Cycle Tour (Day 15) Turangi to Taupo (50km)

The next big challenge is done. I finally reached Taupo. Taupo is famous for a lot of stuff, but essentially the only interesting thing for me is skydiving. Maybe I should have done it in Wanaka or Queenstown or one of the dozen other places where you may jump out of a perfectly fine plane.


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After getting my bike back from the cycle repair shop I went on to Taupo. I needed to repair my bike because I could not use the front gears anymore. And that is rather inconvenient for hilly rides. Yesterday it did not really matter anymore, because when I lost the front gears I was rolling mostly downhill and it was flat after that.

The mechanic asked me, where I am headed and to my answer he replied, that it should be a fairly easy ride 50km and one hill. As you know I am rather suspicious if a kiwi tells me something about the trip ahead of me. I was right again. At least after 25km.

Somehow the street just flew past me at the beginning and I was like 45 minutes on the road and already had 15km behind me. I could not really believe that the mechanic is right. So on I went and I was rather surprised that I still could not see Lake Taupo. If I have had a really good look at the map there was no need to be surprised. But as always I am more into lucky guessing where to go next. That was when I pulled out my cellphone and asked Google Maps where the heck I am. After obtaining my position I was right that this is the correct way to Taupo.

Five minutes later I finally glimpsed the Lake.

Von 20100324-Taupo

Von 20100324-Taupo

As you can see the weather was not all to good and it was deteriorating fast. I met my first hill. And thought wow. That was easy. Maybe I am through and the mechanic is a wise man? Nope. The mountain followed. The hill was like 2 to 3km climb with lots of traffic trying to kill me. When I finally reached the top I got my next surprise. I could not keep a straight line with the bike. I knew I was a bit tired but I definitely was not drunk. So I stopped and had a look at my front wheel. Flat. Fantastic. So I got my stuff out and went to change the wheel. After a while a happy camper with two nice old folks stopped and asked me if I was alright. :) That would never happen in Germany.

I was alright and nearly done. So I told them thanks and have a nice day. After putting the front wheel back on the next surprise happened. It began to rain. Five minutes later I was soaking wet again and the should be fun part, the downhill was drowned in rain. Damn. After that there was a small hill following. On my count: two hills, one mountain, one flat tire, rain and headwind sums up to not an easy ride.

I reached Taupo half past one and I must say I have a really nice hostel. But somehow while I was in the shower, they started cleaning the bathroom and while they are cleaning the bathroom there is no hot water. Cold shower and I needed to get warm again. So the sun began to shine again. :) I had a nice afternoon in Taupo and now I am fairly tired.

Von 20100324-Taupo

Tomorrow I will jump out of a perfectly fine plane into a(n active?) volcano.