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 Name: Kaitiaki Adventures
City: Rotorua New Zealand
Phone: 0800 338 736
What's it like?
Talk about an amazing adventure!! For someone who had never been white water rafting before, this was absolutely wicked
and something we are still talking about days after.
The day started pretty early (well 9am is early) when Chonk, one of the guides, picked us up from outside our hostel and was a great laugh the whole way through.
We headed straight for Lakeside Holiday Park, home base for the Kaitiaki boys, to get geared up and fitted out for our rafting adventure. After
a bit of hanging out and waiting for everyone to arrive (there were about 20 of us on the trip) they gave us booties, a thick wetsuit, helmets and
a life jacket; while we changed they loaded the boats and paddles up and we were ready to go.
We headed for the Kaituna river, unloaded and were put into groups of five; there were two guides and five passengers on every boat and we did a quick training session to make sure
everyone knew what to do. Every river excursion that Kaitiaki undertakes starts with a traditional Maori prayer, karakia, to pay respect to the Ngati
Pikiao, the people of the river. With that, it was into the boat and off for the rapids...
The first
rapid we hit was 3m high and definitely a thrill. We took
turns edging out the other boats as we worked our way through
the river. Before we knew it we were at the 7m
rapid, the highest commercially rafted fall in the world.
All I can say is AWESOME! We had a great ride down then got to
watch all the other boats come after us - including the boat that
flipped. It's not that rare for a boat to flip, but I'm glad it
wasn't ours!
From there we made it down the river a bit further and then off a 1m fall. Our guides were wicked and
took us river surfing - putting the front of the boat in fall and filling it with water as we rode the waves.
Two of us sat up in the front of the boat, face first and were just covered in it. I couldn't stop laughing
as I was having SO much fun.
Next thing we knew, the trip was over and we'd made it to the
end of rapids and it was time to climb out and head back to base.
We loaded the boats up, took off our wetsuits and just enjoyed
the thrill. This trip is a Grade
Five however no experience is necessary on any of Kaitiaki's
trips as comprehensive training is given. If you are passing thru
Rotorua, this is an ABSOLUTE MUST DO! You'll definitely be missing
out otherwise...
If you're gonna travel abroad, make sure you are prepared... take it from us, travel insurance is an absolute must!
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