adventurethroughtravel: April 23rd, Wellington to Auckland

It was a pleasure to set off in sunny blue skies north along the Cook Strait with the wind gusting to 50 knots. At Waikanae I turned inland through farming country. There is a small town called Bulls where every second business uses the word bull in their advertising! (i.e. – rent a bull) I started getting small showers as I headed north toward Lake Tapo through some hilly country with great motorcycle roads. Fortunately Mount Rupapeho, which erupted as recently as 1996, was holding back a weather system advancing from the northwest so I didn’t get wet. Only occasionally could I see its’ snow capped top through the swirling clouds.

Lake Taupo and its history are amazing. In 186 AD the mountain erupted and was completely destroyed, throwing 110 cubic kilometer of earth into the air, while the more recent Krakatoa, that resulted in in summer in Canada and Europe after its explosion only moved 8 cubic kilometers. The blast was heard in China! A huge lake fills the void left by the explosion. From Taupo through Hamilton it was driving through flat agricultural land. I arrived at Auckland at rush hour and drove the last 18 kilometers at 25 kph. Thank god for the 328 meter Auckland tower; it made it easy to find the best exit to the downtown core when one doesn’t have a map!

I went out for a tour of the downtown area, and to my surprise it was very active on a Wednesday night. When I was in Auckland in 2000 and 2003 for the America’s Cup, the viaduct was bustling and I was pleased to see it is still busy. Queen Street was really active with an International Comedy Fest on.