Taupo and River Valley, New Zealand 2014

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After leaving Rotorua we drove to Haku Falls, a gorge where the river narrows and 200,000 litres of water run over the falls per second. The water was an incredible light blue colour with white water rapids in places. After getting some nice pictures we headed for Lake Taupo (pronounced Toe-Paw by the locals). Once we had checked in we went for a walk with Vicky, Tayla, Leanne, Shantelle and Billie. We all ended up getting KFC then bought mixers from the supermarket and started drinking quite early at 5pm. At one point we had 17 people in our 8 bed dorm all sat in a circle playing ring of fire. Tim was the last to put his hand down on the floor for thumb master and denied it, gave us a demonstration of what he did but as he put his hand down he moved over slightly and a proper loud fart slipped out! It was hilarious as all 17 people were quiet and watching him!! We headed to the bar next door and played inappropriate bingo, pool and all sang Oasis songs in the smoking area outside. I won a lot of free shots as I'm good at making inappropriate comments... I also FaceTime'd my mum and showed her most of my new crew before we all headed back to the hostel to sleep.

The girls and Tim got up at 5:30am in our room to do the 22km Tongariro Expedition but it was expensive and looked similar to stuff we did in Bolivia, so we chose to stay in bed and save some money. When we woke up me and Freeman went for a McDonalds breakfast (fast food was the cheapest option in New Zealand) and then headed down to the lake with Tayla. Me and Freeman swam quite far out and the water was quite cold, but the sun was shining so we soon warmed up when we got out and sunbathed. We then headed to the natural hot springs at Spa Park with George, Nick, James, Ali, Amy and Zoe. There was a huge river and then an inlet where a red hot stream ran into the river. The river water was freezing but as you swam closer to the stream it got warmer and warmer. We saw a Chinese man dominating the hot stream water so we braved it, slid over the rocks into a small pool that the hot stream ran into and it was without a doubt the hottest water I have ever been in! Me and Big Georgey Boy then tried to swim up the river but the current was too strong so we had to get out and walk upstream. We let the current take us back to the hot springs, I didn't realise how strong it was until we looked to the side and saw how fast we were going. We strolled back to the hostel and the girls from the bus behind us talked us into going out again. We smashed some pre drinks and headed to the bar for karaoke. Everybody chose random songs for each other so I got Barbie Girl... Me and Freeman then sang the last song together and won the competition with our rendition of S Club 7, Bring it all back! It won us a free nights accommodation which we ended up forgetting to collect the next morning. After the karaoke there was a foam party where I did the jumping salmon for everyone, classic move. Another good night and only a walk next door to bed, bonus.

In the morning we all packed out bags and jumped back on the bus. We drove to a national park and took a short walk down to a little waterfall. After a quick picture it was back on the bus to River Valley Lodge which was in the middle of no where without phone signal but the lodge was really nice. There was an 'orgy room' with 32 tiny mattresses all next to each other so you pretty much sleep on top of each other, hence the name. Luckily for me and Freeman though, Bridge moved us into a 6 bed dorm as there was more than 32 of us which worked out better as we had really good bunk beds with quilts. I had really bad sunburn on my back and after telling Tim he decided to slap my back so I gave him an aggressive jab to the ribs but he took it well. Everyone went white water rafting but we had already done it in Peru so we just chilled in the sun by the river. We swam across the river to jump off a 3-4m high rock, it was one of the coldest things I have ever done! As soon as I'd jumped I swam back across the river and wrapped myself up to warm up then sunbathed again but there were so many bees so I didn't last long. We all had a roast dinner together that night but it was actually a random mix of beef, pasta, chick peas, roast potatoes and salad. After dinner I was shattered and wasn't really talking to anyone and all the drinking had finally caught up with me, so I just had an early night. Our guide Bridge came in at one point as she was shocked I was in bed and not drinking. Apparently she said she was gonna come in and get in bed with me but was scared it would backfire so she didn't do it. Instead she told me a funny story about her kicking a couple out of her dorm room after she found them having sex in her bed... I went back to sleep then Freeman, Vicky and Taylor all woke me up when they came in drunk at 1 but after a bit if banter we all finally managed to go to sleep.

After a good sleep I got up early feeling fresh and made some beans & sausages on toast. We then packed, made the horrible walk up the steep gravel road and got on the bus at the top. We cruised for a few hours heading for the capital city Wellington.

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