We’re heading back a way in our journey for a moment to see NZRiverjet on the Waikato River. The Waikato (meaning “flowing waters”) is the longest flowing river in NZ, about 425 km/264 miles. We picked up the river in lower Rotorua.

It was raining. It was cold. We were waffling. We were glad we went because it was all worth it.

This is Andy and Susie from Bristol, UK.

These guys rock. They let us have pictures from their waterproof camera (mine with housing was just too big to bring) AND brought us back to their campervan for coffee and hot chocolate! Incredibly kind, funny and generous people. We hope to be able to return the favor  someday, as well as visit them in the UK. I have it on their authority that they live in TRUE cider country, and it shouldn’t be missed.

Did I mention it was raining? In a speedboat?

At least we weren’t alone in our misery!

Along the river was this cool, seemingly unreachable cave. Our guide, Adam, said that the tribes buried their chiefs there to guard the water and that they had some use of abseiling even back then.

If you’ve been paying attention, then you remember that Rotorua has tons of geothermal activity. The Big Squeeze is no different! We gladly jumped out of the cold, rainy boat and jumped into warm water from the hot springs.

Beautiful bush surrounded us, and we learned about the Silver Fern, one of the many symbols of New Zealand. It’s underside is highly reflective and can be used to signal search planes or helicopters from above, when placed in a triangle.

We crawled through the Big Squeeze, warming up in the shallow waters when we needed.

It all led to this amazing, WARM, waterfall in between the rocks.

Once again, all these wonderful photos wouldn’t be possible without Andy and Susie. Cheers to them!