White water rafting, Whakarewarewa forest & the bridge thermal spring

So you may be able to tell from the title the ‘exciting activity’ described in yesterday’s blog was white water rafting. Specifically the Kaituna cascades within which is a 21+ foot high waterfall to navigate. That’s high. Apparently the highest waterfall you can white water raft in the world. Daunting. It was run by what only can be described as a group of kiwi lads, they were hilarious and kept everyone’s nerves at bay with constant banter. Amelia and I were in a raft with a family of Aussies and a Canadian chap, which was actually a great group to be with. Apart from the Canadian chap not knowing his left and right we pretty seamlessly navigated the 3 waterfalls and other rapids of the Kaituna Cascades. We didn’t even fall out when going down Tutea Falls (the big one). However when Malcolm, our excellent guide, suggested we all swim down one of the final rapids he glazed over the fact that we needed to swim hard for the left once we were through. Consequently I was tentatively close to being whisked away down the river, I just about managed to grab onto the end of the rope thrown from the raft by Malcolm. He definitely regretted suggesting the swimming idea as he had 4 people clinging onto the rope and being dragged down the river at one point (the last of whom was me). It was again an amazing experience which I would highly recommend. 

Next up, when we’d finally got our breath back, was the Whawarekarewa Forest for a hike which had beautiful views across Rotorua and the Pohutu Geyser. It was fortuitously spraying water 30 feet into the air when we walked past and it’s actually the highest geyser in New Zealand, a fact we were completely oblivious to until we looked it up afterwards. Another very lucky piece of planning. 

Malcolm, from the white water rafting, had recommended a free hot spring between Rotorua and Lake Taupo where we were heading next so we decided to take a look. It turned out to literally be under the road bridge at the intersection of 2 rivers. There was a friendly German bathing in one so we decided to give it a go as well. The hot river came from the Wai-O-Tapu geothermal area so was very hot and I couldn’t stand the heat after a while so moved closer to the other river, which I have no clue where it comes from other than it’s cold, like a normal river. Standing at the junction of these two was weird. Pretty strong currents from both hot and cold water hitting you is odd, but a great experience nonetheless. Something we wouldn’t have known about without that nugget of insider knowledge from Malcolm. 

After this was a pleasant drive to our campsite next to Lake Taupo, which we’re exploring tomorrow. We did manage to download the last 2 episodes of Bake Off, which is very exciting as well.