Taupo to Taumarunui

Day 4 - Wednesday 2nd March

Taupo to Taumarunui - 132km

1. Taupo to Taumarunui (132km Road Bike)

Our decision to abandon the dawn kayak leg across Lake Taupo proved to be the right one. Although the rain hadn’t arrived, the wind was getting up and blowing off-shore which would have made it a tricky and possibly hazardous crossing in our multisport kayaks.

So it was a long day in the saddle; starting at 7 we pedalled out through Taupo and out toward Kinloch, westward on Whangamata Road to the Western Access Road.

Keith found another gem of a spot overlooking the lake where he excelled again with another poached eggs breakfast - yep, on deckchairs with a superb view south to the mountains.

The next few hours were quite tough going due to the gusty head wind and constant climbing. It was hard to get into a rhythm but eventually we reached the main road and it wasn’t too long before we were sipping on a coffee at the Te Miro Trading Post. Great coffee - comical service!

Luckily we picked up a tail wind once we turned south toward Kuretau because we gained quite a bit of elevation on this stretch and the shove from the wind eased the workload. Once we had reached the rest area/lookout it was all speed and fun as we blasted the last 9km to the Kuretau turnoff for lunch.

I had warned Kel that all the hills up to now had just been practice for the grunt over the ranges from Kuretau to Taumarunui - he wasn’t disappointed. We climbed in first gear for 45 minutes to the highest point over the pass - imagine the Beach Gorge carrying on all the way to Waikino! The good part of course was that there was an equally long and steep downhill on the other side before we reached the Whanganui River and the flats heading in to Taumarunui.

We arrived in peak hour traffic, just as school was getting out and then biked out to Taumarunui Canoe Hire where we arranged the boats for tomorrow and checked in to our accommodation. Not long after we arrived, so did the predicted rain - nice timing!

Tomorrow we’ll mountain bike to a kayak launching spot 14km downriver from town, then board Canadian Kayaks and paddle for about an hour and a half before biking off down the Forgotten World Highway to Stratford.