I took a trip about four hours south to Turangi, a town at the base of Lake Taupo, to go rafting for the weekend with a few friends from my study abroad program group. The weather turned out to be really pleasant and it didn't even rain on us while we rafted!
After a fun afternoon of rafting, we unwound by going to a nearby thermal spring. After soaking in the really hot water for about 20 minutes we took a walk around the premises and got another group photo.
On the slow journey back to Auckland on Sunday we stopped by the town of Taupo at the northern end of Lake Taupo, and fed the ducks and swans and took a few photos.
Then we visited Huka Falls, a beautiful, aquamarine waterfall that rushes through a bottle neck with incredible force.
We also stopped at the Candyland store that we couldn't resist going to after seeing it advertised.
I got back to Auckland Sunday afternoon exhausted, dirty, and quite happy.
