I varied my original planned route north after discussing options, pros and cons, and the reason I went to Bulls was because the ultimate decision was to ride the Desert Road. I'm so glad I did. I think the countryside from Bulls to Taihape then Waiouru has been my favorite.
I met a NZ cyclist trying out a tour on an electric bike that had just done the Desert Rd and knew the roads very well (he'd also riden them unassisted at other times). His description of the road ahead of me was spot on, warning me where to prepare for the worst of the hills. (His description also correlated with the Google profile from www.doogal.co.uk - which I'm using to combat the lack of profiles on the iPhone that Google gives cyclists who might be traveling with a PC - in their pocket). With some good hills from Bulls to Taihape I was very pleased to have finally arrived in town. I'd been warned that Taihape didn't have a campground and would require a motel stay but Taihape was a better option than riding either less or more that day - to get to a campground. As it turned out the motel recommended to me was full, so I took a room at the historic and quite majestic "Gretna" hotel, and ate on the main street in a Malaysian restaurant run by a local Malay. The clear day on arrival was a contrast with my departure from Taihape the next morning in the cloud.
The next climb starts as you leave Taihape so it took only minutes to climb above the cloud and again be in blue sky and sunshine. The reward for reaching the top of the main climb was the picturesque scene of green hills, road disappearing into the distance and a snow covered Mt Ruapehu. From here it was an easy ride to the army town of Waiouru and the start of the Desert Rd. Once on the Desert Rd you could pretty much see the remaining climb to the highest altitude point - stopping for lunch at a picnic point a few hundred metres before it. The profiles had given me a false sense of accomplishment at the high point thinking I had an easy afternoon down to Turangi.
As it turned out the next "flat" bit went up and down many times but probably within any 20m contour and hence not show on a map or profile. The few up/downs I could see on the profile were quite demanding so I was very please to finally get a good run down hill toward Turangi (though this was hampered by a strong headwind and a rough "new" road surface that I have grown to hate so much. (It's so nice to ride on roads that have NOT been "improved" in the past 2 years)
At Turangi I pulled into the motor camp reception and took a cabin. I'm sure this place only exists because of people like me who walk in and say I'll have a room and pay before seeing the "cabin". The place looks like it was laid out in the 1940s with little weatherboard boxes that haven't seen a lick of paint since. The toilets and showers are in different places and paint peels off the ceiling in slabs. When I later asked the owner if he had plans for the place he said "no, no plans". So I wouldn't recommend the "Kiwi Holiday Park, Turangi".
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