Pukawa Bay

So after a busy week at work we all (bar Si - boo) had the weekend off! I finished work at 5ish and Em at 4.30ish, James and Andy both finished a little earlier so they headed over to Middlemore hospital and waited for me to finish work so we could all set off down south in the lemon! Di and Ash (Em and Andy's friends from home) live in Wellington so they arranged a weekend away all together half way between Auckland and Hamilton, which just happened to be the south west end of lake Taupo. We headed off down south via Hamilton where they dropped me off to wait for Sal and keep her company on the drive down.
As it happened we arrived down in Taupo not long after the others, and we all enjoyed a few glasses of wine/ beer together before turning in for the night.
Saturday morning we woke up to an amazing day with clear blue skys and a beautiful view through the trees of lake Taupo. We headed out after bacon butties to pick up our Kayaks. Ash had arranged a 4hour kayak tour in the local area which started in the back yard of the lady who owned the kayaks. We started off down a beautiful brook that ran through the fields, it was amazing, a real feeling of being in the middle of nowhere, and would have been really peaceful if it wasn't for the boys having water fights with everyone. The brook eventually ended on Lake Taupo where we pulled up and had some lunch. We then continued in the afternoon down a wider river where Em and Sal were sharing a 2 man kayak and thought it would be good fun to try and capsize my kayak, we nearly perfected the dry capsize with me climbing onto their kayak however the final tip meant I went in, pulling both of them in with me! On the way back, following along the brook we found the amazing little hot springs, incredible kayaking along, and dipping in to a little bay where the water is so hot it is steaming and then kayaking a few cm into the brook where it becomes as cold as any other river. After finishing kayaking at around 4.30pm we headed up the road to the natural hot springs where we relaxed in the sun with the hot pools and a cold drink. We went back to the bach via the supermarket to pick up food and alcohol for our first BBQ of the season.
That evening we had a lovely BBQ followed by a few too many drinks! I got sufficiently inebriated after a few too many drinking games and decided to turn in for the night - one of my better decisions!
As expected we woke up Sunday morning to a grey sky. We spent Sun morning cleaning the bach and enjoying bacon and egg butties before heading into Tirangi to find out what to do with our day, as there wasn't much to do in wet weather we spotted the crazy golf and spent the next 2 hours enjoying a great game before heading off home! Another great weekend in NZ, thanks to Di and Ash for organising it!