What do you see and experience on the Waiatoto River Safari?

One thing I love about my job is the view from my ‘office’.  When people arrive, sometimes they are travel weary or it may be raining as it does on occasion since we live in rain forest, and they ask if they will see anything from the boat. 

The scenery is so unique that it literally changes around every single corner and dramatically as well.  The first part of the river is low level coastal type scenery, up to the Kiwi Sanctuary and then we head over the alpine fault line and into the mountains.

We pass by big rocks, no I mean massive rocks that have been thrown up from the fault line during seismic events.  At the top of the river you have a chance to step off the boat, just a small step off which is easy for most…(or you can stay on the boat) and we stretch our legs and then have a cuppa and a freshly cooked scone, cooked in our wood fired oven. 

We have had many commentary and photo stops as we causally cruise up the river so after morning tea it is a faster run back down the river to explore the other end which turns into wide water estuary and majestic mountain scenes from the river mouth where we are sat right in the waters of the Tasman sea.  We can hear the ocean and watch the seas birds swirl around in the prevailing winds. 

Lastly we finish up a small side stream called ‘The Hindley’, named after Bill Hindley who was the last ferry man on the Waiatoto river.  Before we had bridges, we had the ferryman who lived in a hut beside the river.  If you didn’t have a horse you would knock on his door and pay some coins for him to cross you across the river in his dinghy. 

This is a magical spot of still water and massive trees, you are immersed in nature and in the heart of the Kahikatea forest which is the main reason this region has the UNESCO world heritage accreditation, I tell you more about why this is, in this beautiful spot while we listen and watch the Tui and wood pigeon munch on native flowers. 

This place is the perfect spot to finish the tour and I take you back to the car park so you can carry on down to Jackson Bay and check out all the little gems I have just told you about on the boat, including where to swim with the little Hector dolphins.