Our best rafting in NZ on the Rangitata River (enjoy the videos.....that's an order!)

Oh dear.....oh dear, oh dear.

Guess where we are?

You see, everything was going fine dear reader.  All was well.  Finally we had a rafting trip to attend.  Finally it was looking good for some good water flow.  The Rangitata river is a great river and had been recommended by one of our guides on the whitewater kayaking trip we had done.

Still dry and smiling

We left Grumpy's and drove through some decidedly British countryside down in the South East of the South Island and arrived with time to spare.  For the first time ever in NZ we hadn't arrived within 5 minutes of departure time.

We had time for a toasted tuna and cheese melt (oh my lord that was tasty!) and to sit about in the sun talking to the german nannies that eventually joined us in our raft.

There were 18 of us on the trip.  Our raft had a lovely bunch (5 ladies, the guide and I) and we were all getting along famously.  The drive to the river put in point was very relaxed, introductions were made, stories were swapped.  All was well.  They had a helmet with a GoPro attachment so I could record our heroics and the sun was shining.

What more could we want?

The Rangitata Gorge

At first sight the river looked a little anaemic.  Sure it was a trifle low, but it was wide and there was enough water.  Anyone that has been rafting knows that as you get into the trip the river tends to enter gorges or steep sided valleys where the flow is constricted and the fun begins.

We pootled along happily, chatting away and enjoying the scenery.  Our guide had warned us that the first rapid was a Grade 2 only and the next was a Grade 3, with the one after being a Grade 3, but only because if you got it wrong and fell out you would fly down the river with little chance of rescue....directly into the Pig's Trough.






Pig's Trough is an evil place.  A massive drop plunges your raft into a pool of quite malevolently swirling maelstrom of icy water and if you get stuck in there......your stuck good and proper.  Trust me. Not good at all.

So we negotiated the first few rapids with little incident....as you can see here.......

Happy Clapping...ever so pleased with ourselves

....all was well....then things got a trifle hairy.

The approach to the first Grade 5 was good.  Apparently we came in fine, but it would appear we didn't have enough power to send us flying over the first waterfall with enough momentum to drive into the Pig's Trough and out the other side.  There followed a few seconds of utter mayhem.  The look on the guide's face says it all.....he had been smiling, then he wasn't as he screamed for the safety ropes and saviour.

Those few seconds seemed like a lifetime.  Julia, at first mis-hearing the command to jump left (onto my side) jumped right......then jumped left onto me and nearly flew past!  I had to grab her and you can hear the groan or grunt as she lands on me.  If you look at the photos, we are totally submerged, the video says slightly different.

Now you might be wondering why I am looking backwards......so are we!

Those photos were just from a Grade 3!

There was about 16 tonnes of water a second ploughing down that river and it felt like I swallowed about 4 seconds worth as I screamed for Julia to hold on.  What was only a few seconds lasted a small eternity and then our raft, having been on the verge of tipping up, righted itself and we heard the command to resume positions.

Utterly shaken, we sat back up and looked at each other......long juddering glances of "Holy shit.......what happened there!"  Our guide then explained to us what happened and where we had gone wrong and we prepared for our next Grade 5 rapid.  This was a little gentler in the sense of drops and troughs, but it was longer and more technical to negotiate.


Here is the video you have wanted to see.....

Our dear friends at YouTube had an issue with copyright.....tsk....it's only a rafting video....so, if you have an issue seeing the above video, we change channels now to China.....you have to sit through 15 seconds of a Chinese advert and then see us at:

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/kZPGZ3MkwTg/

9m hop into the water

Following that we had a nice calm float down the river, where I jumped in for a quick swim, then back in the rafts to a point where we could jump from a 9m high rock into the river.  After the earlier shenanigans with the Pigs Trough this jump was an innocent little leap - nothing to get too psyched by, but was still a laugh.

Afterwards we headed back to the rafting base and had a bbq and classic NZ potato skins (apparently they are a particularly NZ entity......which is weird as I am sure our potatoes also have skins).  We said our goodbyes to our fellow rafters then drove off into the sunset.  Literally.

Write your own caption in the comments

There followed some more beautifully meandering roads through more classically British countryside.  The road we were driving down then became as straight as an arrow and for a wonderfully easy final hour it was nothing but plain sailing as Babette flew to her final resting place before we gave her back the following morning.  We had wanted to pack and clean that night, but I think we both had a bit of reluctance to admit that this was all coming to an end.  The last 3 weeks had been truly incredible.  Having moved on slightly since then, I can truly say we have been spoiled by NZ......Mother Nature is going to have had to produce something truly spectacular to rival NZ and when you consider the relentless onslaught of beauty that NZ provides, then I honestly don't think there will be a rival.  Still, I am willing to be proven wrong (which makes a change!).

Our first and only picture of sheep in New Zealand

Next morning we packed and it was an emotionally charged time.  We handed over the keys and said our last goodbyes, then transferred to the airport where we checked in and went straight to the lounge.

Good-Bye New Zealand......we love you

Our journey through NZ has been marked by natural beauty unbounded, some fascinating and challenging adventures and 3 weeks of living very closely together.  Through it all we've had an incredibly cosy and comfortable (luxurious even) home and frankly, if NZ was any closer to the UK then I would probably go there every holiday I had.  But it isn't and I won't.

One day we'll be back and it won't be for the last time either, because I don't ever want to wait 37 years until I see NZ again.












* Spoiler Alert: Here are the photos from the video above....if you haven't watched the video, watch that first.