Flying Solo & Freedom Camping

Saturday 14 December

Our second morning dawned sunny again - public toilet trip and a failed cafe visit (too early!) were the first order of the day, thenAbby & I pottered about in the vans and popped into the SPCA opshop where we miraculously found Abby a copy of "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway" which we had been discussing as we drove into town! Meanwhile Louis & Jeremy cycled along the lakeshore path for an hour or so, then we packed up, said adieu and hit the road south - flying solo!

The Ironman World Series was taking place in Taupo so rather than take the usual route South along SH1 we wiggled our way down the road less travelled along the Western side of the lake from Tihoi to Turangi.

It was scorching hot and the monitors on the rear tyres suddenly flicked up an alert requiring a quick stop in the middle of nowhere to allow the tyres to cool down - so at we hopped into Banjo and prepared & ate lunch in the van - such luxury!

Next stop was Turangi at the base of Lake Taupo - where we last stopped on the way back from Christchurch with Ella & Josh's hoodlum hounds in tow! Grabbed a coffee, popped into a Hospice shop and came out with a $2 pair of jeans to cut into denim shorts and then faced our fears... well, Louis did! We found a dump station and decided to empty our toilet cassette - it was not altogether successful but we learnt what not to do next time.

From Turangi we continued southward but upwards as we climbed to the high plateau on the Desert Road. The views along the way were amazing - with snow dusting the top of Mt Ruapehu.

We’d decided to try our first freedom camp in a rest area at the summit of the road with amazing views to the three volcanoes - Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe & Tongariro. What a spot! A couple of cars drove in, one guy took his dog for a walk and another ate his takeaway dinner - then it was pretty much ours for the rest of the night.

I made Spaghetti Carbon-sarah in the van which we tried to eat at the picnic table whilst admiring the view - but the midges also had dinner plans so we were driven inside!

We were rewarded for our bold choice of overnight stay with a glorious sunset and another swarm of midges - plus a couple of technical glitches which Louis managed to fix Number 8 wire style! A really unusual place to stay - thanks Banjo for making experiences like this possible ☺️