River valley and Wellington

On our way out of Taupo we stopped for a walk around the Tongariro national park. The park is basically three mountains, that look beautiful as they are topped with snow at the moment, a water full and just generally beautiful scenery.

After this, we drove to another waterfall that two of the boys jumped off naked! Quite entertaning!

We then arrived in River valley. There is nothing there apart from a river and a beautiful lodge that we stayed in. It was freezing but after a roast dinner cooked by the owners and a few too many glasses of wine by the fire, it was lovely. The next morning I got up to go grade 5 white water rafting down the river. I was the only girl brave enough to go too!! The guides hadn't been on the river for over a week becasue of a big flood. This meant that they had to keep stopping to work out if it was safe enough for us to go through some of the rapids. Unfortunatly we did have to walk around one of them becasue it was too dangerous and we only did half of another one. When we were through the second one the guide told us that 3 people had drowned in that part of the river a few months ago! Oh my god! It was quite fun but probably not as exteme as it could have been if we had done them all properly.

After a much needed hot shower and lunch, we set off for Wellington. Wellington is the capital city and has a really nice atmosphere. We arrived quite late so sorted ourselves out then headed out to check out the local bars. The hostel bars have been ok but it is so nice to be in a place where there is somewhere else to go! Good night!

Yesterday I went to the New Zealand Museum which was pretty good, the highlight being a 4m long squid that was found in 2007! Today I climbed up Mt Victoria where you can see 360degess views of the city. I decided to stay in Wellington a few extra nights so the good group from the bus before has been spilt up a little whihc is a shame. I get on the bus again tomorrow and head to Nelson on the south island.