Seonaid
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South Island ▷ West Coast ▷ Charleston ▷
Norwest Adventures
5.0/5
I did the cave rafting experience and it was one of the highlights of my trip.
As others have mentioned, the rafting is not an adrenaline experience - it was the scenery and peacefulness that did it for me.
Starts with the train then walk through the rainforest. The walk through the caves to the river included lots of information about caves and stalagtites/mites and there were no tight spaces to squeeze through. Once we were on our rubber rings and floating through the dark with thousands of glow-worms twinkling abover our heads it was really special. Fantastic experience.
The rafting finished with a very peaceful float down the river surrounded by rainforest. There was one short bit with fast flowing water and if you wanted to you could carry your ring back to the start of this and do it again. There hadn't been much rain before my trip so the water was low and this may be why it was so peaceful.
The team were friendly and knowledgable and I loved the whole experience. Thanks
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South Island ▷ West Coast ▷ Okarito ▷
Okarito Kiwi Tours
5.0/5
We joined this tour as it is such a rare opportunity to see such a well-known but little seen bird.
Although it's literally a 'walk in the park,' it is not an easy thing to see a kiwi and without Ians guidance there is next to no chance of ever witnessing a kiwi in the wild.
As Ian will reiterate before you sign up for the experience, it does take a lot of patience and all tour members have to work as a team and stay as quiet as possible for several hours at a time. At dusk the mossies sounded so loud as we were trying to listen for kiwi's moving but the nets given out by the tour meant that we didn't get bitten. Ians training worked very well for our team even though it was a full tour and a couple of hours of standing still and silent in the dark of the forest paid off when we witnessed a kiwi snuffling for food right in front of us in the path. We had been spread out listening for them and by following his guidance we were alerted to it and moved together without a sound disturbing it. A really special experience! We saw another one a few minutes later too (and I can't remember who we saw)! I think the effort put in in trying to see them make the whole experience more rewarding.
Do remember though that although most tours see one, not all do. As well as seeing the kiwis, just the sound of them calling was special - so loud and distinct. There was no light pollution and the stars were quite dramatic and just the feeling of being in the middle of a forest in the dark (could only just see the person either side of me 20m away), listening to the nights sounds was unique in itself. Actually witnessing the kiwi in in natural habitat is what made it a 10/10 experience though.
Seonaid - Great comprehensive review. White Eyes was the bird you saw - twice. He made an appearance at 10.15pm then went into the bush for 5 minutes before re-appearing down the track at 10.20.
We'd heard him call an hour before quite deep in the bush. Patience, again was required together with the belief that kiwi can move a huge distance in a short period of time.
Thanks - Ian