Handley:
Wow what a day, today has been truly amazing!! Another early start, but well worth it!!We headed out on a trip with Rangitata Rafts down the Rangitata River in Peel forest, where quite a bit of the Lord of The Rings was filmed. The trip was just so well organised, we arrived at about 10ish as it was a 2 hour drive from Christchurch, when we arrived we had a spot of lunch and then got kitted out in our gear which was of course very attractive! Hmm need to invent that sarcastic font I've been going on about!
After a short drive down the river we stopped at our starting point and got put into groups, this was ours:
The first 20 mins we were given some intensive training on how to paddle what to do in an emergency etc etc and then we headed off onto the first rapids - grade 1 baby rapids.
Immediately both me and Michelle were loving it, after a couple of grade 2 and 3 rapids we pulled up on the band to view the first set of grade 5 rapids, at this point if you didn't feel comfortable taking on the grade 5 you could walk round them - there was no way we were walking round so we jumped back in the boat!
I was sat next Cam our guide at the back of the boat and Michelle was in the middle on the left, he advised us that if we fell in here we should try to swim to the right. We dropped down a huge rapid and the boat got submerged and then another wave hit us from the side almost tipping the boat over, but we stayed afloat, but got caught in a swell on the rocks. A bit of team work later and we were free and back in smooth water.
The next set of grade 5 rapids were even bigger, these ran for about 350 metres our boat went down first and it was the best 20 second ride ever, we pulled in at the bottom and I heard Cam shout "Swimmer" I turned round to see 6 people flying down to grade 5 without a raft!
Cam jumped out the boat to try haul the people in and handed me the rope to hold onto our boat and told me to jump out. I got out onto a tiny ledge and tried to steady myself and the boat, the best analogy I can think of here is it was like asking a sparrow to haul 6 golden eagles in a dingy out of the strid!! Needless to say I was struggling to hold the boat in place and keep myself on the rocks and round the corner was another huge rapid. Frank a huge German bloke jumped out the boat, but did he help no he just stood on side near me taking in the views.... after shouting at Frank he helped out.
Back in the boat we hit a few more grade 3 and 4 rapids before hitting some baby rapids again. At this point Cam decided it would be fun to try and flip us out of the boat and he made me go sit at the front of the boat and lean forward, he then purposely flipped the boat, I stayed in, but Michelle got swept away, she was inches from grabbing the boat, but the current just took her off, I could see the panic on her face as she tried to swim back, but then the training kicked in and she just held onto the oar and lifejacket and rode the rapid freestyle to clear water.... the smile was soon back on her face!! She really did well I have to give it to her especially to hang onto her oar!!
Next was jump rock where we jumped from the rock into the river... cue unattractive photos:
Here are a few other pics from the day.... Michelle falling out still amuses me....
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