Wellington to Lake Taupo

I enjoyed my two days in Wellington. This morning I took one last bike ride around town and then caught a bus for the 7 hour trip to Taupo. Taupo is famous for rainbow trout. Guess where they all came from???? The SF Bay area. They came out of Strawberry Creek and one of the creeks in the South Bay. I would like to go fishing here but I just can't afford the price of a charter and I have no gear or local knowledge which is needed to catch something. I will look into it a bit more before I leave.

The bus ride was long. Glad I decided to break the ride up to Auckland into two trips instead of just one long one. I was just about starting to have seizures at the end of this ride. The scenery was great but I had a hard time getting any good shots from a speeding bus. It was hugging the coast to start then mostly rolling hills and flat rural valleys all the way to Lake Taupo. The Lake is a lot like Lake Tahoe. Just as touristy too. I plan on riding my bike around all day to check it out tomorrow.

My bike ride here in NZ is over for now. I will still ride tomorrow around the Lake here and for one day around Auckland before I have to box it up for Sydney. I feel a bit disappointed that I did not complete my goal of riding around both islands. The weather conspired against me and I ran out of time but I still enjoyed every minute here and will return for sure.

a few pics