White water rafting

After a very disappointing start,where we thought the day was going to be a washout, we had a stroke of luck and found a company doing rafting on the Waituna river near Rotorua. We booked on the 1pm trip and set off in the rain for an adventure. After getting into the gear, wetsuit, boots,helmet and life jacket, they took us to where the river emerges from lake Rotoiti. There we carried the rafts over the bridge and into the river. The first challenge was to jump 6ft down into the raft! Then there was no turning back. We descended a few easy rapids - some backwards- then prepared ourselves for the big one - a 22ft water fall just wide enough for one raft. We had been told that ALL the rafts turn turtle on this fall but we managed to stay upright. Then helped those from other rafts to climb back into theirs after upending on the fall. We went down the next one standing up! This river is a grade 5 descent and lives up to its ranking of the steepest in NZ.