Romantic river swim & mud pools

Continuing our series: Sledging on anything that isn't snow, we booked ourselves onto the craziest water rafting tour available. Us and four other insane travellers squeezed ourselves into very attractive water pants, strapped on our life vests and found helmet that fit as snuggly as possible. The first challenge of the day was to carry our sledges approximately 10 minutes through a forest, entertaining a number of hikers along the way. Next we had to jump over a fence that is normally there to stop you falling into the river, and proceeded to dive in head first on our sledges shortly after. Thankfully our guides were super experienced and taught us everything we needed to know to not drown straight away. Despite their best efforts the first rapids tipped most of us over and the current was so strong that they had to fish us out more than once to stop us floating down the river uncontrollably.
As horrifying as is it all sounds, we had a thrilling time and would totally do it again. At the end of our sledging excursion we even managed to "surf" on one of the waves longer than anyone else (mainly we didn't really know how to exit, but they don't need to know that).
In the late afternoon, after lunch and a short rest, we went to the local mud pools that are free to access (unlike most other things) and saw some awesome thermal activity. The bubbling mud / water does smell exactly how it looks. If you are ever feeling bloated, Rotorua is the place to be for you. No-one would ever know it was you ... 🤭Read more