Our water excursion on a River Jetboat

Monday, June 01, 2009
Waiouru, New Zealand
On this day, we continued our adventure and started off by booking a river jet boat ride. This was incredible. The jet boat zipped down the river at 45-50 mph weaving through overhanging trees and roots sticking up in the water. We missed some by inches and it was amazing how much control the driver had. He could turn the wheel and do a full 360 stopping in 20 feet or so.

Despite the cold temperatures, we elected to do a hot spring cave tour from the boat. This adventure dropped us off on a river bank where we walked through thick mud and ventured to a hot spring river. The river winded through trees and eventually into caves that we could barely fit into. The warm river felt great and the narrow openings were unique and amazing to see. We continued into the jungle-like area to find a water fall and hot bathing area that we relaxed in for a bit before heading back to our boat for a wild ride back to the docks. This was an amazing trip and perhaps our favorite trip up to this point.   

We continued on after this trip hitting white out conditions as we passed over a high peak called Turangi. The road had been closed most of the day due to horrible conditions and accident deaths the day before and our camper van has pretty poor tires. The rain slowly turned to snow as we headed up the mountain, the visibility got worse and worse, virtually unable to see anything at the top. Kristin was driving and it was impossible for here to stop anywhere because the sides of the roads were more dangerous than just continuing. It seemed like the road took forever. We eventually made it to the other side and out of the cold rain/snow/wind/hail. The next town was a small town with limited lodging. We were pretty cold and exhausted and ended up getting a backpacker hotel. It turned out to get warm in the middle of the night, but was a pretty freaky place to stay. I had to go through the bar to inquire about the room. The bar looked like a John Wayne movie where there were a couple locals sitting up at the bar with a couple drinks in front of them. They chugged them and pushed them towards the bar tender a couple times while I made the reservation. There always seems to be gambling at the bars in NZ. Horse racing is big and money is being transfered between people frequently. The room was about 35 degrees F. The bed collapsed toward the center more than any bed I had ever slept in. The window did not lock and had a fire escape exit bordering it. It had only floor heaters and several warnings on what to do in a fire, indicating that there were probably several other fires that happened there. I did not sleep much hoping that nothing weird happened. Kristin was a trooper and stayed at this cheap hotel without complaints, but I think that it will be the last time that I go that cheap on a hotel during this visit.

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