Tongariro Rafting

Yesterday was a rest day in between strenuous activities. Today’s activity is white water rafting on the Tongariro River. Yes, proper white water rafting this time.

In the morning we went for a swim in the lake. Our host, Jan, had kindly pointed out the way to a secluded bay (not the main Acacia Bay where we were staying, which is swamped with tourists – there must be literally tens of people on the beach!) so we drove down there and took the plunge. It was chilly (reputed colder than at Scorching Bay, where I declined to get wet). I didn’t stay in long.

Afterwards we went to the opposite extreme – the thermal pools at Spa Park. Here, it is possible to mix water to your desired temperature by sitting in a pool fed by a hot spring, mixing with river water. Unfortunately this area was already heavily populated – there must have been at least a dozen people – so we headed upstream to a more secluded pool. As it happened, someone was just leaving it. This pool is fed fom the hot spring only, so there’s no cold tap. It was a bit warm – just at the edge of bearability, but, like getting into a hot bath, you soon get used to it. In the end we all got in, and even sat under the waterfall that fed the pool.

Well, that warmed us up a bit. We went back to the house for a quick lunch, and then drove out to Turangi (first negotiating Taupo’s notorious traffic system, which delayed us a bit) to do the white water rafting. We went through the usual drill – don’t take anything you can’t afford to lose, then changed into (mercifully dry) wetsuits, boots and helmets before boarding the bus. When we were all aboard the guide asked “is there anyone here who’s not done this before?” A few hands went up, and he then explained “this is called a bus ride, all you have to do is sit”. This set the tone for the rest of our trip.

We disembarked and were split up into groups of seven. We’d decided to stick to our car groups (me, Nicola, Eli and Ishbel in one group, and Ian, Lisa, Kate and Rowan in the other) as the raft holds eight people including the guide, so it wasn’t possible for us all to go together. We carried the raft down to the river and put Ishbel and Eli at the front. The rest of our boat were Auckklanders Wayne, Annie and AJ.

Our leader was Ben, who instructed us in the use of the paddle, what commands he would give and how we should respond to them. He also kept up a line of witty banter as well as giving us the geographic details of what we were passing through – evidence of an eruption 2,000 years ago that left a huge layer of pumice and ash.

There are around sixty rapids on this section of the Tongariro river, which is a grade 3 – about as high as you want to get without some expert training and experience. Some of them were pretty rocky, and we got stuck a couple of times on the lip of a fall, so had to rock the boat, or all pile onto one side or the front, to get it moving again. At one point we came off a fast rapid and went crashing into the side wall rock, almost upending the boat and definitely upending Ishbel in the front! No harm was done, and there were also quieter stretches where we could get out of the boat and swim, or indeed climb a rock on the bank and jump off. There weren’t any huge drops like we experienced on the Barron River in Queensland, but the some of the rapids required some tricky navigation (“forward HARD! STOP! Get DOWN!” shouted Ben from the back of the boat).

We negotiated the final set, and then drifted in to shore. The boat was loaded onto the trailers and we went back to the hut to change, and also eat our fill from a self-service sandwich station of cheese, ham, and salad, washed down with hot chocolate.

All good fun, and a bit more energetic than the previous two days’ activities. This was our last full day in Taupo, tomorrow…hobbittses!