White Water Rafting

---

Wed 9th Jul

Today is white water rafting day! We are a little nervous, having seen some
scary pictures of this activity on the internet, but very excited. The bus
arrives on time, and on the journey, one of the guides gives us a little talk.
We are doing grade 2 and grade 3 rapids; the grading system goes up to grade 6,
which apparently means 90% chance of death. So let's assume grade 1 is 0%
chance of death, that would probably put grade 3 at around 36% chance of death
- the odds are in our favour! Buoyed by this, we happily sign a form
indemnifying the rafting company from any and all deaths, maimings and
incapacitations that might occur, today or on any other day, directly or
indirectly, regardless of any other laws, blah blah blah. Sure... whatever...

We reach our starting point after driving up a mountain a while, and get sorted
into groups. One guide and six other rafters to a raft. We were in a group with
a family of four from Canberra, and our guide was Michael. Michael asked if
anyone wanted to take the front positions. Edith leapt forward with a 'me!',
and I felt compelled to follow... we were then told that we were the 'team
leaders'. Not that that meant very much, as it turned out - it just meant that
everyone else was supposed to follow us with their paddling. The family - names
all long forgotten - were very pleasant. On discovering our origin, we were
christened 'Team Netherlands'.

Michael started by taking us through the basic manouevres he would ask us to
do. First, 'forward paddle', and 'back paddle', which are pretty obvious. Then
'over left', where those on the right move to the middle of the raft, and 'over
right', which is the reverse. After we had a go at each, he would respond with
a reassuring 'too easy!'. Then we had 'hold on' (hold on to the raft with one
hand, and the paddle with the other), and 'get down' (crouch in the middle of
the raft). Too easy.

All of this was undertaken in a calm piece of water. Now it was time to tackle
our first rapid. He mavouevred us into the faster flowing right bank of the
river, where we quickly approached some water; he barked his commands, we
responded, and... well... it was not really too much at all. 'Too easy'. We
progressed to the next one quickly, and it looked a lot more interesting! It
certainly gave us more of a rush! 'Too easy!'. As the third rapid loomed, it
became apparent it was quite a different beast again - and we hit it rather
sideways! Edith's side went in first, and as we hit the bottom... we stopped!
Eddie was teetering on the edge, and looked certain to fall out! Meanwhile, I
seem to be hovering above her, held up by god knows what force - the raft
seemed to be at nearly 90 degrees - and Michael is encouraging us 'Over right'.
Now this would seem to mean I should jump on top of Eddie, and she should jump
right out of the raft. We both refrained, and eventually the raft righted
itself, and we continued. After a couple more ('too easy'), we are told we are
approaching the difficult section! Actually, although this looked trickier and
maybe went faster, we didn't get in to such a hairy predicament again. Aside
from a nice mouthful of water on one of the rapids, we made our way down
without major incident - but with plenty of fun! One of the other rafts briefly
lost a passenger, but he was swiftly recovered without injury (except, perhaps,
to pride!).

During some of the quieter sections, we had time to take in the amazingly
beautiful surroundings; at one point a beautiful blue butterfly the size of my
hand flew up to us, perhaps mistaking our yellow helmets for the petals of a
flower that was comensurate with his own size. All in all we were on the river
for about two hours, and we simply had a fantastic time. If you've never done
it, and you get a chance to, the decision really is... well... too easy.

---