Our last post ended at a freedom campsite within Kaimanawa Forest Park. It was quiet and uneventful and definitely not worth writing home about, but free, so no complaints!

On our way out, though, we crossed a little bridge and could just see the edge of some falls. We decided to see if we could drive to them and took a detour towards the sound. A short drive later, we came across the Waikato Falls and Rangipo Outfall (kind of like a dam).

The amount of water rushing through the area was a bit nuts and we later found out kayakers launch from underneath the dam-like-thing and head down-river. So that’s on our to-do list next time!

From there, we headed towards our raft fishing adventure, which led us past the beautiful Lake Taupo and some more almost-offensively pretty countryside. (Really, NZ, tone it down.)

We stayed the night at Raft Fish NZ in our motorhome (thanks again, Deon, for the hospitality!), so we could be up bright and early for our trip. We were super-excited, both for the fishing and the chance to be on the gorgeous Mohaka River for two days.

And it did not disappoint. Not only was the river stunning (again, tone it down, NZ), the fishing was great fun and our guide was awesome. Even our little tent for the night was cozy and fun (though the night itself got pretty chilly, so we didn’t stay up for night photos!).

We managed to catch a couple of great fish, and so did Deon (aforementioned awesome guide). Sadly, some fish were lost in rapids and some more through unlucky tackle issues, but still a great experience overall.

Oh, and the dinner was fantastic. Nothing like steaks cooked on a campfire (okay, it was a gas hotplate because the wind was nuts, but we’re counting them as camp steaks).

The rapids along the way gave us plenty of chances to get splashed (thanks Deon!) and some really exciting fast bits, but we were really confident with Deon’s skill and felt safe the whole way through (and yes, Mum, we were wearing lift jackets on the raft).

We’ll leave this post there, with some more photos of the Mohaka River. There will be more photos and even videos to come, but it’s hard uploading them with caravan-park wifi!