One of the most memorable dive trips for me was hands down the Taupo trip- where I got to drift
\ndive down the Waikato River.
\nAs a part of my divemaster course with DIVEHQ we had a 4-day trip down to Taupo where we had
\nthe opportunity to do 4 drift dives plus a drift snorkel in the mighty Waikato River. The trip was
\nscheduled in the middle of our Divemaster course right before we started the practical assisting
\nworkshops, it was almost like our final week of carefree fun diving before all the responsibility and
\npressure of being a dive professional really set in- maybe that\u2019s why it was so memorable.
\nOn Monday morning we met our instructors at the shop in Mt Roskill to get ready to go, it was early
\nFebruary so everyone was rocking their summer hats and sunnies and you could smell the sunblock
\nfrom a mile away. There was a huge sense of excitement amongst us students as we chatted and
\njoked while packing the van that morning, everyone was looking forward to the drift dives and
\ngetting out of the city for a few days.
\nWe set off from Auckland mid-morning and arrived in Taupo by early afternoon. We stayed at the
\nRainbow Lodge in Taupo, which was full of travel-loving backpackers and is a cute and cozy spot
\nwithin walking distance to the main Taupo shops, but still far enough that you don\u2019t feel like your
\nright amongst it all. Everyone was quick to drop off their bags and get changed as we were only at
\nthe lodge for about half an hour before we were all piling back into the vans to do our drift snorkel.
\nWe started the drift at a place known as \u2018Cherry Island\u2019 where our instructor gave us a briefing and
\nsplit us into buddy teams. With much anticipation we started our snorkel drift, we went around a
\nfew bends practicing our duck dives and getting used to the feeling of the current. Around one bend
\nwe came to a stop near an 8m high ledge where we all took turns jumping off into the river, trying to
\nsee who could make the biggest splash or pop the fattest manu. Further down the river we came to
\na slower part in the current and just off the right side of the river are some thermal hot springs.
\nEveryone dashed under the falling warm water to heat up before continuing a few hundred meters
\nto the end of the drift at \u2018Reid\u2019s Farm\u2019.
\nIf you think the snorkel sounds fun just wait till you here about the dive on scuba!
\nLake Taupo open its floodgates around 8.30am in summer so early morning is the best time to do
\nthis drift dive as there\u2019s more of a current than any other time of day. So, over the next couple of
\ndays, we all woke up early to have breakfast and get ready before hitting the river.
\nI can think of many words to describe the feeling of drift diving: Incredible, unreal, insane, amazing
\nare among a few. I honestly wasn\u2019t expecting to have so much lighthearted fun while drift diving, it
\nwas like being on an amusement park ride with no seatbelt and no brakes.
\nOn the dive we followed the same course we did on the snorkel, starting at Cherry Island and
\nfinishing at Reid\u2019s farm. This time we didn\u2019t stop to pop manus or jump in the hot water pools, but
\nthere was still a whole lot of excitement under the water.
\nIf you\u2019re not dodging rogue tree branches and rocks, you\u2019re dodging eddies which the Waikato River
\nhas plenty of. My buddy and I found ourselves in an eddy without even realizing for about 5 or 6
\nminutes, constantly swimming in circles like we were in a washing machine with no escape. It was
\nstartling at first but we both thought it was hilarious when we were chatting after the dive, obviously
\nwe made it out eventually.<\/p>\n
As the drift continues there are moments where it is super shallow (2-3m) and very fast. We call this
\nthe rapids, possibly the funnest part of the dive but also the time you need to be the most onto it
\nwith your skills and awareness.
\nMidway on the drift is a placed called danger island where it forks and you have to choose to go left
\nor right. The left side is a slower current and not many obstacles- in other words it\u2019s the boring side.
\nIf you get the chance I highly recommend going to the right side of danger island, just make sure you
\nhave your wits about you. The current is strong and fast and there\u2019s tree branches and obstacles
\ngalore.
\nOverall, the drift from start to finish took us about 20-30minutes and me and my buddies dived it 4
\ntimes over the course of this trip. The rest of our days were filled with sunbathing, exploring the
\nTaupo town, and even managed to sneak in a game of mini golf while we were down there.
\nEventually the trip had to come to an end and we all piled back into the vans to make our way back
\nto Auckland but ever since the day we left Taupo in February 2021 the drift dive has been on my
\nmind as one of my all-time favorite dives.
\nCan\u2019t wait to get back down there for another dive, are you keen?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the most memorable dive trips for me was hands down the Taupo trip- where I got to drift dive down the Waikato River. As a part of my divemaster course with DIVEHQ we had a 4-day trip down to Taupo where we had the opportunity to do 4 drift dives plus a drift […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":817,"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions\/817"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/divehq.co.nz\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}