Feb 14, 2025
This was fun river to go... - This was fun river to go rafting down. There are lots of rocks and shallow areas, so you do a lot of getting everyone to one side of boat. There really isn’t much chance you will fall out, so a good river for those new to rafting, but all the moving to get unstuck from rocks makes it still fun for those who have done a fair amount of rafting. Our guide Jesse was great.
Review provided by Viator
Feb 8, 2025
Great fun and well worth it - Great experience, wish I had more time to do the other rivers they other aswell. The team are great and very professional. Would do it again🙂
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jan 26, 2025
Amazing - Amazing. Family were nervous being the first time Zac the guide gave the family confidence and felt safe in his care.
We will be back maybe on the wairoa
Amazing time
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jan 13, 2025
Fun friendly and beautiful - It was an awesome experience the whole team from River Rats was super friendly and welcoming. Our guide was the best ever. Just a super fun experience, the love for their job just was apparent which made the experience so much more enjoyable. The river was a good experience and the scenery was beautiful and peaceful.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jan 11, 2025
Excellent Introduction to White Water Rafting - This was a great introduction to white water rafting for our family group of six (two teenagers and four adults aged 50 to 63). There was plenty of excitement on the grade 3 and 4 rapids, enough to be a fun challenge for a bunch of newbies but nothing we couldn't handle with the help of our excellent guide, Pete. We also had some beautiful stretches of calm river where we could chill out and admire the beautiful New Zealand scenery as we floated by. Our guide, Pete, was very knowledgeable and experienced, and got us all working well as a team. Justin and Jen in the "safety" raft were excellent too and we felt that we were in very good hands. It was the perfect introduction for our mixed age group of beginners, especially as a couple of our members were slightly nervous - exciting and thrilling without ever feeling dangerous or out of control. Having had such a positive experience, we were all very keen to do it again and we would definitely go for a Grade 5 trip for the second time round now that we know the team and what to expect. So, if you've never white water rafted before and/or you are slightly nervous about it, this is the perfect place to start, and Pete, Jen and Justin will look after you really well. One final word - the sandwiches provided at the end were absolutely delicious!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jan 4, 2025
Excellent and Exciting Rafting Trip - Peter our skilled guide was excellent, he explained really well what we needed to do to be safe. The grade 3-4 had plenty of excitement without being too scary for 1st timers. The river was beautiful and clear. We all enjoyed it immensely.
Would do it again and recommend doing it with this fantastic River Rats team, Justin, Peter and Jen.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dec 21, 2024
Highly recommend for those with young kids. Your family will be in safe hands! - Our guides Nev, Zac and Jen were really nice and explained in detail about the river, the portions with rapids etc. A huge tree fell in the raft’s path and Nev and Zac had to hand saw the tree branches to let the rafts get through. So much professionalism and we had a great time!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nov 23, 2024
Staff rafting - Great day out. Grand crew, very helpful and fun. Water a bit low but still good time on the rapids.
Saw a heap of blue duck and staff very informative.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jan 1, 2025
Bit underwhelming - Unfortunately the water level was down meaning we needed to skip two of the three Grade 4 rapids leaving only one Grade 4. The drifting down the river in the water between rapids was fun for the kids. The guides worked hard in the difficult low water conditions but lacked the level of engagement we experienced on other activities we have done. This was the first white water rafting experience for our kids but my wife and I have both done two rivers previously - overall we all felt underwhelmed with the experience. We were on the road for 3 wks and this was the most ho-hum of everything we did. Rafts and other equipment was all good however. Possibly their other rafting options may be a better choice
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nov 27, 2024
Retched River Experience - Simply put, one of the worst tourist experiences I have ever encountered in 35 years of life and visiting six continents as a tourist. First of all, they indicate on their website if you do not have a pick up scheduled to meet at the Rotorua Airport at 10:00 am for transport. We were there at 9:50am and the crew had left already without us.
Further, the crew did not think we were capable of completing a portion of the rapids and for safety asked us to walk down the river where they would pick us up. Of course, I greatly appreciate safety being a consideration, but excluding us amongst the group of other travelers felt very isolating and very segregating. When we got back on the boat, one of the crew members indicated that he was going to be a grumpy old man and let us know we were not paddling hard enough. That also would have been okay, but for he barely paddled. It felt like I was paying to witness a frat party of 28 year old rafters more than a professional tourist excursion. He also made a really really crass joke about the victims of the 2019 White Island Volcano explosion and indicated they should have known they were visiting an active volcano and could die and explaining since they are required to debrief people. It was just over all a horrible experience that I would never recommend not even to my worst enemy. Picture of the most unprofessional guide at the end scratching his head.
Review provided by Tripadvisor