Cycling in Taupo

I’ve officially been back in New Zealand for a week and it’s gone by super fast. The great thing about the last week is that it feels as though I am already on holiday. Although for some strange reason, I still feel like I’ve got some sort of job.

You know that feeling you get in the early evening of most Sundays? You know, when you’ve had a great weekend and you suddenly think “I really can’t be bothered going to work tomorrow.” I had that feeling on Sunday. But perhaps for me it was more the sadness of a great weekend being over, more so than not looking forward to slaving away at work for another 40 hours.

Being Waitangi weekend, (New Zealand’s ‘New Zealand Day,’) Friday was a public holiday, so what better time to get the bike out of the box and put it back together just in time for a quiet ramble along the lake front for some crepes.

It’s a perfectly good road bike that I bought off Paul Hughes when he decided (after buying it from Tip to settle a $100 debt nonetheless!) that he really didn’t want to ride it. It cost me $100 to buy and $100 for a service to get it up and running. Since purchasing it I’ve bought a bell for it, (mandatory on Perth’s bike tracks,) a pedal tool thing, a set of Allan keys, a bike pump and a helmet. The bike caused me a bit of grief in Perth as I wasn’t sure if I should take it with me. It’s one of those things that you’d only get a couple of hundred bucks for if you sold it but would then have to spend a grand or so getting something similar in the future.

With Air New Zealand’s sporting goods policy, you are allowed an extra 10 kilos of luggage. So with that in mind, I brought it back with me, costing $100 in excess luggage. However, because of the size of it when coming through customs in Auckland, I was able to skip the whole line. So there is an upside to what could have been a pain in the bum.

I was pleased that I had chosen to bring it back to Taupo after the reasonably easy task of putting it back together on Friday, and an even easier ride the 5 kms or so to the Taupo Boat Harbour where Alise, Kylie and I had a great brunch of crepes from a wee caravan in the car park. Yum.

Although we were going at a leisurely pace, I was relatively pleased with the lack of tiredness and perspiration that was present. I really haven’t done any exercise for a while and expected to be a bit spent after getting to the café. However, I was feeling great, and felt even better after getting home.

So this got me motivated to do at least a little bit of exercise every day. It should be reasonably easy…!