Recommended last night by the staff in skydiving place, there is a FREE natural hot pool not far from town. I wake up very early and eagerly need a wash of my body! It is called Spa Thermal Park, just continue Spa Road from town and you will see it on your left. Follow the walk towards the waterfalls, suddenly you can see steam coming up, and here it is the hot stream flowing into Waikato River. The park opens from 7am to 8pm, go there in early morning or late evening to avoid large crowd. There is a free campsite Raids Farm nearby, pitch your tent to get some rest after the dip!

I go up 50m above the pool which is right below the river, that one is really private! I spend almost an hour by myself with nobody come to join. The water is quite hot, so don’t immerse yourself too long.

After having a relaxing early morning, I go back to town and join the worship in church @109. A couple invite me for lunch but I am in a rush to go to Rotorua before dark so I have to pass that.

When I set my pedal on the way out of town, suddenly a sharp puncture sound I hear in my front tire…oh my God, it is a piece of glass from beer bottle! As I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t blame those who drink, but PLEASE DON’T FLOW BOTTLES ON THE ROAD, they break and the glass pieces can hurt people or PUNCTURE my tire!! I don’t have spare inner tubes anymore, and try to fix it with the old tube that I had repaired. However, it is still leaking (my repairing skill is not good…), and I have to push my bike back to town and buy a new tube for that.

1 hour passes, and I am on the road again. The weather is so fine that I enjoy pedaling! But after around 20km, a loud “Chu” sound comes up again, this time is the rear tire… I AM SO LUCKY TO HAVE 2 PUNCTURES WITHIN 2 HOURS, nobody is more lucky than me! It is in the middle of nowhere and again I have no spare new tubes. Thumbs up and wait for someone to help. A couple stops and offers me help, they are so nice to give me a new tube to put on, but they recommend me going back to Taupo to buy a new tire (as the rear tire is quite worn out after 2000km ride), the inner surface of the tire can puncture the tube when the strips are out. They put tape to fix the inner surface temporarily.

Not listening to their advice, I continue my ride towards Rotorua, keep praying that I will not have the third puncture in a roll… and I pay extra attention about the road surface! Since I have told my Warmshower host John that I will come today, I have to pedal hard and not delaying anymore. Taking a leap of faith that my Lord will deliver me safely tonight in Rotorua, finally I arrive at around 9pm, almost totally dark. My host John is so nice to welcome me and reheat a dinner for me, even he is very tired. A warm meal and a warm shower is what I need after this puncture day!!

Taupo to Rotorua 84.3km