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29th Nov 2010 - More Hot Springs

ohaaki geothermal power stationFrom Turangi to Golden Springs Motel and Holiday Park, Golden Springs, about 62 miles or 100 kms. A great day's cycling with some great speed travelling alongside Lake Taupo which Steve swam in early on in the day. Lake Taupo is the remains of a huge volcanic eruption in about 184AD and was noted by the Chinese and the Romans. The Lake is huge with delightful cool clear water - ideal for cooling off and often right by the road. Only one climb between Turangi and Taupo Town and that's fairly big but it did give some excellent views and a speedy downhill. It was on the that we saw our first cycle tourers - two men cycling along with about a mile in between them. Taupo is full of housing developments alongside the lake and we didn't hang about - just got food at the large Countdown store. Couple of nice bookshops though. Then we took the 'broadlands' road through rolling wide countryside - and mostly downhill. Very speedy. Passed a Geo-thermal power station at Ohaaki - see the article on wikipedia - and we cycled past it (the usual sulphurous smell) since we needed to get from the Broadlands Road onto the bigger road along the valley so we were the right side of the river to get to the campground. And so we eventually hauled up at the Golden Springs Motel and Holiday Park. They are serious about the golden springs and we took a dip in a natural open air hot spring at a temperature of about 40 centigrade. We have pitched right under a tree fern and with a hot stream running passed the tent, so we'll fall asleep to the sound....Philosophical questions for today - why are backpackers identified by their luggage style but cyclists by their means of transport? How has the motor car changed the backpacker style - loads of backpackers are travelling by hired rent a wrecks? Is it significant that the only magazines visible in the supermarket, other than fluffy celeb stuff, were Men's Health (the endless and lucrative, for others, quest for a flat stomach) and NZ 4WD? Is NZ a set ot top tourists sites which when ticked off can allow the tourist to have completed that section in the Travelling the World test? Or is it the bloke on the heavy bike cycling to the shops to get his basics? Or is it a disconcerting mix of UK, USA and kiwi... disconcerting because sometimes it seems a bit too much like globalised american culture - ahhh, Lake Taupo had more power boats than yachts, a dead give away for US rather than UK culture...

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