First Time White Water Rafting :)

Nicole Curtis
Aug 17, 2014
2 min read

I went white water rafting for the first time... at the largest commercially rafted waterfall in the WORLD!

So the backstory is that I joined the Canoeing/Kayaking/Rafting club on campus in the hopes that I would mabye go on a trip. Then I was fortunate enough to get a spot on the first trip, which was to Kaituna River where Tutea Falls is located.

We had to leave Auckland campus at 6:30am because it was a long drive down, and I spent it in a car with 2 people I had just met that morning.. I felt pretty bad because I just fell asleep in the back haha. I was pretty nervous because I have never rafted and this was a grade 4 river, and I had no clue what that meant but I knew it was on a scale up to 6.

It is winter here even though it is in the 50's, so I am so happy I rented a wetsuit for the trip! I don't think I would have enjoyed the experience very much in the freezing water!

Our raft guides were really helpful and funny, and they made it so easy to get excited about going on the river :) The experience was incredible! We went down several small rapids before the big drop, but even the small ones gave me such an adrenaline rush. Before getting in the raft we were told that there was a 50/50 chance of flipping over when we went down the waterfall :O So that was not comforting at all...

BUT GOOD NEWS! My boat didn't flip!! I am not really even sure what happened in the few seconds from the top to when we realized we were all still in the boat and began to cheer. Going down the waterfall was just one big blurr of white with water splashing EVERYWHERE! In the moment I didn't even know if I was underwater or not.

I am so happy I got to have this experience but it stinks that it was over in the blink of an eye! Hopefully I will be able to go on more adrenaline pumping trips in the future :) Although I have been told that doing one of the best rivers for my first time might ruin the rest for me, becasue nothing will compare.. I hope that is not the case!