Taupo to Turangi

We got on the bus at around 14.30 and an hour later we arrived at Turangi. We didn´t want to cycle from Taupo to here because there is only the highway to get here and as I explained a few days ago, I am not willing to get on busy highways again. It´s a real shame we couldn´t cycle this because the route is very scenic.

We got off the bus and put the tent on a huge campsite where we had good fun with swiss cyclists who also had enough of trucks and crazy drivers. There was also a group of Israelis who wanted to adopt Ella! Their cooking made everyone else leave the kitchen, they just filled it with black smoke!

At the visitor´s centre we asked for different tracks we could do with Ella but the weather forecast for the coming days was not very promising. Winds of up to 100 km/h, gail and snow. We had to change our plans because we couldn´t possibly cycle or hike in this weather. We decided to book a ticket for the bus straight into Wellington but the bus company Intercity does not guarantee that you can take the bikes and trolleys with you. It defies all logic but that is the company policy and we found ourselves stuck in Turangi. The only chance we got to get on the bus is to go to the busstop and hope for the best. That means we have to get all our gear together, cycle to the busstop and hope the driver lets you on. We´ll see how that goes tomorrow.