Overview from trip leader Kevin Yount

February 10th: Arrival and travel day. Arrive in Auckland and catch a 4 hour ride to Rotorua.

February 11th: The tune-up day. This will be the day that all of us who haven’t been boarding in a while will use to get back in the swing of things before jumping into the crazier stuff. It will be a long day as we will be doing two rivers the same day. The first that we will do is a class IV called Rangaitiki.

After we finish this one, we will do a low class V called the Kaituna. The Kaituna has the 21 foot tall water fall that was featured in CBS's Amazing Race (click here to watch the video) and used to be commercially riverboarded. It also has a few smaller notable drops and some good surfing holes. I believe them to both be close enough to Rotorua and each other to do in one day. If not, then we’ll drop the Rangitaiki and only do the Kaituna.

Kaituna River

Kaituna

Tutea Falls-Kaituna River.

February 12th: There is a release of the Wairoa river. This class V only has 26 release days a year, so it will be a treat to be able to be in the area while it is releasing. This is a pretty steep river with a good number of drops in the 6 to 12 foot range.

A kayaker on one of the fun drops on the Wairoa

February 13th: The Dance with the Big Ones Day. First we will drive to Aratiatia rapids during the morning release (this is a dewatered section that releases for 30 minutes four times each day for the tourists) to scout only and see what we think. Then we will go over to Huka Falls to see what the water level is on it.

Huka Falls is a 35 foot waterfall that has been run by many New Zealand riverboard guides at low to medium water levels. It also has a 24 foot drop and about 200 yards of turbulent class V big water to navigate through to earn the right to go over the big falls.

Huka lead-in above the footbridge (the 24 foot falls that marks the entrance to this 45 seconds of pure adrenaline is visible near the top of the photo)

Huka Falls lead-in below the footbridge (the falls is near the top of the picture where you see the horizon line)

Huka Falls (huka is the native Maori word for "foam")

After Huka Falls, if anyone thought that Aratiatia rapid is runnable and has the courage to go for it, then we will return for the afternoon release on it. Aratiatia is a class V + that drops about 70 feet in about ¾’s of a km (if I remember the info correctly). It has only been paddled from the top by three parties, and the other groups chose to put in below the first drop (probably a good idea due to the hydraulic there).

Because of the window of time with only 30 minutes of water release, we are going to scout it during the morning and use the full 30 minutes to investigate this bad boy, and then run it during the afternoon if anyone is game. We will have to be there suited up and ready to rock before the afternoon release and we can’t hesitate or the water will be gone. There is also rapids (with a good surf hole) downstream of Aratiatia, but I’m not sure if is on the same dewatered channel as Aratiatia (and hence the water would be gone right after the water is gone on it) or on the main diversion channel.

Aratiatia Rapids.

February 14th: Travel Day. We will return to Auckland and fly to Queenstown. (note from Ice - today is also S.A.D., or Singles Awareness Day, and since it is a free day we will perhaps search for some beautiful Kiwi ladies.)

February 15th: Boarding on the Kawarau river. The Kawarau has good surfing and a lot of big water. Frogz does the class III section, but also does the gorge. The gorge is a class IV, but Frogz portages the top of Nevis Bluff Rapid (they call it a grade VI, I’ll call it another V +), so we can scout and possibly run this one.

Portaging the upper part of Nevis Bluff.

February 16th: There are big ocean waves on the south island, so we will take our boards to the beach and rock out in the ocean. I’ve got a contact that is a local bodyboarder down there and can probably show us some good spots. I know that it will be a totally different experience on big waves that are coming towards you and breaking (compared to our big stuff that sits still and we get to come to them), and that we’ll probably all get our butts handed to us a time or two b/f we get the hang of it, but it should still be a blast. Here is a photo off his boadyboarder profile.

February 17: Goodbyes and we’ll all go our separate ways, thankful for an amazing experience and new friends!

LINKS TO PHOTOS & VIDEO:

Kaituna and Wairoa - www.incept.co.nz/whitewater_rafting_pictures.htm

Rangitikei - http://www.rivervalley.co.nz/activities/whiterafting.asp?cid=1 video at the bottom