On our way from Taupo to River Valley we stopped in Tongariro National Park (the first in New Zealand) and took a 2hour loop walk to Taranaki Falls. Despite it being freezing Ali decided to go in the water! MAD!
A little later some of the guys jumped into a smaller waterfall and all had to walk back in their pants with bare feet so they didn't get their clothes and shoes wet. Hilarious for those of us watching.

Arriving at River Valley early evening we booked into our 32 man dorm and relaxed for the evening, in preparation for white water rafting.
The next morning we were up bright and early heading up river. Our raft (Lizzie, Nikki, Ali, Dan and I) managed the rapids pretty well, in fact the only person to fall out was our guide! The "B Team" were amazing!

I was glad I decided to stay in Wellington for 4 nights, as carrying in with the Kiwi bus the next day would have meant I wouldn't have seen anything at all. The first night we had a few drinks in the room and everyone went out, I was so exhausted I just wanted to sleep. However I didn't get a great deal as everyone came back at 4:30am and woke me up anyway, which was to be expected.

I was a little worried we weren't gonna have anywhere to stay, as everywhere was booked up, but we managed to get a girls room for the rest of the weekend. So we moved rooms and then napped til midday. Then off to the museum, along with a potato top pie to keep us going (Lizzie you're a legend for finding those).

On Saturday 6th we decided to go to Weta Caves, which we thought were caves by a beach. We took a $5 bus ride across the city, only to find Weta Caves was a small "museum"/shop about lord of the rings. It was hysterical! None of us could believe it. Danny's face was a picture, he looked so confused for the next 10 minutes! Then it was off for a walk, which seemed to last forever! I wanted to cry by the end of it, especially because of the damn wind and rain.

Our Saturday night out was great fun. It was our last night together before people started going their separate ways. Followed by another potato top pie (they're amazing).

The final day in Wellington was pretty relaxed; finally emerging from bed after noon we took a walk through the botanical gardens, with great weather for it. Finally rounding the day off with Nandos.