chippies5169
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North Island ▷ Waikato ▷ Waitomo ▷
Rap, Raft 'N' Rock
4.0/5
I was after some remarkable water based activities during my recent self drive tour of the north island and this excursion certainly filled the bill!
However, I happened to arrive at the office enquiring shortly before a group was to leave and quickly included without a lot of briefing.....what I thought was a 'black water rafting' experience soon had abseiling, caving and sheer rock climbing added by stealth!
I took it under my belt, having gone through the experience of kitting up, but found my helmet didn't fit me even after adjustment and my battery powered light was poor. Although a fit 53year old dragon boater, my knees did not fare well with all the wading through a rocky water bed where it was impossible to see where to step.
The crawling through some minor cavern tunnels to get a photo taken at the end of the crawl, seemed a bit 'set-up' to me, but they were reasonably done and available on CD only at the end of the trip.
The guide Rudi was great, especially as he had to come back down to rescue me when I froze half way up the 20m sheer rock face. I'm short sighted, and was encouraged to leave my glasses behind, so when he went first and I was to follow, I couldn't see which foot and handholds he used, so really only got up as far I had been able to observe before I lost my nerve. Rudi came down on the same rope and encouraged me to use my knees more to hoist onto smaller distances (which would have been hepful to know before I set off). I felt safe enough....it was just my frustration with not being able to ascertain where to go and my knees were killing me by that stage.
I can look back on it as an achievement, but would suggest they include a statement fully outlining the challenges to the declaration that you sign, and include any phobias for heights or confined spaces to the health risks checklist of pregnancy, high blood pressure etc which I did sign for.
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North Island ▷ Rotorua Region ▷ Tikitere ▷
Raftabout
5.0/5
What an experience.....being an active dragon boat paddler, I wanted another kind of water experience and got it with a rafting trip on the Rangitaiki.
The two guides were excellent 9I can only remember the name of Gordon?) and went 200% above and beyond what would be expected for a guide. Our trip was the day after a large storm hit the Taupo region, and once all kitted up and having travelled deep into the forest, we discovered the road blocked by fallen trees. The guides warned us it would be onerous to have to walk and carry the two rafts over the fallen trees the rest of the way.
We all voted to continue, and despite having to carry and shove the rafts over the fallen trees, the sense of teamwork and challenge got us through. The riding of the rapids was the easy part!!
Unfortunately, no van to meet us - so again we had to carry and move the rafts and us over dozens of fallen trees. The sense of achievement at the end of the road when we finally saw the van and trailer was immense!
I kept thinking that no way would this be allowed in Australia because of the possible threat of litigation.....but although thoroughly unplanned, it proved the highlight of my trip by showing me how well I can adapt to a huge challenge.
Again - the guides deserve a huge accolade!
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North Island ▷ Manawatu - Wanganui ▷ Whanganui River ▷
Spirit of the River Jet
5.0/5
I have to reiterate all the other comments here.
The excursion included everything I was looking for - beautiful river scenery, bushwalking, river jet travel with an excellent and informative guide (Brent) telling us many local iwi stories and of the local history with thoughtful touches like the morning tea and lunch time tablecloth and juice. Would highly recommend the experience, even if you are travelling solo like me!