Well, the fireworks started about 8pm and continued until well past midnight. Most of them were privately set off and relatively quiet and then there were a couple of louder, presumably professional, sets.

We couldn’t see any of them from where we were and didn’t feel like heading out into the crowds to try to find a vantage point. We slept well despite the noise and all slept in. Liam was up the earliest – back to the bouncing pillow and his new friends. Then we all spent another couple of hours in the hot water pools. Colin and I bought slide passes today and had a go at the three slides. I found them all so scary though – way too fast – and one of them in the dark!

We left the park after lunch for a drive to the local falls and a dam. There were huge walks to both destinations, but we decided to take it easy and drive as close as we could so the walks we did were short. Huka Falls are quite low compared to some we’ve seen, but 200,000 litres of water flows over the 9m every second. We walked along a path above the rapids leading up to them which were impressive and the water was glacial blue. We saw the jet boat come up and do donuts around the bottom of the fall – not too close though so it didn’t get sucked in.

Without trying to, we had planned it beautifully to arrive at the dam in time for the spill-gates scheduled opening. The area below the dam when we arrived was a peaceful river, almost a creek, with a slow flow and still pools between the gentle mini water falls. The spill-gates were opened for 15 minutes and the river became white water rapids with previously exposed trees completely immersed under fast flowing water. It was amazing how quickly it all settled again once the spill-gates were closed.  

With some local sights seen, we headed back to our accommodation. Liam to play with his friends, Emily and I to read, and Colin to work on the “walks” part of the webpage – check it out! After dinner we headed back to the pools. After being briefed by Emily as to how to slow myself down on the slides and sending Colin first as a guinea pig, I tried the slowest one. Much more controlled for me though I am sure the kids think I am boring. Making multiple climbs up the stairs to the top of the slide made me realise why the kids weren’t up for a walk earlier! We stayed at the slides and hot pools until the slides closed at 9pm.