Taupo Getaway/Preparing to Leave

Life has gone swimmingly well since my last post, even with the rain here in Rotorua. For one thing, I was busy at work. Morgan lost his new hire dishy, meaning I got to pick up some extra hours. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were spent in the cafe. As I’ve mentioned previously, I love work because it gives me positive cash flow, positive food flow, and negative thumb twiddling time.

One of those days included a dramatic thunderstorm with one strike close enough to warrant a unanimous gasp from the occupants of the cafe.

One of the baristas, Luke, invited me to come hang out with his friends one evening. I was elated by the prospect of a social opportunity with some folks my age. Plus, Luke is a cheerful, laid-back dude. I wish I had gotten to know better in my time here. His friends welcomed me, and I ended up having a great time. I parked up on his driveway for the night. He even hit me with the wifi password.

I got smart and started ordering my free meal as takeaways. That way I could make lunch in my van when my shift ended and get all cleaned up using a real sink during the shop/cafe’s business hours. For dinner, I could chow down with minimal cleanup.

I managed to go for my daily walks around the lake even with the nasty forecast. A few days I got lucky with my timing, and on one I had to bring an umbrella, no biggie.

Another barista, Simon, left Zippy’s after working there sixteen years. Apparently he was uncharacteristically kind to me compared to most dishies. Possibly because both of our short-term statuses didn’t call for any constructively brash coaching.

I bought a little lantern to use in my van so I don’t have to work in the dark all the time to avoid running down the car battery. Should have done it long ago.

Jayden dropped off a bag of lemonades (yes, really) from his nana’s tree. They’re a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange. It’s like eating a sweet lemon. According to the web they’re from New Zealand and Australia, so it’s no wonder I had never heard of them before.

Mom and Dad surprised me with a thoughtful gift of used books. I got an email telling me to go pick them up from Atlantis Bookstore a few blocks from home base. They had worked with an employee to pick a bunch out for me. I chose to start with Slaughterhouse Five because I recognized the title.

Thursday morning I went up Mount Ngongotaha again. This time I drove up the mountain road on the other side all the way to the gate and started walking. The clouds parted for long enough to enjoy my exercise. I don’t remember what I did with the rest of my day, but the library would have been open till 8:00. That’s a fair guess.

Strawberries were $1.30 a punnet at Pak N Save, so I bought a bunch. Avocados were 3 for $5, so I bought a bunch.

Friday was the first day of a weekend of good weather. Naturally, I went for a ride. I wanted to break my routine and try accessing the forest from somewhere new, so I went partway to Blue lake and climbed up to ride a couple tracks out in the open where the dirt had a chance to dry out. Afterwards, I drove the rest of the way to the lake and jumped in, just because it was sunny. I ignored the fact it was only 64 degrees outside and the water was freezing. Back in town, I ate lunch and started prepping to leave for Taupo later that afternoon.

On my way out of town I filled up the van and stopped for a shower at the mountain bike trails. With a few hours of daylight to burn, I took a detour to visit the Huka Falls just outside Taupo. I met an American couple in the parking lot and ended up hanging with them until we had to run back to our cars to leave before the gates closed at 6:30. They were from LA. Always nice to run into other Californians over here. I got to my favorite campsite at Whakiapo Bay (think back to the cold lamb shank) and made myself some grub (not as good as the lamb shank). I read late into the night with my newly acquired lantern.

The next morning I had a slow start waking up and eating breakfast. I left the campsite and set off around the lake towards the trailhead. I didn’t start riding until around noon, and it was HOT. The trail looked like it didn’t get much traffic. It snaked up a very dynamic river, slow and wide in places, fast and narrow at the bottom of massive gorges in others. At the end lay the Waihaha hut, a rudimentary structure used by backpackers for overnight camping. I had passed a family with big packs on my way up. Presumably they would be spending the night there. Behind the hut, the river was joined by another smaller stream. I watched pieces of pumice rock swirling and floating on the service. I took one as a van ornament. At this point I felt the water in the stream for the first time, and it was far colder than the water in Lake Taupo itself. Maybe I would save my swim for a side trip to Kinloch later.

On my way down I became afraid of regretting not swimming in the picturesque river, so about a mile from my van I found the perfect spot and jumped in. I swam out to the middle of the swimming hole, shrieking, and directly back to where I had come. Then I waded over to the outlet of the pool where the water was doing some neat stuff.

I stopped in Kinloch on my way back to Taupo and read my book in the shade.

Back in Taupo, I went straight to AC Baths for a shower. That’s all I did there.

Next, I went to the Weal’s house where the Ronnie Mac party took place weeks before. They had invited me to park up on their lawn when I came back to town. Bevan and Suzanne were at a work party, so I chatted with their adult kids, made some food, and turned in early to read.

Sunday morning I was awoken at 8:00 by a tap on my back window. It was Suzanne. She invited me to join her on a group ride at Craters of the Moon, the local trail center and geothermal park. I barely had time to wolf down breakfast and throw on my riding gear before we set off to meet the rest of the group. Lisa, who I remembered from the party, was there, along with two other older folks who’s names I forget. The other guy along on the ride was in his 70s and put me to shame by tailing me on the climbs. Both his kids were Olympic athletes, one a medalist. Craters has a bunch of gradual, flowy, meandering trails that really let you rack up the miles. We were out for about an hour and a half. It was my third day on the bike in a row, but I kept up alright. Felt good to stretch the legs.

Back at the Weal’s I showered up and hung out for a bit. They were taking me out on their boat later.

After lunch we hit Countdown and the gas station on the way to the marina. Did I mention this was the warmest day yet this summer? It was 26C with a UV index of 10.

I know nothing about boats, but theirs was incredible, an American-made Chaparral.

We had a relaxing afternoon in a quiet bay partway around the lake. I went for a swim and lounged in the sun. Later I read a celeb  magazine and enjoyed a snack platter Suzi brought along. Meanwhile, Bevan tried his luck with the trout.

After a while, we decided to try trawling to catch some fish. We hooked one and Bevan had me reel it in. Luckily it didn’t get away, and I got the experience of catching my first fish, a sizable rainbow trout.

We got a fish on both lines at the same time, but they both got away trying to reel them in. After casting the lines out again, we snagged one more which we were able to catch successfully.

We cruised over to another bay where Suzi and Bevan’s friends were partying on their own boat. We tied up alongside them and joined in the festivities. The owner of the other boat, Von, offered me a dark n stormy. He owns a cafe and best restaurant in Taupo. He invited me to come work at the cafe if I ever wanted to. We filleted and cooked our trout with a bunch of butter and ate it with our fingers on the back of the boats. Peak experience. The water in Lake Taupo is so clean you can drink it, which I did.

That evening after dinner, Suzi recommended I go hike the Tongariro crossing an hour South of Taupo. It’s a 17km return trip up the side of a volcano. I had eaten too much for dinner and was knackered from a day in the sun all my recent exercise, but I was still game. It would be my last chance to do it, as the weather up there is often terrible and unpredictable, but the forecast looked great for the next day.

I screwed up. I accidentally set my alarm for 7:30 instead of 6:30 meaning I wouldn’t be able to get there before the parking lot filled up. The weather was supposed to change at 2:00, so even if I got a space I would have been crunched for time. On top of that, the ice in my cooler had melted, and I was nearly out of gas. Dejected, I went downtown to run some errands and figure out what my day had in store. While I was facetiming my parents, I got a message from Suzi recommending I salvage my day by riding the Waihora link. It’s an 18 mile trail, one direction, that starts at the same trailhead as the Waihaha hut but follows the river downstream all the way to the lake. Suzi even booked me the water taxi to pick me up at the beach, so I went for it.

We dropped my van off in Kinloch where the water taxi would return me, and Suzi drove me the rest of the way around the lake to the trailhead. So sweet of her.

My legs were tired from three days of riding, but the trail didn’t have any serious climbs and a net loss of elevation. It was wide and well groomed, and I made great time down to the lake. I got there an hour and a half before my water taxi was scheduled and happened to run into the trail crew doing maintenance at the bottom. They were leaving then and offered to take me back to Kinloch. I really wanted to save myself the $60 and time spent waiting for the water taxi, but my phone plan had expired and there was no way for me to call the company to cancel my pickup. This was quite frustrating for me as I won’t even spend $10 on a meal for myself. You can imagine how I felt with $60 on the line. In the end we decided to let it go. They didn’t want to steal the water taxi’s business, and I didn’t want to piss them off by cancelling. Easy come, easy go. It was hard to digest as the trail crew left me behind on the beach with 90 minutes to contemplate, but I made the most by going for a swim and snacking on the almonds I had brought along. The water taxi was early, and I got back to Kinloch right as the wind was picking up on the lake.

In Kinloch I met another American couple of freedom campers. They were also mainly Californian. We agreed to meet up again for a hike in Nelson, and they gave me some strawberries. My life is blessed by the generosity of others.

It was late afternoon Monday by the time I got back to the Weals. I figured I’d spend another night on their lawn and drive back to Rotorua in the morning. Suzi invited me to share dinner which was a salmon stirfry, frickin amazing. Her kids came in and we all hung out together.

I left after breakfast the next morning at drove back to Rotorua. I bought my cheapest tank of gas at a Gull station halfway back home. I paid $1.867 a liter.

Back in Rotorua, I spent the day recovering from a blowout weekend. I said hi at the shop and went down to the laundromat to do my washing. It was expensive. Ended up being like fifteen bucks. Later at the shop I facetimed my friend Scott for the first time since arriving. It was nice to catch up a little.

I tried poaching chicken for the first time. I added some crushed garlic and sliced lemonades to the pot with my other seasonings. I used the leftover water to cook my rice. Both came out delicious.

Today was my first day back at work since last Wednesday. Nothing notable about it. Friday is my last day at Zippy’s, and my ferry leaves Wellington Monday at 8:00am. I got off work to find my package from mom had arrived at the bike shop. It contains about 40 bars of dark chocolate, so hopefully I shouldn’t have to buy any for the rest of the time I’m in New Zealand. Funny stuff.

After work I drove down to Mike’s brother’s house. Rob owns a bike company called Zerode, which I actually knew about before ever coming to Rotorua. One of my Mike’s Bikes coworkers encouraged me to go visit Zerode, so it’s kinda funny that I ended up meeting the right people to make it actually happen.

He showed me his workshop from where he runs his company. The whole operation is done out of a little garage. It takes a special person to pull this off. I’ve known Rob’s brother, Mike, for a couple months, but until this day had only been introduced to Rob once. We got along really well. I was able to ask some good questions, and he was able to share a lot of the ideas behind his work. The one thing that makes Zerode bikes stand out from the rest of what’s on the market is their use of internal gearboxes integrated in the font triangle of the frame. Without getting too technical, there are multiple advantages to designing the frame this way. The main penalty is weight, but it’s more favorably placed on the frame. Production is about 160 frames per year, pretty boutiquey.

After seeing the shop he showed me around his yard on the lake and introduced some of his tenants. He has a couple living in a tiny home on his property and has plans to build his own geodesic dome tiny home for permanent living to rent out the main house. Permaculture is another hobby of Rob’s, so I got to see his food forest too.

When I pulled up behind the bike shop back in Rotorua, the door was open. Inside, Rob (Smail) and a couple buds were working on their bucket racing bikes. It was a nice little social opportunity, and I got to reheat my takeaway stirfry from the cafe, which I had been planning to eat cold. After shooting the shit with them for an hour, we cleared out and I went to my van to write some more. What a great day.

I worked again today. This time I started at 8:00am. During the peak lunch rush, I cut myself on one of our brand new super sharp steak knives. It was deep, and I had to stop what I was doing to take care of it. I got through the day but was whipped by the end of it. Afterwards I headed for the library to write some thank you letters before I leave.

Tonight was goodbye dinner with the Tagues. I bought ice cream and chocolate sauce on my way over to help Alex cook before the rest of the family got home. We dined, I showered, we said our goodbyes. I’m going to miss those guys. They were like my family away from home here in Rotorua, besides my Bike Culture and Zippy’s families of course.

Tomorrow’s my last day at Zippy’s. I have the weekend to get to Wellington for my ferry at 8:00 am Monday morning. The forecast makes it out to be a lovely day.

It’s probably a good sign that I’m a little sad to be leaving Rotorua. There are still things I want to do here. Realistically, I would have probably been happier to leave a month ago, but the potential for happiness in the uncertain future is clouded by the comfort of the known. Now on to Nelson.

Once again, boldly onward.