Ruapehu and rafting

Our first weekend away with Andy and Emma was a good one!
We got off to an amazing start when I managed to finish work early at around 4.30pm and I waited with Emma at Middlemore hospital while Andy went to pick up James and Gemma in their newly purchased lemon (Van). After sitting for an hour in traffic getting approx 28k out of Auckland the Lemon gave its best shot at its first hill. As you can probably guessed, it failed! James heard gurgling from the engine and then noticed the radiator temperature was at maximum! So after sitting on the side of the road for 1 1/2 hours the AA came along and said that the car van wouldn't be going anywhere that night and that we would have to wait another 1 1/2 for a pick up! So at 9pm we eventually set off from Mt Eden in our Honda Civic! So at 01.30am we eventually arrived in Ohakune!

The next morning we awoke to nice weather and headed straight up the mountain - unfortunately we had to turn around and head to the other side of the mountain after learning that it was closed for high winds. By the time we made it to the other side, the weather had closed in and it was raining with poor visibility. So, we decided to hire out some snow boards, book some lessons and have a laugh - rather sickening Andy seemed to pick up snowboarding very quickly, and Gemma did not live up to her name of dizzy - she seemed steadier on a board than she does on her own 2 feet! That afternoon we were joined by some of Andy and Emma's friends from home, had some apres ski drink before heading back to the bach. After a few beers and some excellent Fajita's the post skiing games came out! A very amusing night was spent playing the big taboo, spoons, Laura's genius game of Queen capping the evening with Twister!

On Sunday the conditions were horrendous again (which we knew they would be) so we had booked to go white water rafting in Turangi. Making (we feel) the right decision we decided to split the rafts between a girls raft and a boys raft, after racing down the rapids and getting very wet (including a stupid 9m jump into the river) we warmed up with hot dogs before making our way back to Auckland

All in all a fantastic weekend. Cant wait for the next