We'll be there in a couple of days.  Tomorrow, we are staying here to play tourists.

The Anglican church on the lakefront.  Those who were on the previous NZ bike trip will recognize it.

This is our backpacker accomodation.  So far, we haven't been disappointed with any of the backpackers we've stayed at.  They've all been clean (this one especially) and reasonably comfortable, and about 1/2 price of our motel last night (which wasn't too expensive, either).  It's almost like getting dinner free!

January 25 - Waihi to Tauranga - 62 km

After a night in the pretty little Waihi Motor Camp we got up to cloudy skies and headed out, after
a goodie in town.  Fairly easy cycling - I don't mind clouds for cycling since it keeps the sun
off.

About half way through we stopped for bacon and eggs past Katikati.  Then the drizzle started,
making the cycling miserasble.  The road was easy with good shoulders.  The only place where I saw
my life go before my eyes was a 2 lane roundabout in Bethlehem (suburb of Tauranga).  One lane
roundabouts are a breeze, but a two laner with a lane change is scary on a bike.  We solved the
problem by walking the bikes over to the pedestrian crosswalk.

So, we are in a motel in the Summit Hill area of Tauranga.  Here's some photos:

-View of the Waihi Motor Camp.  Our (double bed sized) unit is half the little white building on the far left.  A really pretty place.

-A staute of a miner on the main street of Waihi.

-Part of the road past Katikati.  There are very tall hedges either side, I presume for use as wind breaks.  I think they were growing kiwis, grapes andother tree crops.

-A view of the waterfront in Tauranga.  I cycled around the residential part of downtown.

Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be better (still drizzle in the am).  Our destination is Rotorua Rua, which will require climbing a 500 meter vertical hill!  See you there (puff, puff!)

January 24 - Tairua to Waihi - 69 km

A more complete report on yesterday's action - back in the saddle after a day off.  A good day for biking - not a lot of sun, and mostly not too much wind.

-Last view of Tairau

We peddled down through Whangamata (the 'WH' is pronounced 'f', so its 'Fung-a-mata').  Its another small town on the Cormandel - the main street is one storey shops, the police station is smaller than our garage.  But plenty of character and an awesome steak and cheese pie.

Our typical day is yoghurt and bananas at the hostel, pack up and hit a bakery for a goodie and then hit the road.  We made it to Whangamata by 10 am, so we had an early lunch (the pie), stopped at the bike shop for route advice (and a free power bar) and headed on.  Another hill just before Waihi (235 meters) and the only down side to the day - the headwind was so strong we had to peddle downhill!

-See!  I told you it had rained around here!
We picked up some veggies and a jug of grape juice (!) and made dinner at the motor camp where we stayed.  No tenting yet because we were in a tiny little unit, which is just fine for us.

Waihi is a mining town with a huge open pit mine gold right in town, although you can't see it until you are right on the lip of the pit.  The mine opened in the early 1900's, closed in the 50's, and re-opened when gold prices went up in the 80's.  It, and a smaller underground operation are still going.  Later this century, when the pit shuts down, they intend to turn it into a lake.

More photos:

-Some sort of succulent plant in Whangamata

-View of the road from near the top of the day's last hill. We watched a fellow on a motorbike and a couple of dogs (Border Collies or Aussie Cattle Dogs) move a herd up the hill.  Fascinating to watch the dogs work.  Note the windy road.

-A view up the main street of Waihi.  Note what remains of the original headframe for the mine in the distance.

My GPS records a rather interesting statistic called "Total Ascent" which is the total of all the hills we have climbed in a day.  There were three two hundred meter hills on the route and a bunch of smaller hills.  In all, our total ascent was1006 meters, the first time on the trip we have broken the kilometer mark.  There are way more hills to go!

Jan 24 - Tairau to Waihi

Hi - I won't be able to do along post today because of the computer I am on.  I'll try to do something tomorrow.  I write up the posts on our computer and then transfer them to a thumb drive, but this computer won't take any other inputs.

Anyway, we got back into the saddle today and made it to Waihi.  There were a bunch of hills, but nothing terrible.  The last downhill was a bit disappointing, because as soon as we started down, the headwinds were so strong we had to peddle downhill!

I'll have more stories and pictures next time I can sign on.  Tomorrow, we are heading for Tauranga.
Greg

January 23 - Rain Delay - Tairua

The weather forecast was for heavy rains and wind gusts to 120 km today, so we decided to stay an extra day here.  For all you types that think we should have been pedaling today, remember this is our vacation and we can be as lazy as we want!

So, here's Laura wandering down the main street.  Except for the palm trees it could be BC!

And this is the hostel we are staying in.  No, its not the building, it's the little caravan under cover.  It's a good thing it's under cover, because we think it leaks.  In case you think we are in the lap of luxury, the TV doesn't work.  Note how we carefully unpack and organize our gear.

Actually, the hostel is quite nice - the caravan was the only double room left when we showed up.  Here is the view from the front deck.  10 minutes ago it was raining so hard we could not see the hill in the background.

I just checked the weather again - it has rained over 100 mm here today so far.