• Dam opening
• Hot Pools
• Rapids Jet (Luke)
• Huka Falls

Rachel slept in, I had a spa, read & then drove out to the Jet place (a different one to the group I was originally planning on going with after the hotel advised the Rapids one - which I didn't know about - is better). Couldn't book in until 3pm. Drove over to the dam, which does an opening to release 18 million or so liters of water 4 times a day. This is quite impressive with a very low river suddenly becoming u surging river. Went to purchase some petrol - found a place about 5c cheaper than everywhere else I had passed - drove up did the usual thing but couldn't get it to work, noticed a small note on the pump which read "Self pay pumps - pay first" or something like that… Went in to pay & someone else (everyone was having the same problem that was there) was asking the lady how to pay… long story short - you can't pay with cash or credit card & you can't pay at the counter - need to pay at a payment machine which only accepts credit cards using the savings account - or credit account withpin! There's absolutely no sign posting about this and the station is right near town, which is basically just a big tourist town - so everyone's having trouble with it!!! Seemed a bit weird to try a new style of petrol station which doesn't accept cash or credit in a tourist location (from what I observed, it appeared their intended savings of not having to pay for staff were wasted with the staff member spend her entire time explaining to people how to use the system - with many people then not able to use it as they only have cash or a credit card (and international cards with savings don't work either)).

Rachel got up - and we went to the hot pools - which were really quite (probably because school has gone back) so we almost had the place to ourselves - with 2 large heated pools - and ordinarily the private pools cost more - but since it was quite they were happy for us to have full access to them also. Very relaxing. Drove out to the dam for lunch & watched the opening again as Rachel hadn't seen it in the morning, took a short walk to a viewing platform - the view of the mighty river suddenly appear is incredible.

Then drove down the road & took the Rapids jet. This is quite different from the Canyon jet in Queenstown, basically not as dangerous with a wide river area - however much bumpier when they get to the rapids, where they basically just try to get the boat to jump as high as possible - a lot of fun. These guys were a lot more cautious, only doing 180 degree spins (the Canyon ones in Queenstown do 360 and keep moving afterwards) but still a lot of fun. Glad I chose to do this jet rather than the Huka falls (as advised by the hotel reception) as we latter saw the Huka falls jet, and it looked very boring (slower and on flat water).

Then down to the Huka falls, not very high, but a huge volume of water - very impressive and quite noisy. Took a brief walk in the area, then back to the motel for dinner.