Rotorua

We had contacted a rafting company the previous day and lined up rafting for the afternoon. To fill the morning we headed to the Jubilee Walking Track which was a short 1hr forest track up Mount Ngongotaha. The primary draw is the giant Rata tree you see which dwarfs the trees around it. We had learned that possums are a real problem to these trees as they eat all the seeds and new trees aren’t growing. Unfortunately at the top of the mountain there isn’t a view but it was still a nice walk. From the walking track we headed to Mamaku Blueberry Farm. We had seen an ad for this place and couldn’t resist trying their blueberry pancakes. These were hands down the best blueberry pancakes I have ever had. They sold everything blueberry at this shop. We also treated ourselves to some blueberry covered chocolates and tasted some blueberry wines.

Full and ready for rafting, we headed to River Rats Rafting to attempt the Kaituna River. The rafting was so much fun. I have done rafting a couple times and hadn’t thought much of it but this experience was totally different. The run was short and only 45 minutes but are guide was excellent and stopped in places along the river to tell us about the local culture and interesting facts. The river itself was located in a deep narrow walled canon and is very fast moving. There are not many rapids buy several waterfalls you shoot off of. You even pass by an old obsolete generation station. It is very popular among kayakers. As mentioned in a previous post, the final waterfall is a 7 meter drop, the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the southern hemisphere. The ride was awesome and definitely one of the highlights of the New Zealand.

With the fading light of the day we headed to Arapuni Landing for the night so we would be closer to Waitomo in the morning. It was so dark at this campsite that I almost drove into the lake trying to find a spot.Read more