River Valley

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River Valley was an experience we hadn't had yet. Firstly everyone had to get off the bus a mile from our accommodation as the bus couldn't fit down the steep hill or turn around at the bottom. Then we realized we actually were in the absolute middle of nowhere and our driver wasn't exaggerating. There were only two rooms in this log cabin style place, both of which consisted of one long bunk bed which was meant to fit ten people on the top and ten on the bottom all squashed together on one big bed. Thankfully there was a bar. Although definitely not much else. At first I was glad we were only staying one night but then everyone got into the spirit of things. The owners of the cabin cooked our whole bus a lovely BBQ then we were entertained by some traditional NZ music and several renditions of the Haka. We were particularly pleased by the all-night-long happy hour with £3 jugs of beer! I was glad of this night as so far the party atmosphere that we had expected from the kiwi bus had been lagging slightly but by morning the after effects of the party bus were definitely all there.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend a trip here unless you are in a group or you are really keen to do some amazing white water rafting. The River here is outstanding and most of the rapids are graded at level 5. However, after my last (near death) white water rafting experience at level 5 in Tennessee I was less than keen this time around.

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