On the next morning we left the sheep farm and went back on the road. We could stay in the valley and only in the end of the day we had to climb two bigger hills. Behind these hills we found a nice place to sleep - our third wholeshed. It started to rain in the evening so we were pretty lucky to have a roof over our heads. Later in the evening it got colder and colder, autumn is coming, so we decided to pitch our tent inside the shed to have it a bit warmer. 
After a nice and warm night we cycled to Todd's sister (the last sheep farmer) the next day. It turned out to be the first day where we chose a wrong turn, so we had to climb one more hill than planned but we did not have that much elevation that day anyway. We arrived in the early afternoon and could see how a horse dentist was working, had a nice chat with Nic and Calum (Todd's sister and her husband) and could play with the dog. 
In the morning we could wait out the rain and then started cycling to Napier. It was a good day: nice weather, tailwind and a lot of downhill parts in the valley. In Napier we had a warm showers place and stayed with Ingrid. She did a lot of cycling before and we had some nice chats and made a great pasta bake for dinner. 
The next day should become the one with the most elevation to climb so far - 1500m! But first we started slow and with a tour through the city to see some nice wall paintings. After turning inland it was still a while untill the first real climb came up. It was really hard and steap as well as there was a lot of traffic on that road. As soon as we reached the top of the first 700m hill, we had to cycle all the way down into a valley just to climb onto the next mountain. Once we were up we decided to ask a farmer if we could stay for the night. This way we met Daniel and Rachel who gave us an awesome place for our tent and also invited us for a steak and a lovely evening with a couple of beers. 
On the next day there where just a couple of smaller climbs and a long downhill part to Taupo. There we found a big free camping area were we stayed the night and made some really nice wraps, filled with all cheese, veggies and other good stuff. 
After visiting the Huka Falls in next morning we cycled along Lake Taupo to our next host Kerry in Motuoapa. There we could relax for the rest of the day to be prepared for the next morning and the Tongariro Crossing (to be continued).

Keep cycling and may you always have a tailwind, 
Joni, Droni & Vroni