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Published: July 29th 2008
Elliott:Yep, as you can see from the title, me and Jason did something wonderful/amazing/stupid yesterday after he had finished his blog entry...
Before I forget: If you haven't already, subscribe to the blog! There's a link on the main page (www.mytb.org/jason-and-elliott) which just asks for your e-mail address. Whenever we write a new entry, it'll e-mail to let you know. We're moving out of Rotorua tomorrow, so we dunno how long it'll be till the next update, but we don't want you missing out!
Right, back to the story...
Yesterday started pretty much like most mornings since we got the motorhome - Jason's alarm goes off (my clock on my phone is five minutes behind him, sorta like a backup alarm) (for those curious enough to ask, the alarm is 'Staying Alive' from the Portal Game). I'm up first, doing the morning ritual of going to the loo and turning the gas on (these are seperate things, I'm not making a colourful metaphor). Jason as usual stays in his sleeping bag as he complains it's cold. It's 2.5 degrees admittedly. We have breakfast and then begin about our day. Today was the day we had hoped to go
white water rafting, but the company that Jason rang the day before had told him the river was shut due to the storm and we had to ring back the following morning. I gave them a ring around half eight, but was told to ring back after nine as they were waiting to hear from the environmental council.
After showers and postcards being written (hence Jason's mini rant in the last blog) we rang again and was told that we can turn up at half twelve. I ask if that's for the "Awesome Gorge" run, the Grade 3/4 one, but am told that they no longer do that run as it's got logs down it they can't shift. We're told that they're running the Waterfall excursion on the Kaituna River (translation: Fresh Food River). It's a Grade 5 run, and I point that out, but they say they take all newbies down it. Fair enough, we'll be there.
We head into town next so Jason can write the earlier blog entry and I book our place on the Ferry to the South Island. We've now got a deadline, to be on that ferry no later then 1pm on
Saturday 2nd. So of course I am now fretting continually that we're not gonna make it. After the computers we head on up back to the Merc and head to the Raftabout Ranch, which is on the other side of Lake Rotorua. The weather has cleared up a little for us, and the Lake looks brilliant. We find the site in no time and are greeted by Adam, who we later found out is ranked #2 best canoist in New Zealand and #3 in Austro-Asia. He greets us with "Why the hell do you want to raft on a day like today?" to which I replied without really thinking "Why wouldn't we?". This seemed to amuse him and we head into the office to sign the now familiar liability forms and pay our $85 each. We're given a wet suit, booties, a fleece and told to go change. Neither of us had changed into our swimming shorts, so we do that first.
Now in slightly damp wet water gear, we get a splash jacket, life jacket and helmet. Along with Rocco and Alisa, two other rafters who were from Brighton, we get our raft into the open and meet
our other two rafters - Craig and Jen from Chester. We're all in a raft together (there's a second raft with four middle eastern gentlmen in it) so we name ourselves Team UK. We get a brief safety walkthrough, which consists of "really, don't fall out of the raft" and what to do if we capsize. Jason finds this amusing as if we capsize we can use the air pockets of the raft, but the guide with us will climb on top of the raft and bang on it to let us know when to let go so he can turn it back the right way. Jason says he can just imagine being stepped on as he tries to breath.
We practise the four different sitting positions we'll have to do: "Get Ready to Paddle", which is the normal positon of sitting on the outside edge, one foot tucked into the seat in front, the other at the back at a right angle. "Hold On" is the same sitting position, but with the paddles held tight against the side of the raft in one hand, while the other grips the rope on the seat alongside us. "Two Feet Forward"
is where we slide the foot at the right angle up to the other foot, tucking them both into the seat in front, which leads to "Get Down", where we slide into the well of the raft, grabbing the rope next to our bums and gripping the outer rope with the hand holding onto the paddle. This is the position we have to take to go down the waterfall, or we will fall out.
I'll pass you over to Jason for the next bit...
Jason: Hi everyone i will try and convey the fun and excitement as best i can. Right, after the cool runnings style 'pretend to be in the water' practice we lift the boat up and carry it towards the river. As we are about to lower it in, our safety guy flies down the bank next to us in a kayak and into the water. Pretty swish, he is apparently second best in New Zealand so i feel pretty safe knowing he is there.
Next we all climb in, the order is the 2 in the front are Alisa and Jen, 2nd row is Craig and myself and the last row was Rocco
and Elliott. Oh and Elby our instructor in the back of the boat. This first section of the river is apparently called 'devils dinner plate' which worries me as it is quite tame so i dread to think what the rest is like. This is where we practise the paddling and the various commands while waiting for the lead boat to go first. The next part of the river, which is essentially a massive U-bend, is made up of 2 parts the first part being called 'Oh' and the second part 'Shit'. This part is more interesting and we paddle constantly while the water splashes around us. As we move round the corner of the river we come to the 'Determinator' which is 2 mini waterfalls in quick succession. The order to paddle forward is yelled and we dart towards it at top speed. Elby In the back has had us take up the 'Two feet forward' position and just as we tip over the top he yells 'GET DOWN!' with that we all swing our paddles parallel to the side of the boat, grip the ropes and sit inside the boat and then finally grab the inner ropes and
brace for impact.
I learn a valuable lesson here, because as i go over I let out a enthusiastic 'WOOOO!!' only to be silenced seconds later as a huge wave of water smacks me in the face and shuts me up. We have seconds to recover and paddle like mad again before we hit the second waterfall. This one isn't as bad but i keep my mouth shut regardless.
There is a calm paddle round the corner before approaching 'Tutea'. At 7 metres it is the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world. What was i thinking?!!?? But it's too late for second thoughts, we wait for the control boat to go over, then it's our turn. Elby gives the last instructions in the event that the boat tips over. He then grabs a leaf from a plant and puts it in the middle of the boat and tells us all to give it some mojo. Then he instructs Alisa in the front to throw it over her right shoulder with her left eye closed, if it lands right side up then we land upright, if its bottom up then the boat will do the same. It seems
lady luck likes us and says we will land safe, now it was time to find out.
The order of 'Two feet forward' is shouted followed by 'Paddle forward', which we do. Driving towards it faster and faster i brace myself. 'GET DOWN!!' is yelled and same as before we all assume the position. I tuck my head right into my chest and close my eyes and brace for impact. I barely feel the fall happening but as we go over Elliott in the back suddenly cries out 'OH SHIT!!!' I instantly think the boat is flipping or that someone has fallen out, but there is nothing i can do about it now.
I feel the impact and and briefly it all goes very white as the water crashes down around us, my god it is cold. After a few seconds it becomes apparent that we have finished it and that we are still upright so i turn and give Elliott a high five. Then Elby also gets everyone on the boat to have a victory cheer with our paddles in the air. Awesome stuff.
We pose for the photographer who is high above us snapping the
shots before moving on to the final stretch. The next part is called 'The Abyss' (no relation to the movie apparently) Here we are given a choice of either goin left or right, we look at the situation and decide on the left. We paddle towards it then sit and let the wave do the rest as it carries us down and round the corner. We have a little moment to take in the scenery here in the 'Office' section of the river which is calm and quiet.
The very last part is called the 'Kodak moment' where the last few photos are taken on the last part of the rapids, we all smile and pose for the camera as we float down them. Elby then directs the boat to the shore and we all climb out. The girls take the paddles while the boys have to carry the frickin boat back up the hill to the van (they neglected to mention that part to us at the start) The boats are secured and we have a group photo taken before climbing aboard the cramped van and headin back to the main site.
Elliott: The reason I cried
out "Oh Shit" was due to my own idioticness (after mulling it over, we decide that is a real word). While everyone else was putting their chins into their chests and closing their eyes, I looked up over their heads. And I saw nothing. No water, no raft, just the wall of the canyon on the other side. Then I yelled out my curse as our four metre raft fell seven metres (Jason pointed out to me before we hit Tutea that it was the same length as the Merc the bastard).
Once we got back to the Raftabout ranch we stripped off, pleasently surprised to find our gear under the wetsuits was still quite dry. We pick up the photos of the day onto a disk for $50 and head on home back to the motor camp for lunch. We proceed to have a lazy afternoon, our weeks activities having finally caught up with us. We crash in the seats of the Merc and with iPods and MP3 players on make our way through our books and write up our Journals. (I finished that book Uncle Paul, and while it's sad and made me a little angry in
places, it's done nothing but made me want to travel more).
We decide to head into town around half six as I can't be arsed to cook what meagre food we've got in the Merc, and we really can't be bothered to find a restuarant, so we just head to McDonalds and have a burger and fries. Back at the Merc I plot out the route we need to take the next day to the thermal springs (that was today) and we both call it a night.
I'll leave it there, we'll write up todays activities later in their own entry. We send out love to you all, and we'll hopefully have another update for you soon.
Bye!!
Jason: What he said... Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
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Chris Dowling
non-member comment
Travel Blog
Hey Elliott, caught your blog address from your Facebook page and have enjoyed reading about your adventures so far. Never caught the travel bug, but you are making it sound like a pretty good adventure so far. Hope the rest of your trip goes well. Chris.