Dodgy

Oops, I forgot to update this morning. This is yet another image that I took through the car window on my IFSA-Butler adventure weekend (I promise we didn't spend all of our time in the car). More photos from my spring break are still to come!

Cheeky

You may recognize Mt. Doom (LOTR) in this photo, but it's really just Mt. Ngauruhoe. It had a lot less snow on it than a month ago when I went skiing, which hopefully means summer is coming fast to the North Island. Just like yesterday, this photo was taken from the car window while traveling on our adventure weekend... Now for Sunday, we woke up bright and early, had breakfast, packed up, got geared up, and headed out to a gorgeous river to do some white water rafting. Our guide said the water was murkier than usual, but I still thought it was beautiful (I swear this country has the most beautiful water I've ever seen). We rafted all morning and into the early afternoon, I had never done it before but I was awesome. The rapids were pretty mild, but still got us soaked sometimes. We also came to some gentle water where we were allowed to swin - er, to put more precisely, I was thrown into the water (apparently it's customary to throw the birthday girl into the beyond freezing water). Well, eventually everyone in our raft ended up in the water and it was refreshing even if I couldn't feel my hands or feet for a while afterwards. Overall, the river was absolutely gorgeous as were its surroundings and I had blast. Anyone up for rafting with me when I get back to the states?

Choice

I know I have barely posted any photos of my spring break yet. However, I had to take a break from sorting through them to show you a photo from this weekend. I took this out of the car window while driving through Taupo on the way back from our IFSA-Butler adventure weekend. In the background you can spot Mt. Ruapehu and Mt. Ngauruhoe (left to right).

We left Friday night to head down to the Tongariro National Park region for our adventures. On Saturday we were supposed to do the Tongariro Crossing; however, the weather had other plans for us. Instead we did a less intense tramp, but it was still fun (however, I don't have many photos from the tramp due to clouds & very numb hands). After the tramp we went caving, which had to be one of the coolest experiences I've had in NZ so far. We split up into small groups and headed into a cave with a guide. We had to use our own flashlights and we got to see glowworms without other tourists breathing down our necks (like Waitomo). However, the best part was when our guide left my group in the cave, telling us to find our own way back (by following the water). We had to crawl through minuscule openings and extremely cold water. Gratification was ours when we managed to climb up a waterfall in the dark and through the smallest opening I think I've ever gotten my body through and saw light. We ended the day with a soak in some hot pools (as we do after every event), some homemade pizzas, and great conversations. As for Sunday, I'll write about that tomorrow.

PS: You may remember my other posts from skiing at Whakapapa: Blessed, Look Directly Into It, Break Time, Perfect, An Ad, Drama, and Watch Out.