We arrived from Rotorua and chose to stay off the beaten track in the middle of sweet nowhere. The dirt track towards the campground snaked through Wairekei Thermal Valley and you could see the steam billowing up across the hills. We had a bit of a (massive) wobble because we thought the passports and wallet had been left a few hours north somewhere in a PAK’nSAVE. Luckily, the bag had fallen down the side of the seat and the embassy excursion was cancelled.
This morning’s alarm clock
The campsite was packed full of blonde chicks (baby chickens), goats and lamas. The campsite owner would rattle through the campground with two buckets of feed and it caused absolute chaos – like a Black Friday opening stampede in Currys.
The cockerels woke us up far too early, so we snuck in a quick run before brekky and set off to hike the Hoka Falls trail. We parked the truck by Spa Thermal Park and then walked downstream on the eastern side of the Waitkato river towards the falls which is a 7km roundtrip. Just upstream of the Falls, the Waikato narrows from 100m to 15m, resulting in some moi aggressive rapids.
On the way back to the truck we found an opening in the bushes and went for a cautious dip. The further you swam from the bank, the stronger the current became. A British grandad next to us learnt the hard way. Unbeknown to us, there were also some geothermal hot springs just a stones throw away from the truck. The temperature was just bearable which was a huge contrast to the adjoining river. The algae obviously preferred the warmer waters because it coated the rocks like a carpet near the springs.
the dip in question
We found a sweet deal on BookMe.nz and signed up to a jet boat tour the next morning. The boat was more of a floating rocket than a boat; it was a 5.7L engine (560 horses) that comfortably got to 100kph in a few seconds. Interestingly, jet boats have no rudders or propellers. The boat is controlled entirely – both speed and direction – by a 6 inch water jet.
There were only 4 of us on the boat and our driver (the most laid back guy ever) took us upstream towards the dam. He kept reassuring us that our lifejackets were entirely pointless in certain locations and the power of the currents would drag us 30 metres to the bottom regardless, if the boat was to capsize. He weaved the boat at top speed between rocks, under tree branches and chucked in a few 360s for good measure. 10/10 would recommend – cheers Jacob.
Moi rapido – This is actually summer so can’t imagine her full throttle
We drove back into Taupo and hired some mountain bikes to catch the last hours of sun around the lake. As per tradition, Grace ‘didn’t fancy’ an ice cream but then comfortably (and confidently) ate over half of mine.
flinging this blog post together
Welsh Rare-bits 
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