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After a thrilling first test at Eden Park I decided to move on with urgency, my immediate focus now drawn to the tasks that remain ahead on tour. The first of which is our third visit to Wellington in the last ten days. We had some distance to travel but we wouldn’t be alone. The ghosts of every roadside meal consumed along the way will haunt us until the very end. Their number increases like clockwork but we steel ourselves and press on.
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Around midday Sunday we departed Auckland and just before dusk pulled our herculean RV in at Spa Thermal Park on the outskirts of Taupo. There I introduced Jamie Wall & the film crew to one of my favourite streams in all of Aotearoa – Otumuheke Stream. A natural hot spring runs through it’s veins mixing with the cool water to produce a delightful blend that tops out at around 42 degrees. We clambered down to nestle among the rocks a while, you can watch that all unfold here.
Feeling revived we continued into Taupo and ate an enormous roast pork dinner at a lakeside tavern before parking up for the night at Taupo DeBretts Hot Springs & Pools. Debretts is an icon of the industry and a landmark of nostalgia for me personally. I’m more than delighted we have been able to tick off the big three on this tour. (Hanmer Springs, Polynesian Spa, Debretts).
On Monday morning I ate a potato top pie and half a ham, cheese, & tomato panini before getting behind the wheel. I don’t recall exactly what it was I ate in Taihape but at Bulls I purchased and ate fried chicken from the Four Square. By the time we arrived in Paraparaumu to reminisce at my childhood rugby club I felt like a piece of shit. You can probably see that for yourself.
We’ll have more tonight from Westpac Stadium where the Hurricanes will rip into the British & Irish Lions.
