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After leaving the slightly different to planned stop of Tongariro National Park we were, in the words of Willie Nelson, "Back on the road again" heading towards River Valley Lodge.
The River Valley stop off is one of the over night stops which the Kiwi bus makes so that people have the oppotunity to do an activity, like Waitomo. This time the activity was white water rafting.
The lodge itself is even more secluded and remote than Waitomo without any form of town (that we saw) around, instead as the name suggests it is a backpackers lodge tucked away at the bottom of a valley, surrounded by steep hills and cliffs, with the raftable Rangitikei river flowing out the front of it. The location of the accommodation is stunning and the drive down to the lodge wasn't half bad either.
Single lane, windy roads making their way up, down and round the hills and valley's en route. Before we left for New Zealand we heard how pretty the country and this is very much true, the coach journey itself was great, feeling almost disappointed to have to get off.
If David Beckham and Sienna Miller were countries and they had a little baby country, that little baby would be New Zealand, it really is that beautiful.
After being forced to get off the coach we had to descent a steep hill by foot in order to complete the journey to the lodge. The bus stayed at the top of the hill over night and luckily for us the lodge has a pick up truck which comes up and takes the backpackers down for the customers.
With alot of the places 'out in the sticks' the Kiwi bus stays at the price of a private room is not much different to a dorm bed (when you have multiplied it by two), this was one of this occassions and we upgraded our room to a private. One becasue the difference was minimal and two because we had felt slightly let down by our accommodation in the National Park.
There is only one private room in the main building of the lodge so we again were ushered outside towards our room, after this happening before we were were not expecting much from the room. We were pleasantly suprised! We were taken to a nice big, bright, spotless room, with a huge bed and ensuite. The en-suite didn't last long though as we had paid for a private with shared bathroom, not the en-suite (which was quite a bit more expensive). Therefore the reception who showed us our room locked the ensuite but not before putting the kettle and free tea & coffee in there first. We were certainly not getting anything for free. Not that it mattered, the room was great, basically what we were hoping for in the National Park.
As we were in the middle of nowhere without a supermarket in sight and minimal food we (along with the majority of the bus) opted for a roast dinner that night, roast beef with yorkie pud, advertised to us on the way as "just like your mum would make it."
We sat on big long tables as heaps of food was brought out and placed on our table, with help yourself serving. There was plenty to go round and after a well and truely getting our money's worth, we just about had enough room to fit in a happy hour beer.
As some people on the bus were going rafting we were not leaving River Valley until the afternoon, giving us the whole morning to do what we pleased with. We still had to check out at 10am though, even though the Kiwi bus were the only people there and no one else arriving for another couple of days. Any way we checked out had some breakfast and took a very short stroll down to the river. It was here we found a very unique way of getting across the river. I can only describe it as a cart, operated via a semi pulley system, that hovered above the Rangitikei (not the best description, the pictures are probably a better bet). I couldn't leave River Valley without having a go.
With Belle declearing herself out of the crossing I sat myself inside the cart and gave myself a bit of a push off the hill, making it to the middle of the river before before running out of steam. From there I had to pull on a rope, hand over hand until I reached the other side. After standing there for about five minutes, waiting for two other lads to cross the river, I made my return journey and bar a bit of rope burn it was good fun. I think Belle was happy to just be the camerman on this occassion though.
Soon after the river crossing adventures it was time to head out of River Valley, making our way back up the steep hill to the coach. It was alot easier walking down the hill than it was back up!
Just as we were leaving the lodge we saw a sign up advertising 'working for accommodation.' This is just as it sounds, you work about 3 hours a day in return for free accommodation, only in this case it included food and a activity (e.g. rafting) once a week. Now as we have got quite a long time period to complete the Kiwi Experience something like this would have been great for a week, however we had already booked our seats so there was nothing we could do.
River lodge was a beautiful location, the room was nice and the roast was tasty, although they did lie, it wasn't as good as our mums make it. The fact that we would have stayed longer in such a small remote place, says how nice this little spot was.
- comments
del glad to hear NZ has its jobswerths too. nice try about mum's roast beef - but i've got plenty of noodles in the store cupboard for you
Belle If I eat any more noodles I think I may turn into one! x