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At a glance

Duration
14 days
Cost
$9575
Arrival Airport
Auckland (AKL)
Grade
river grade
Air Temp
21°C (70F)
Water Temp
17°C (63F)
Camping
2 nights
Hotel
10 nights

Overview

Are you the ultimate whitewater rafting addict? Join us on this amazing adventure around the top rivers in New Zealand. You’ll also get the opportunity to take in some of the culture, history and adventures on offer in this stunning part of the world. Our trip is designed to share with you, the best eight rivers in New Zealand as part of a wider insight into this stunning country. The trip is designed to coincide with the best weather and water conditions and outside of the main holiday time in New Zealand. Welcome to the world’s ultimate white water rafting road trip.

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Destination Map

What you will be up to

1

Arrive into Auckland where you’ll be met by your Trip Leader and fly onto Taupo later in the day.
Included: Dinner

2

After waking up beside New Zealand’s largest lake, we take the gorgeous drive past volcanoes to the rural town of Taihape. We’ll overnight at River Valley Lodge. You’ll have the opportunity for an afternoon horse ride if you wish.
Included: All meals

3

Our first day of rafting and what a way to start! On one of New Zealand’s best rivers, The Grade V Rangitikei. The afternoon sees us drive to Wellington and we’ll have some time to explore the nations capitol by taking the Cable Car overlooking town and the harbor or exploring Te Papa. (The Museum of New Zealand.)
Included: All meals

4

We take an early morning flight to Nelson where we drive to Murchison for our first South Island river, the Buller Gorge. Enjoy a riverside lunch. We take the gorgeous drive to Karamea where we’ll stay overnight at The Last Resort
Included: All meals

5

One of the best day’s rafting anywhere. We fly in by helicopter for a one day trip on the Karamea River. This trip is awesome. We’ll return to our hotel for the evening and a meal with plenty of stories to tell.
Included: All meals

6

Today we’ll drive down past the Pancake Rocks (Punakaiki) which can produce some spectacular blowholes at high tide, to Greymouth. Shortly afterwards, we’ll meet our helicopter and run the Taipo River, deep in the Southern Alps. Overnight in Hokitika with pizzas on the beach from Fat Pipis!
Included: All meals

7

This morning after breakfast, we’ll drive to Whataroa where we will meet our flight to go and run the crystal clear waters of the Perth River. We’ll drive to Fox Glacier where we overnight. Dinner at Lake Matheson.
Included: All meals

8

How about an early morning Skydive or flight up to the glacier by helicopter? We drive to the meeting point of our multi-day adventure at Clarks Bluff. You’ll get to the river in time to relax in stunning surroundings, or take a short hike while the guides prepare your 4 course meal!
Included: All meals

9

Lets go rafting! You’ll wake up from your spacious tents and enjoy views over Deacon Glacier as you sip your coffee. This is a stunning place to be. We’ll get to raft a river few people ever even get to see. A few big rapids to run today including Hellfire.
Included: All meals

10

After a hot shower (yes in the middle of the wilderness) and breakfast, we raft out to the confluence on the Haast River. From here we’ll pack up our gear and take the beautiful drive via Wanaka back to Queenstown. Enjoy a wonderful meal in this gorgeous lakeside town.

11

A day of leisure to explore this fun town. We have arranged a jetboat trip on the World Famous, Shotover Jet and dinner at Walter Peak Sheep station. The rest of the day is yours to explore and have fun!
Included: All meals

12

A morning trip on the large volume Kawerau River featuring the incredible Chinese Dog Leg Rapid to finish on.
The afternoon, we raft the famous Shotover River. Tonight we drive to Braemar Station in the shadow of Mount Cook for a meal together.
Included: All meals

13

We depart our gorgeous accommodation for the drive to raft our final and awesome river, the Rangitata River with it’s incredible Grade IV and V rapids. We return to Christchurch for an incredible final night dinner together.
Included: Breakfast

14

After breakfast, a transfer back to the airport for your flight home.
Included: Breakfast

Speak to a WBN Advisor

UK +44 1709 802 203

USA +1 303 261 8896

Book Trip

Dates & Prices

DatesDuration
Sunday 2 February 2025 - Saturday 15 February 202514 days£7350€8500$9575

If you would like advice about flight options, please call our UK or US office’s. Many airlines offer flights to Auckland International (AKL).  For UK travellers, have a look at skyscanner.net for your best flight options. Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines are great carriers. For USA based travellers, we suggest Exito Travel who can provide you with a competitive flight quote. Because of the distance involved, you might like to consider stopping off for a day or so on the way to break up the journey, if you have the time.
Our price and departure date information below does not include your international flights.

Please ensure you DO NOT book your flights until your trip is CONFIRMED to run by our office. Please check with us first.

In order to secure your place you can pay just your deposit now of $1250 per person. The final payment isn’t due until 120 days before your trip.

 

Get in touch & we'll get back to you

What you should bring

We find most of our clients have in their posession already what is needed for an adventure holiday. Bear in mind, your trip to New Zealand may involve many different types of weather from hot sunny days (expected) to cold rainy days and everything in between. Bear in mind as you will be flying internally in New Zealand, we recommend being under 20kg (32 lb) of check on baggage.

FOR TRAVELING AND GENERAL WEAR

  • Lightweight long trousers.
  • Lightweight Long Sleeved shirts.
  • Fleece jacket.
  • Warm woollen hat
  • Polypropylene or capilene thermal quick drying layers (top and bottoms)
  • Light down jacket
  • Comfortable cross trainers or  light hiking boots for wearing around camp and on hikes.
  • Nice outfit or two for evening meals
  • Flip flops or jandals (this is the kiwi word for flip flops)
  • Good quality rainwear
  • Underwear.
  • Glasses or Contact lenses. Disposable lenses are ideal.
  • Toiletries. Toothbrush, toothpaste, personal items, biodegradable soap, shampoo and conditioner.
  • Insect repellant (NZ sandflies LOVE tourists)
  • Small pack towel.
  • Headlamp or head torch and spare batteries.
  • Any medication you may be taking.
  • Wide brimmed sunhat
  • Factor 50 sunscreen and lip balm
  • Sunglasses.
  • Travel adaptor plug for New Zealand

RIVER FASHION:

  • A pair of Chacos or Keens. Trainers are also okay. Wetsuits and booties will be provided
  • A pair of river shorts or swimming costume.
  • Polypropylene or capilene thermal quick drying layers (top and bottoms) This is in addition to the set stated above.
  • A baseball cap for under the helmet to keep sun off.
  • Chums for fastening your sunglasses to your head – can be purchased from our Water Shop.
  • Nalgene or similar water bottle – can be purchased from our Water Shop.
  • Carabiner for fastening water bottle to your boat.

OPTIONAL ITEMS

  • Your favourite book or a journal for recording your river memories.
  • Photographic or video equipment. On most expeditions we provide a waterproof case for these items. We recommend a cleaning kit as sand gets everywhere. Bring a spare memory card and charging leads. Also bring spare batteries for your camera.
  • Waterproof GoPro for the “action”  shots.

PERSONAL SPENDING

  • The only money that you need to bring is for personal spending, souvenirs, personal items and alcoholic beverages if you drink. New Zealand offers widespread Credit Card and ATM facilities and for a small charge you can withdraw cash either from your account or Credit Card for convenience.
  • Your trip leader will take care of gratuities for suppliers and guides throughout your trip, which can be settled with him at the end of your trip.
  • Basically, we advise you to keep things as light as possible, without skimping on the necessities. It is great to bring back a load of goodies for everybody back at home.

New Zealand White Water Rafting Road Trip reviews

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5.0 out of 5 stars (based on 2 reviews)
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New Zealand Rafting Extravaganza

19th March 2020

Wow, one of the most fantastic river trips I’ve ever taken. Eight rivers in two weeks. Wow!!! Saw more of New Zealand than I ever dreamed possible. Absolutely loved it. Can drink right out of the rivers. Not a bad tour guide either, who introduced me to whitebait fritters 🙂

Becki Kruse

Legendary Trip. Stunning Country

12th March 2020

Rafting within ‘Lord of the Rings’ rivers and countryside. ……. will definitely increase your pulse rate. We rafted 7 amazing rivers, but the highlight was the Karamea.

The scenery was awesome (Mother Nature ….. some of her best work ). Mike our guide went above and beyond to make the trip special and arranged extra activities like my 134 metre bungy jump. Loved the ice cream stops every day!

This was my ninth Water By Nature trip and possibly the best yet!

Richard Dutton

Ready to take the next step

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