This morning Jason and I ventured out to Kaitiaki Adventures for a little white water sledging adventure down the Kaituna River.

We arrived bang on 9am which is the time we were told to be there by, we then had to wait for the other customers to arrive as they were being picked up from town by the courtesy van.

After getting kitted out with wet suit, thermal top, helmet, booties and flippers, we then made our way 10mins down the road by van to our entrance to the river. We then proceeded to have a educational, instructional demonstration on how to operate and manage our sledge in the water.

The sledge, by Jason’s definition to a friend the previous night on the booze, is an oversized chilly bin lid with a couple of handles.

After we were all brought up to speed, it was off for a quick 5 min walk from the car park to our entry point next to a cave were maori woman and children where kept safe while the male warriors battled against neighbouring tribes.

Climbing over the safety guard rail seamed a bit nerve racking for the two ladies in our group, clambering down onto a rock on the rivers edge just below the 7m Tutea Falls, which is the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world.

We then all dived in and started our sledging journey down the Kaituna River. It’s quite an awesome river as you pass though steep bush clad canyons with foliage growing right down to the waters edge. This is due, we were told by our guide, to the extremely high nutrient content of the water and soil in this active geothermal area of Rotorua.

I’d like to thank my wife Kim for buying me the vouchers for my thirtieth this year to go sledging, my brother Jason for coming along for the ride, our guides ,Jamal and Jordy and the team from Kaitiaki Adventures, Rotorua for such as awesome experience.