Tauronga to Lake Taupo

Getting up to see the sunrise has become the norm, although I haven't really seen a decent one in days.

Once packed, myself and Deiter headed off for the longest climb of both of our trips up and back down to Rotorua. The first half of the max altitude of the day was a very steady low gradient climb. It's always nice to get into a rhythm and just go. 

Unfortunately the second half was constantly undulating. I knew the target altitude was a touch over 500m, but whenever we seemed to be getting close we would descend again. 

We'd been looking for a good place to stop for a mid morning snack. Eventually we were almost at the top when we saw the turn off to an all terrain park with a very nice rest area. 

After a whole bunch of sandwiches and a coffee we headed off. The top was just around the corner. Straight away we had an extremely rapid descent down through a gorge. Unfortunately we had to make up almost all altitude lost. There was one more small gorge but the rest of the road was gentle undulations down to the lake. 

After a trip around to the city centre we stocked up and headed to a doc campsite. To get there we first had to do a decent climb. This was a little rough for me as after our shop my right leg stayed to cause me troubles and I was barely able to poor any power down. After a quick stretch I was feeling a bit better and by the time we reached the campsite at Lake Okareke I was fine.

I tried to have a swim but chickened out as it was freezing. Was nice just giving the legs a cool.

Distance day 76km total 1519km

Ascent day 1200m total 18000m

Another morning and another bad place for a sunrise. 

I wanted to do a cycle trail towards Taupo, Deiter didn't want to so we payed ways after taking a quick look at the Redwood Forest. I really should come back to the area with a mountain bike.

I managed to find the cycle trail. After a little while of some fairly average shared track I got a taste of things to come. A steep gravel descent led to some single track. Apart from some steep hills my bike handled it fine and it was along an awesome creek.

What have I got myself into

After getting lost and finding my way again I continued along the trail. This time it was a pretty decent concrete trail a little of the main highway. Some sections took me along nice side roads. Eventually though the trail approached Rainbow Mountain.

When I'd been looking up this track it had mentioned that it was easy riding.  It however didn't make it clear that it was easy mtb riding.

So I was quickly in the bush riding on Luckily fairly wide single track. The weight along with bad toe overlap made it very tough but I was able to manage this first section pretty well. I was still having fun even though I was being bounced around constantly so when an opportunity to get of the trail arrived I passed. Soon after this I had a neat tumble managing to get my foot down just in time. One pannier was dislodged and remounting it took a little effort on the hill. I walked my bike up the hill and got back on. 

The trail kept getting tighter till the vegetation was rubbing against both sides but generally it wasn't a problem. I eventually found my way to Kerosene Creek, a naturally heated creek.

After a very quick dip I headed off. The gravel access road I went down had such bad potholes that they were almost too large to cause me any troubles. I actually passed a car! 

Once near the main road I saw the signs for the trail again. After a small look I decided I'd had enough adventure for the day do I continued on the main road.

Through my travels I've seen some good, and some terrible cycle infrastructure. The worst had to be the cycle symbol painted on loose gravel on the shoulder.

I'd planned a modest day, and the mtb trails had taken a lot out of me so when I got to the Waikite hot pools camp ground I was very content.

With my tent setup I went and enjoyed a couple of hours in the pools chatting to locals.

Distance day 65km total 1584km

Ascent day 950m total 18950m

The campsite had a late check out so after breakfast I got mostly packed and headed to the pools a bit after 6am. It was raining lightly then and it only got worse but 3 hours in the pools was great. 

Unfortunately it hadn't stopped raining so I had to pack it up while pools of water were forming on it. 

Eventually I headed off and had a nice 140m gain in the first 2km. Luckily it would take another 40km to get the next 140m.

The rain did eventually stop and it for wall enough for me to take off my jacket. With one lay climb over to the lake I was just a few kilometres from my destination.  Unfortunately even though I was Descending I didn't get any decent views of the lake.

I'd been heading towards these hills the whole day. I eventuality passed them and saw much larger mountains. 

My bags had just been feeling a nice weight so I went and bought another few kgs of food. Not add much as the lay big shop though. 

Luckily I managed to get my setup with enough time for my tent to dry out. 

Distance day 65km total 1649km

Ascent 450m total 19400m

Tomorrow I'll be heading a bit past Turangi in preparation for hopefully crossing the Desert Road on Wednesday. Still got to see what the weather's like though. 

All my photos can be found at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xh0wx237qf58xgf/AADrmoR1gK1d65gJuAoLaDW-a?dl=0

I'll try to get a few select photos on here and on Facebook when I can.