White Water Rafting Trip

Last weekend Mark, Toby, Dean and myself plus 14 other work collegues and there friends ventured down south to head down the mighty Wairoa River. So after the intial intros and getting dressed in wetsuit, booties, lifejacket and helmet we were ready to get into some action, now being a first timer I wasnt really sure what to expect but another half hour of rafting lessons and safety tips was not it. Anyway after practicing numerous silly moves in the raft we headed off down the river. The Wairoa River is a hydro-contolled river and is released 26 times a year and contains a couple of grade 5 rapids. http://www.riverrats.co.nz/wairoa.htm So after 2 hours of rafting and having a good time, falling off water falls and dodging rocks to protect my ass, we reached the end for some lunch and laughs at the photos from the pro photographer (soon to be released on here).

After the rafting we headed off to Rotorua and our hostel for the night. http://www.cactusjackbackpackers.co.nz/ now once again as a virgin hostel goer I wasnt really sure but had a fair understanding of what I was going to meet. How wrong I was, what was encountered was a pubic hair barber shop or at least what was left from the hair cuts. This ranged from on the walls, in the bath, on the floor and in the heated pool plus anywhere else I couldnt see and apart from that I ended up with numerous bites on me from something eating me in bed, and can assure you it wasn't a female. Now the hostel itself was very well decorated and could be a good place to stay if cleaning was pushed up there priority list. Saturday night was a night on the town in "Rotovegas" - tourist central and ended up at the "Pig and Whistle" for dinner and live band, then the "Fuze" for another very wuick drink. After about 10 minutesthere (due to lack of bodies) headed for the "Lava Bar". Now this place was basically a hostel with a bar in the house next door and is filled with plenty of backpackers from all over the world. Once again wasnt the greatest atmosphere but was bearable for a while. Finally we headed for the "Grumpy Mole" for a few more drinks before we finally called it quits. So after the pub crawling around "Rotovegas" a few street challenges - single and dual parking meter jumping, flower bed angels and others I cant really remeber, we made it home safely. The morning was short lived with one of our dorm dwellers, waking us up at 7.18 as revenge to us waking him up at 3am. Breakie and a swim in the Blue lake reserve was really refreshing before a challenging drive home.

So in all the weekend was a great time and plenty of laughs were had, mainly in reference to toby our dutch visitor.

Thanks Toby!

Please refer photos for graphics.