White Water Rafting, Auckland Fish Market, and Rangitoto - 08/19/2013

On Saturday the 17th I hopped in a van with other University of Auckland Students in the canoe club and made my way to Okere Falls on the Kiatuna River! Along the way we stopped for breakfast in Hobbiton, or its real name Matamata. Despite the information center shaped like a hobbit house I actually thought that real name of the town was Hobbiton and did not think twice about it, which shows how much I know about Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit.

Once we got to the river it was time to start getting the rafts ready and wet suits on. This was no ordinary wetsuit, and it took 10 minutes to put on. It was the thickest thing I have ever had to put on in my entire life. I can imagine that it was amusing to watch. Then it started to rain, and then hail while we were getting our safety briefing, which was brief in true New Zealand style. You would think the hail would make things less fun but it just ramped up the intensity of the class 4 rapid river! Though, once we got on the water the sun was out again. By the time we got to the main event of the river - a 7 meter water fall - our boat guide told us he had the best success rate out of anyone for not flipping the raft, 25%... Gulp!  Well, we did not flip but we still got fully submerged in the freezing cold water, and it was AWESOME! Towards the end of the run our guide had we two girls sit at the front of the raft. We were not really sure what for, until they submerged the front of the boat in a mini water fall. We did not see that coming...

One of the best things about doing this through the University club and not a commercial organization, besides meeting a bunch of new people, was that you got to raft the river twice. On the second run the raft did flip on the waterfall and my paddle nailed me in the forehead, but it was okay because I was too numb to notice! I did have to ice it later that day at the only café for miles, and it left a nice little battle wound. I also had really good hot chocolate so that made everything better. We headed back to Auckland that evening and I was asleep in bed by 9:30. I was exhausted after a fun day! Just another day in New Zealand.

The next day I head to the Auckland Fish Market in the morning on my way to the ferry landing. It smelled really gross in there but it was really cool to go around and look at all the different fish. I was talking to my dad about the market the next day and told him I saw live eel for 20 NZD and his response was "that's expensive". That was one of those moments where I just laughed to myself because that was common knowledge to him. 

After the Market it was time to take the short ferry ride over to Rangitoto. The weather was perfect, it was 65 and sunny. The hike to the top was a lot after a day of rafting but so worth the tired legs. These were the best views of the city I have seen since my time in Auckland and probably the best I will see the whole time I am here! To say the least I had a busy weekend!