Happy Birthday to Matt

Let's get this party started.

The birthday celebrations included an adventuresome weekend at Lake Tarawera. These kayaks were our means of transportation around the lake. They are parked at the Tarawera outlet where we camped for the night.

The tramp to Tarawera Falls was incredible. The river pools up into these beautiful swimming spots. It was hard to not strip down and jump in.

At this point, though, the urge to jump in sort of disappeared.

Well, kind of.

Tarawera Falls.

Tarawera Falls, Matt, and Kosette.

At the end of the tramp you reach the falls and see the sign that made you glad you obeyed the previous sign and didn't jump in. The river follows a lava path underground and spits out the middle of the cliff. Pretty cool.

Sunset back at the outlet.

Sunset, Matt, and Kosette back at the outlet.

Yes, we have two left feet, and both of them are wet.

Dinner time.

What's not to smile about?

The next morning brought calm waters and more paddling.

Say cheese!

Speechless.

We paddled over to Hot Water Beach, where a natural hot spring flows into the lake. Hot on top, cold on the bottom (hot ankles and cold feet).

LAND!

There were some swans swimming around like they owned the place, but otherwise we had the lake to ourselves.

After our adventure we relaxed at Bellbird Alpaca Farm B&B. They feed you and you feed the alpacas.

Dumbledore the alpaca, casting a "feed me" spell.

Before.

Aratiatia Dam, at the outlet of Lake Taupo. They open the floodgates every few hours.

After.

Further upstream from the dam is Huka Falls, the true outlet of Lake Taupo. A LOT of water going through a small (15m) channel.

All this water makes you have to pee.

Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Matt. Happy Birthday to you!!!!

We had a very busy birthday weekend, as you can see from the pictures. We drove to Rotorua Thursday night then headed to Lake Tarawera Friday. At the lake we kayaked, tramped, camped, kayaked and kayaked some more before a restful night at the Alpaca Farm on Saturday. Sunday we drove back home, stopping off at Aratiatia Dam and Huka Falls. The final event was homemade birthday brownies. Everything was perfect, except the dyslexic chef got the numbers backwards!