Motitere Bay to Taupo (16.05 miles/25.84 kms)

I am so glad I stopped here yesterday and spent the night. I knew the dangerous section of highway was ahead when I stopped yesterday, but I didn’t realize it was less than a half mile from where I stopped. Had I not stopped there I would have encountered it within a half hour trek.

As it turned out I got a ride from the assistant managers from the Top 10 Holiday Park Motitere Bay. They picked me up in their truck at 8:30 and we were passed that section of road in five minutes, about two miles to where they dropped me off.

It was a little cool in the morning but warm enough that I could wear my normal clothes, but I worn the hood for much of the morning.

Surprisingly the traffic was already fairly busy, and steady, as I know I am getting nearer to populated areas. I am finding the drivers on the North Island are not as courteous, or safe, as those in the South Island. More tend not to move over as much and they definitely are driving faster. I have been taking this into account and being more vigilant about moving over as much as I can, especially on the blind right hand curves.

After about two miles of beautiful views and level road, the highway turned inland, and started a steep uphill climb. It was near the top of my list of steep grades and it was close to two miles long. It wasn’t one of those climbs were I didn’t stop, because I did, many times. I always know it’s a tough climb when those overloaded trucks barely pass me. The view looking back was beautiful, but I try never to look back because it makes it harder mentally.

Once at the top, the road leveled out for a few miles and then started the downhill. This was a nice newer section of highway, but unfortunately the right shoulder was only two to three feet wide, with a two to three inch drop, or lip, to the gravel or grass. Every time a vehicle would approach I would move off the asphalt completely, and then have to use a lot of energy to move back onto the asphalt. With the volume of traffic today, it was fatiguing.

After a few miles of this downhill slope, it opened to two lanes and a much steeper slope for me. At this point there was no right shoulder at all! I moved over to the left shoulder, which was five to six feet wide, but it was a little unnerving to have my back to those downhill speeding vehicles, especially those rumbling trucks. I tried it for a while, but I was so uncomfortable that I moved onto the grass area along the road. Fortunately it looked mowed, and because it was downhill it wasn’t too hard pulling the Wheelie.

Once at the bottom the road ran along the edge of the lake with great views. I stopped and had lunch in Waitahanui, on a beach, right where a small river flowed into the lake. It was a beautiful sight to see a fly fisherman standing in the lake and casting his fly into the riffle a few hundred feet from shore. There were also a pair of black swans that swam up to me thinking I was going to feed them. It was a spot where I could have spent the whole day just sitting and watching.

I started back up and was about eight miles from Taupo and the traffic was still nonstop. I knew there were two ways to go, either through Taupo on the business route, or on Highway 1 that passes the outskirts of Taupo. There was no real place to camp because the town stretches so far, and I had not booked a place. All the cabins in the motor camps were full, and they all seemed rather expensive compared to the motels. I decided to take the business route into town and just booked a lower priced motel that had good ratings, the Baycourt Lakefront Motel.

Once I got to the outskirts of Taupo I was shocked! We stayed here twenty-nine years ago in a nice motor camp on the beach. Back them it was a small little quaint town that seemed to cater to the fisherman. I remember standing and fishing in the lake late one night, almost in the dark. I had also fished the Waitato River that empties into the lake. There were the usually tourist shops, but only a few. Well now, the town starts miles out, and much of that is newer tract homes. Those tract homes reminded me of all those being built everywhere back in California.

After a mile or more of newer houses the road dropped back down to the lake, and it is wall to wall hotels and motels, many very fancy. It was unrecognizable to me because it looks like a total tourist town, not just for fisherman. There are bike and pedestrian paths, and people riding and walking all over the place. Fancy restaurants and other businesses, almost with an ocean beach town flair.

I have to say that it gave me that, “fish out of water” feeling again. Don’t get me wrong, but I’d love to come back here under different circumstances, but with my Wheelie I feel out of place. I expected Taupo to be like all those other little towns I passed through where people stared at me with kind and encouraging curiosity, and not with strange questioning looks. Maybe that’s my “fish out of water” perspective?

When I finally got to my motel I was rather surprised! I thought in this now nice popular tourist town that my $94 NZ ($64 US) motel would be on the marginal side, maybe a little like the Oasis in Waiouru. It booked it sitting on the side of the road and didn’t pay much attention to anything other than the price and ratings. It turned out to be a suite, and a nice one at that, and it even has a partial lake view from the front. I was surprised, and of course very happy!

No laundry facilities, but for some reason, the desk clerk, Jasmin, said she would wash my clothes for me in the motel’s machines. She also gave me menus for a few great restaurants, Thai, Indian, and Chinese, that delivery for free to the motels.

After my shower, I ordered vegetable korma, rice, and naan bread, from the Indian restaurant. It was here forty minutes later, steaming hot, and only $21 ($14 US). Eating great Indian food in the living room of my suite, which is a little fancier than sleeping in my tent and eating freeze dried food! All part of the fun of my trek!

I ended up booking an extra day so I can take a zero day for an issue I developed with my left knee replacement. Two days ago when I was coming down the steep grades on the Desert Road, I started to feel a little stiffness and soreness in my knee. I must have jinxed myself as I recently told someone I have not had any issues or pain in my new knee, absolutely none. It don’t know it was the jarring downhills that day, or even the cold? Yesterday I had no issues and didn’t even think about my knee. In the afternoon today, at the beach, I awkwardly stepped up onto a dirt bank and I felt a little pain shoot through my knee. After that it felt stiff and sore again, and for the first time I saw that it was a little swollen.

When I walked the Camino four months after the replacement, my knee was a little swollen at times, but not much. I was told it was normal and to take ibuprofen for the inflammation. But one of the things, I think, that healed me faster, and what I did prior to leaving for this trek, was to get accupucture treatments. I have a great acupuncturist, Suzanne Berger, in Ventura, who started treating me when I developed plantar fasciitis on my trek to Canada. Her treatment got me back on the road. She also treated me after my replacement and I know that’s why I was back to trekking four months later. I just wish she were here to treat me for my knee because I know it would help.

So to be on the safe side, I will stay here one more day to give my knee a little rest. Like a tire, it has over 800 miles (1,288 kms) on it from this trek, and probably over 1,500 miles (2,415 kms) on it since my replacement 15 months ago. Having accupucture for me is like a wheel alignment or tire balance, but Suzanne is not here.

Tomorrow will be a good day, I am sure. I am across the street from the lake, and the city center is not far either, so staying here and resting may be hard. But I have to listen to my voice of reason, one day at a time.

Best wishes to all,

Ted

Please excuse the typos, spelling, grammar, etc., as I am typing this on my phone, and I am probably pretty tired.