The father of the woman who drowned at the Aratiatia Dam on Waitangi Day says not enough has changed to make the spot safer.
But two-and-a-half months after his daughter's death - and with little change at the tourist site near Taupo - he wanted to speak out in the hope no one else has to go through what he has.
Rachael De Jong was a bubbly 21-year-old in her last year of physio training. She was intelligent, adventurous, and could cheer anyone up.
"She was our angel - and she'll be missed by us and many others," dad Kevin De Jong says.
On sweltering Waitangi Day, Rachael and six mates had scrambled down a track for a swim at the dam.
It's 200 metres to the Aratiatia Dam where, four times a day in summer, tourists come to watch the floodgates open.
When the water is let go, a peaceful flow turns to lethal force.
Rachael's group thought they'd be safe on a nearby rock, but the floodwater overwhelmed it and four of them were swept away.
Rachael died trying to save her friend.
"There is no safe place to stand - at all," Mr De Jong says.
Rachael's is the first death related to the rising rapids at Aratiatia.
Mr De Jong believes a more specific message should be included on signs. But dam operator Mercury Energy doesn't want to change its safety advice.
The company says swimming at the dam is so dangerous no one should ever go into the water because as well as scheduled spills, unplanned ones can happen at any time.
After Rachael's death, Mercury Energy and local councils reviewed the safety at the site and found no change was needed.
It says its challenge is to get people to listen to the warnings.
There is a siren to warn people downstream and after Rachael's death, two extra signs and a barrier were added. Mr De Jong says that's a great start, but there's room for improvement.
He doesn't want the site blocked off, or to hold anyone liable - he just wants to make sure no-one else has to go through what their family has.
"Perhaps a visual needs to be done before you hit the switch. Perhaps words need to be used instead of a siren."
He believes the public needs to know how dangerous it is when the water rises, and the main stakeholders have a duty of care to make it safe.
As a start toward raising awareness about the safety of the area, a campaign is being run at local Taupo schools about danger at Aratiatia.
In 2009, Nicole Flaws was swept away from the very same rock Rachael was on.
"I just remember thinking 'this is it, I'm ready - ready to die,'" she says.
Further downstream, and when she was so exhausted she was about to give up, she was rescued by a group of kayakers
Ms Flaws says she didn't hear the five sirens that go off before and during the spills.
"A lot of people have asked me - there's so many sirens going off, how could you not hear it - but we just didn't."
There is no plan to increase safety further, but she and Mr De Jong are hoping the coroner will recommend changes.
They don't want anyone else to go through what they have.
Newshub.
