Tongariro River Whitewater Rafting
Does this setting look familiar?
For the Tolkein-LotR-challenged readers, the above image is Peter Jackson's imagining of Mount Doom in Mordor. As you may know, Jackson, a New Zealand native, filmed the entire trilogy in his native country. Although he relied heavily on special effects, this is what "Mount Doom" looks like without the Peter Jackson enhancements:
While still impressive, it's much less threatening than Peter Jackson's vision. This is Mount Ngauruhoe, located in New Zealand's Tongariro National Park. It is still quite spectacular in its own right, although at a mere 7,516 feet in height, it is far from being one of New Zealand's tallest peaks. Nevertheless, it is volcanically active, erupting approximately every 50 years.
At the end of Day 9 of the New Zealand tour, we spent the night in Turangi. We arrived early enough in the day that those who wished could take an optional whitewater rafting trip down the Tongariro River, a Grade 3+ river in Tongariro National Park near the base of Mount Ngaurahoe. Grade 3 is considered an intermediate whitewater adventure, with swifter currents, more turbulence, and deeper holes, with experienced guides strongly recommended.
Our guides and equipment were provided by Rafting New Zealand. We were outfitted in wetsuits, semiporous neoprene rubber suits which are designed to allow water to pass through. This may seem counter-intuitive: one might think that the objective is to keep water from reaching the skin. However, a wetsuit allows a thin layer of water to come into contact with the skin and warm up to the skin's temperature. With such protective gear, getting wet, even in quite cold water, is not uncomfortable.
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I can't believe they actually made us work by carrying our rafts to the river!
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But it was only a short walk, then we were in the Tongariro River and ready to go riding the rapids:
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From the vantage of the starting point, it all looks rather tame:
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But appearances were quite deceiving, and especially towards the end, we could see why the river was rated as a Category 3+: a bit tougher than a standard Category 3, but not quite strenous enough to be rated at Category 4.
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In a little over two hours, we travelled 14 kilometers and passed through 50 rapids. We made it through without any mishaps other than a few close calls because I had not anchored myself securely enough. It was better than any roller coaster ride!
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Although the whitewater rafting part of the trip was concluded, the adventure wasn't quite over yet, because we had an opportunity to do a little canyoneering, jumping off small cliffs into pools of water below. Here is one final photo of the entire group. No video of this adventure available, unfortunately.
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Last revised: August 3, 2015.
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