The Huka Falls get their name from the Maori word for foam. The Waikato river gets funnelled into a narrow canyon which results in a huge amount of water in a tight spot. This can only mean one thing: faster water. In the canyon it looks frighteningly violent, then is goes down the falls (which are actually not very high) and churns the water so that it appears all frothy and bubbly in the downriver pool. The water is so strong here that trout are unable to migrate upriver, though some insanely good kayakers have gone through the canyon and down the falls and lived to tell the tale. Looking at the river from the path just above gives you a good sense of how powerful water really is.
A bit further down you can enjoy the more relaxing pursuit of prawn fishing. Way too relaxing by my book but we had promised it to the kids. After a whole hour with 4 fishing rods we came up with 2 prawns. I'm glad I don't rely on this for my survival. Apart from the fishing they have a nice walk with loads of activities on the way: pulleys, weight scales, trout feeding, a treasure hunt... Shame we arrived so late, we would have stayed longer.
Replanned our next leg. We hadn't realised Jasper/Banff were so far from Vancouver/Seattle, plus dropping a LA car in Seattle costs a pretty penny, so we are doing a circular loop in the West coast. We may not visit Canada at all, though we'll try (Tofino beckons). Luckily it makes sense: there are spots we want to see on the coast as well as in the interior. Now we have to decide which direction. We had also changed the East coast: instead of starting in Canada we will start in New York and then move North.
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