Saturday started with a drive to the Rangipo Dam and the unloading of the two rafts, positions were sorted out and decisions made as to who would go with either Brent or Lindsay. I went with Lindsay and his wife Glenda, along with Ken Collier and Lance Knighton at the front, Kent Price and his son Scott behind them, myself (John D) behind Kent, then Lindsay and Glenda behind me

Our first task was to gear up with the correct size wetsuit. Some of our more portly members had to make a couple of changes to larger sizes in and effort to continue breathing. Life jackets and helmets were next, these had to be properly fitted; windbreakers were supplied if you wanted to use them. We were all positioned in the raft and received instructions from Lindsay as to how he wanted us to row when he called out.

The raft was carried down to the waters edge and we all jumped in and had a brief practice to make sure we all understood the instructions and headed down stream. The water was crystal clear; the weather overcast and there was fish everywhere. Going down the first rapid was interesting because although we entered it front first, touching the slightest obstacle would cause us to spin around and go down backwards.

This seamed to be the standard occurrence as we went into rapids and as while is was not such a problem on the smaller rapids, on longer ones the scenery is of secondary importance as we tried to regain control of our turning raft. We stopped about 200 m from where we first put the raft in, four of us fished on the true right and Lance and Glenda fished on the left. I stood on a rock and could see the fish across the other side of the river, and tried to direct Lance and Glenda as to where they should cast.

Each time they did this the line or the indicator would scare the fish and they would move into the deeper water and them move back to the shallows when the lines has passed.  Kent and Scott disappeared upstream and hooked into fish. I managed to hook and land two fish but they weren't worth keeping as they were both recovering fish.

A blow on a whistle from Lindsay was our signal to make our way back to the raft
and move on.  The whole day was very relaxed and when we found a likely fishing spot we would stop, go fishing or have a snack and if nothing was being caught we would move on. One incident that occurred was in trying to negotiate one rapid the raft hit a rock and spun around, Glenda at the back overbalanced and grabbed for something to hold on to (yours truly). We both fell out of the raft, I managed to hold onto it and was quickly pulled in by Kent, but Glenda started floating away. As per our initial instruction session (and this is the same for wader safety) roll onto your back, pull your legs up, and face down stream. She was picked up, none the worse for wear, all be it a little wet, and we continued on. To actually raft the top section of the Tongariro without any stops takes
about three and a half hours

The scenery was magnificent and it is understandable why access is so difficult, (being either raft or canoe) with very high sides and bush to the waters edge and limited spots to land and have a fish While there was plenty of fish, catching them was a different matter. To the people who for one reason or another could not experience this trip, if there is another opportunity for them to do so, I strongly recommend they take it.
John Davidson.