The Legendary Blackwater Rafting Company Reviews

So worth it! We were lucky enought to have a small group of 4. The instructors were fantastic, full of knowledge and very entertaining. The caves themselves were spectacular and absailing 35m down was thrilling! Must do if you come to the north island.

My friends and I signed up for the 5 hours raft, there was no other people signed up at this time slot so, there was 4 of us including the tour guide and we got to go to the end of cave, which it doesn't happen often when there are more people in the group. It was an amazing experience! Love the glow worms in the cave, water was very cold but overall experience was amazing!

What a great experience the staff were freindly and loved there jobs which made it great for our group definitely would recommend to anyone who is thinking about checking them out

What an amazing experience! I ve traveled a lot and done some interesting things, but this has been the coolest experience! The guides,Matt and Sophie, were amazing and enhanced the experience!! Do the abyss it s worth the extra money!

An amazing, slightly frightening, stunningly beautiful experience.

Very good trilling experience, at least once in life time activity for different experience

I've done this twice with about a 20 year gap in between. And this is the best adventure in NZ - fantastic!

We took the 3 hour tube trip and it was incredible! Our guides Ollie and Kili were top notch and made the whole adventure a ton of fun. Be sure to book a trip to see the caves and worms up close. You won t regret it!

One of the best days I've had in a good while, can't recommend it enough. The two guides were extremely professional and went out of their way to make it both fun and action packed without compromising on safety. Great information on the caves and it's wildlife and showed great knowledge and respect for the ancient Maori site and it's significance.

Is a fantastic experience for teenagers.Staff are great in way able to relate to students and support the weaker ones while making the stronger ones feel challenged.

Great team, awesome tours! Did the Black Abyss and loved it!

Great and friendly guides and a nice adventure. Can be a bit strenuous with bending and walking in dark caverns.

Matt was our Amazing tour guide for ziplining and cave tube tour. Great personnel and one of a kind experience captured, we wont forget!

Literally treating customers like industrial goods to process and waaay to expansive.

It's OK if you really want to see glow worms but the advertising is a bit misleading. Firstly the 5 hours is more like 2-3 hours as driving to location, getting dressed, gear being washed afterwards etc is included in the time. Secondly, you do not at any stage raft as described but rather use tubes, being pulled by your feet by the guide through mainly knee deep water, or otherwise have to push yourself over the rocks because it's simply too shallow and calm to be going anywhere. It was rather disappointing as we were expecting a river rather than creek. The gear was also rather unhygienic, we needed 2 showers afterwards to get rid of the smell. Guide however was professional and very friendly.

Did the black abyss. Coaches/Guides were great at creating a relaxed atmosphere whilst teaching the skills to keep us safe. Would definitely recommend the black abyss for the extra challenge. Special thanks to guides Matt and Corey.

This is a great place to visit and all the guides are super fun and friendly , definitley recommend going if you are in nz.

Amazing!!!!!!!!!!! Cannot recommend this enough. A good 4-5 hour experience with a lot of it spent in the cave with some amazing guides.

very cool guides! :) I would do it again immediately: D

Amazing. Utterly brilliant. Do it and you will not regret it - be prepared to get wet, cold and be physical but it is one of the best things you can do! Our tour guides were brilliant too and we had a great time

See glow worms, jump off water falls, tubeing in the dark. Don't confuse it with white water rafting, the only similarities are the word raft and you get wet

We had a fabulous time led by Kelly and Keeley... an awesome duo who teased, taunted and skilfully guided us all through an exhilarating experience. Highly recommend.

I made the mistake of booking the least expensive of the two tours which I didn't find that exhilarating but I have heard from many people that the more expensive of the tours is well worth the money and a great experience.

The Abyss tour is absolutely stunning. The staff and tour guides are great and the whole place is amazing.

Had a blast thanks, so fun but yet professional. Loved every second.

What a fun experience. Awesome way to see the glow worms. Great guides too, 10/10 would recommend to a friend who isn't claustrophobic.

Black Abyss extreme was one of the highlights if our New Zealand "shot of adrenaline" adventure trip

The Abyss tour was the best. Christine and Corey were great tour guides. We went with a family of 5. Great for all ages who want an adventure

My husband and I had SO much fun on the Blavk Labyrinth tour. It was adventurous and beautiful and the 3 hours was over before we knew it!

Great team. Great leadership. Great hot soup in the end. Keep it up!

The Black Abyss is an amazing once in a lifetime experience!

Very stimulating and labor intensive. There are a lot of glow worms in the cave. The coach will bring a group. No need to bring clothes, there are a complete set of winter clothes, socks, non-slip shoes. After the end, you can take a hot bath. Then go to the cafe and drink a free hot soup to bake cream bagel.
The process will help you to purchase after the photo is over. It is recommended that one person buy all the photos and share them with their travel companions.

Was more caving than rafting, but a really good experience. Definitely going to do it again.

Great experience mild caving and floating in the dark with glowworms specking the walls. It takes 2-3 hours to get dressed in wetsuits and safety gear and complete the experience.

We had a fantastic time on the Abyss tour. It was an intense experience--abseiling, zip lining, climbing up waterfalls, climbing through small bits of the cave--but I felt safe and well taken care of by our knowledgable and fun guides. It was quite expensive, but worth it if you're traveling through New Zealand. Truly a unique experience.

Incredible experience! Stunning scenery and quite surreal as you float through the cave looking at the glow worms surrounded by limestone and stalactites.. wasn t too difficult climbing over the rocks and jumping into the mini waterfalls. Our guides were awesome too.. right there with us and helping guide us through. Highly recommend this adventure.

Great place.
Was raining when we went and the high water made the journey underground a bit crazy. I went over a waterfall and my girlfriend went through some rapids backwards and got forced under. A small American girl child became our team mascot.

Guides are excellent even when on the edge of panic.

10/10 would do it again.

Jess was the perfect guide. Rappelling into the cave, zip line in the dark, floating the cave with constellation of glow worm lights above, and climbing out up the waterfall exit! Great memories! Felt comfortable and completely safe. Thank you.

We did the Blackwater Labyrinth tour which involved tubing through parts of the Ruakuri cave.
I was a little nervous about the small spaces but the guides were very reassuring and I had a fantastic experience. The gloworms were amazing to see especially once all the torches had been turned off.

Really great experience and friendly staff. Highly recommend.

Amazing experience!! Helen and Pudds were fantastic guides!! Thank you!!

Absolutely fantastic. We did the 5 Hour Abyss tour and it was extraordinary. The natural beauty of the caves and glow worms within was heightened by the adrenaline of abseiling, Zip lining and climbing up a waterfall. Our guides were also exceptionally fun and made us feel safe while we were doing the activities. Shoutout to Michah and Corey . Hope those are the right names.

Beautiful beautiful glowworm cave. Relaxing when you get there ;) Before that is of course adventurous rafting and a bit of climbing as well in the cave. Fun experience! Friendly, cool and knowledgable instructors. You will get good gears and warm dry suits.

Did the glowworm tubing tour. Took 3 hours. Had an amazing time. Guides were hilarious. The tour included a mix of wading, floating, crawling, and jumping off waterfalls. Glad I did the first tour of the day, as we had the cave to ourself. Was very cold even in wet suit, but hot shower and the legendary soup and bagel cured that

Wife and I did the 8:00AM Black Abyss Tour in early October. I would highly recommend the Black Abyss tour. Tour guides were friendly, knowledgeable and very personable. Very safe tour, lots of glow worms and rafting. Water is very cold, but the wet suits provided help and the hot shower after is amazing.

After debating between the Black Abyss (5 hour) and Black Labyrinth (3 hour) tours, I decided to book the Black Abyss tour because it had abseiling/rappelling and flying fox/zipline. If I were to do it again, I would save the money (~NZD$100/person) and book the shorter tour. You rappel in to the cave to start the tour then do a short zipline, and that's the end of the rappelling and ziplining, which I was a little disappointed by. Overall, I did enjoy the tour. Floating in the water with all the glowworms above you was a very cool experience. We got a couple snacks and warm drinks on the tour, which was unexpected and a nice addition.

There were two other couples on our tour with us, one of which was Chinese and didn't speak English fluently, but seemed to understand a decent amount. Our guide was nice to us, but very rude to the Chinese couple. It does seem frustrating and potentially dangerous as a guide to not be able to communicate well while in a cave, but it was still kind of off-putting.

Unreal. We just did the 3 hour tour but it was enough for us. Both guides were great and really helped make it an awesome experience. If you're considering this definitely go for it, glad we did. Thanks to everyone there.

We did the black abyss caving adventure and it was a ton of fun! We loved seeing the glow worm and learning from our well informed guilds. Definitely enjoyed our experience!

Had a great time at the experience! Totally recommended to anyone looking for a little thrill and the best way to view glowworms ! The instructors are very enthusiastic and were a great help to me, who needed a little push and a nudge all the way :).

This was a once in a lifetime experiance.
The staff was excellent, so friendly, and such a beautiful place.
The black water rafting guide is es took great care of our whole group.

Great experience. We did the black abyss tour. Worth the money, challenging but felt safe the whole time. Recommend!

Se have an amazing time there. The black rafting worth every dollar.

One of the best things to do in NZ!
I did the Abyss tour which includes an Aseil section (35 m), waterfall climbs, underground flying fox and more... Probably the BEST way to see the glowworm caves.
The staff is very friendly, experienced and prepares you very well for this awesome experience.
Action-/Cameras are not allowed but they take great pictures that you can purchase (not expensive!) afterwards.

Great experience. It had been raining for two days which made it even more fun.

Amazing!!! Unbelievable experience. Very well run, great team of staff and excellent facilities.

Not for people who have painful knees (or any other body part for that matter). It will be hard to keep up if you have physical problems, even though they tell you to keep your own pace. Also, not enough socks in size L!

The black labyrinth experience was worth every penny. Next try would be the abyss.

Friendly and funny guides who know alot about the caves history, flora, fauna and cultural significance. Made us feel safe but still gave us enough freedom to have fun. A must for everyone travelling the area

Just awesome. Should go only if physically fit. Expect some free fall jump in the water and some bumps along the cave walk. Not for weak physic and heart patients or people with back problems. Otherwise it is real ethereal experience not to be missed who really appreciate beauty of the nature. Very well preserved and guided tour. One would regret if this tour is missed.

Absolutely amazing experience! The black abyss took about 5 hours and during that time the guides provided two separate snacks for the group which was an excellent surprise. The guides were well trained and very friendly. I highly recommend!

One of the best things that I've done on my trip to new zealand. Awesome walking and swimming on a 5h journey cave. One of the guides asked things about me and I told her that I love lord of the rings and the hobbit. Later, on the cave, she sang the Hobbit music theme. It was very exciting, I will never forget that. Thanks for the memories.

I did the "Blackwater Abyss" tour and loved every minute. The friendly guides were quite knowledgeable about their caves and made sure everyone was having a good time but still remaining safe. The varying levels of difficulty among their different tours offers something for everyone to enjoy from the relaxingly tame through to the hairy legged adventurers.