Kia Ora my Friends!
Walk the Walk is currently in Taupo, getting ready to head off around the lake towards Turangi, which should be about a two day hike. Since the last time I sent an update from Tokoroa, we spent one night only two kilometres out of town beside a private logging overbridge, abundant in lush long grass, blackberries and shady trees. Tui, webdesigner and camp mum, came to visit us there and brought me a new cellphone, much more reliable than the previous hunk of junk I had, so text away, 0211750665 with those messages of support, we will need them as we approach the harsh environment of the Desert Road leg! She also brought me a new pair of shoes from Teva, after having sent them a photograph of the state of the ones I started the walk in, they were happy to replace them with a newer model, free of charge. Thanks Teva!
The following day we pressed on to a town called Atiamuri. Only about 9 people actually live there, although it grows substantially in the holiday season because of the hydro dam which provides a beautiful lake for holiday makers to zoom around in their little yuppy crafts or yahoo about on jetskis. I think we met most of the actual permanent residents. This is another town similar to Arapuni, originally built to house the engineers on the Dam, now shrunken, with large parts of public land being sold to developers to make way for housing developments to be occupied by holiday makers and lifestyle commuters. We camped up in the disproportionately large central park there, and didn't have any real hassles from any authorities. The locals were very friendly and supportive on the whole.
The next day was a long and arduous one which took us within a hop skip and a jump of Taupo to the small village of Wairakei. I have to admit that this was the first day when I really felt tired by the time we were about 7 k out and I had to voice my lack of enthusiasm for walking even one step further. So we sat down and had a rest in what I thought was going to be a town, marked on the map as Te Pouwhakatutu, merely an intersection with a furtiliser factory, a bus stop, and a very noisy dog kennel. I had a power nap in the bus shelter and woke up refreshed enough to get my trudge on for the last stretch.
The small town of Wairakei was built to accomodate workers from the nearby thermal power plant. There was a pub, a dairy, a school and a hall, and quite a few more residents than Atiamuri, because the settlement is only about 12 Km from Taupo. The first people we met were a group of school children, who thought we were completely mad for walking so far, but when they found out our support vehicle was run on fish and chip oil they warmed to us a bit (but still thought we were completely mad) One of the boys said he had an uncle who had a car running on water, but it didn't have a WOF so he couldn't drive it on the road. His uncle wasn't a local though so we didn't get to meet him unfortunately.
Next we were approached by some roofers drinking beers (as is the custom for roofers, every time they finish a job they receive a customary roof shout) who we had a game of pool with, Mick cleaned them all up and we were quite impressed by his straight shooting pool prowess, he's not just a pretty face our Mick! The roofer boys then came back to our camp and had a discussion about the government, the environment and long, long walks. As usual we had to reiterate the fact that we were, in fact, walking, all the way, several times before it sunk in.
The next day felt like a stroll in the park and before we knew it we were on the banks of the mighty lake, sipping coffee and having a much needed shower in the SuperLoo! We originally set up camp right down by the lake, but were approached by a big angry barman who owned three of the bars on the waterfront, telling us he and his patrons didn't want to look at our UGLY CAR (we had been eating in his pub with our roofer friends from Wairakei for the last couple of hours and the other patrons didn't seem too fussed and were in fact quite interested in our journey). We decided that he wasn't the king of Taupo, and didn't own the lakefront and considering the council were at home, being a Saturday night, we didn't think there was much he could do.
We had another thing coming when by 11.30 that evening we were quite keen to hit the hay and we still had a big angry barman shouting at us, and three of his heavies staunching us out threateningly with glowering eyes. On his signal they went for our banners and tore them down, almost letting the wind blow them straight into the lake.
We decided it was more trouble than it was worth and found what we thought was a much better, more central, visible and rather cheeky location, directly beneath the icon of Taupo, a big shiny rainbow trout sculpture, in the "Garden of Regional Significance" on the main drag, near the SuperLoo. We remained there all night, only being disturbed by a few hoons shaking the tents "Hoo hoo hoo" and freaking out a little when they heard my "Oi!" and realising there was actually someone sleeping there.
Sunday went just as smoothly, as suspected because the council were still off work. We set up a stall with some nice visuals at camp, but found that we got more of a response in places like Putaruru and Te Awamutu. We think this is because most of the foot traffic in Taupo are tourists, and there is so much more going on in a tourist centre like this. We did manage to find a few locals though who were all very supportive and were surprised to find that quite a few of them were already familiar with the Save Happy Valley Campaign.
So this morning we head off towards Turangi and must pack up before the council come back (they arrived just before nine this sunny Monday morning as expected). The funny thing is they always approach us just as we are leaving and tell us we can't camp there, and we say, well we just did, but we're leaving now! They were really quite friendly and reasonable though and the guy, who was actually the environmental planner, was supportive of the cause. They look after their tourists in Taupo.
So With that, I bid you adieu, and please think of us slogging it out on the desert road by Wednesday.
Heather Simpson
Walk the Walk Organiser
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