NüfNüf Go Round

We wanted to do do something physical, enjoy nature and see the Okere Falls. So, White Water Rafting it was. This time, however, in comparison to Bali, the difficulty was a solid 5 out of 5. Tutea falls in the Kaituna River is - apparently - the highest commercially rafted waterfall worldwide with a difficulty grading of 5 out of 5. Had I known that little fact beforehand - I*m not sure I would have done it. Ok, maybe I would have. All I knew was that there was gonna be a 7m waterfall drop almost completely straight down. There was quite the extensive instruction about how strong the waterfall is in that spot, how to be careful, what to do if it goes wrong (in case the raft tilts over, stay beneath it in the air pockets for oxygen until it is turned over again. In case you fall out, get rid of your paddle, curl up and “go to your happy place“…). I will admit to being slightly worried, but honestly, I thought it would be much worse. I mean, I‘ve browsed through the pictures we were sent and I look decent in about 3 out of 77, in the other pictures - let‘s put it this way - my survival instinct was going haywire and it didn‘t know at the time that I could have relaxed a bit more. :D The other people in the boat (apart from Maddie and I and, of course, the instructor) were 4 men who are in a band together. Not sure if their genre was rock or some kind of metal (they certainly look the part), but they definitely had a cool vibe and great personalities.
Rafting was a ton of fun - though the experience in Bali had more of a social component to it - whereas this one was more of a physical challenge (as my face wasn‘t shy of showing although I really wish it would have…).
As for the pictures, the last two show the 7 meter drop waterfall. There‘s a tiny bit of paddle peeking through the white of the water on the last pic. Our raft was completely submerged for a bit.

After the rafting we hiked, explored the river from dry land and we even discovered some caves around there. Another contrast to the experience in Bali was the lack of pollution here. So far, this applies to all of New Zealand. I thoroughly enjoy how they handle this around here.

In the late evening, upon arriving at our new campsite next to Rotorua Lake, we tried to waterproof our tent by covering it with our newly acquired tarp. The campsite, though, was mainly gravel with a thin layer of grass on top, so all the pegs we tried to put in not only got badly bent, but also we didn‘t have nearly enough pegs to secure the tarp. Our plan was: Maddie makes dinner and I head to The Warehouse to get a few pegs. I only had 20 minutes until the shop would close and a 15 minute drive. I drove off with a terrible sense of geolocation and a navigation system on my phone that spontaneously decided not to be able to connect to GPS. I swore a decent amount. It was dark, I only had a rough idea of the general direction - but somehow I did make it to The Warehouse. I got the pegs and went back. At least I tried. This time I got lost on a deserted road in the darkness, no one else around to ask for direction. I think at this point I tried yelling at Google Maps. But that only encouraged its pouting. I figured, I‘d simply try all of the directions of the roundabout where I went wrong until something looked familiar. Luckily, the first choice was the correct one and I arrived back at the camptsite only 15 minutes later than my original ETA. I feel like I shouldn‘t have. But I made it. :D
With a bit of pent up aggression, I jammed the pegs into the ground. I really tried. But even these sturdier ones got bent and wouldn’t go in. We had a second idea: The two pegs that had actually made it in were supposed to hold the tarp on one side and the other side would be secured by my car’s doors. I loved the simultaneously unconventional but efficient nature of that idea. Credit where credit is due, it was Maddie‘s. Only problem: Way too loud! It was extraordinarily windy! So we took down the tarp and settled for duct-taping all the seams in the hopes of it keeping the rain out. Spoiler alert: apparently it did (it also didn‘t rain too much after that…).もっと詳しく