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Published: December 4th 2010
White-Water Rafting
Lower Rangitaiki River – Grade 2/3
Up early, thanks to the deafening dawn chorus, P ran around Blue Lake (at least he ran the first bit, and hobbled back due to an injury sustained in Central Park … namedropper). The day started warm and we donned our swimming things ready to be picked up for our first-ever rafting trip. A brief panic broke out when E appeared to have an allergic reaction to the suncream … but the first-aid kit soon cleared this up
10.15 sharp, Kiwis might be relaxed but they aren’t slack, a Graham Henry look-a-like called Noel picked us up from the campsite for the long trip into the hinterland. Next came two van stops – the first was for kit-sizing in a lock-up in downtown Rotorua. We were joined here by another group of rafters (tax-inspectors from Tauranga – uh-oh), a second guide (a giant of a man called Pete) and a kayaker/photographer called Jamie, whose job it was to follow us down the river and capture images of any thrills and spills! We then drove uphill out of Rotorua, towards Taupo, for about 45 minutes to drop off our kit and to change
into wetsuits, booties, lifejackets and crash helmets … It was all starting to get a little scary with anticipation now!
Some twenty minutes’ off-road driving, through logging country brought us to the banks of the fast-flowing Rangitaiki River, which was very high for this time of the year, due probably to one of the hydroelectric stations upriver letting go a surge. A brief (!) safety lecture saw us in the raft and floating gently downriver whilst Noel tried to gauge how good we were as a rafting team. Given that William struggles a bit with his L and his R (and to be honest, so does his dad) and E clung resolutely to the roping with both hands (having ditched the paddle ASAP) for the whole descent, he knew pretty quickly that he had his work cut out. The banks of the river were dense with Ponga Ferns and other native shrubs but rounding the first bend our attention never returned to the shore, such was the succession of rapids, steep drops, and plunge pools we had to negotiate. Noel had tried his best to warn us of what we might experience when the raft headed down into a wave
but we shrieked and whooped regardless.
It took us about an hour and a half to reach the pick-up point and we all felt that it was over far too soon. This certainly won’t be our last rafting trip …
(NB Next time, P will be sitting on the same side of the raft as E – her turn at skippering the boat saw us enter dense foliage only for P to be knocked into the back of the boat by a tree branch too low to duck – OW!)
A shower, some buns (rolls to us) and the long sleepy return trip to Rotorua followed. We were all exhausted back at camp and an early night beckoned before the long trip to Napier tomorrow.
(NB – please be aware that the fat Russian has been joined in a number of photos since NY by the small pirate – E losing a tooth and picking up $1 from the tooth fairy in Manhattan.)
(NB2 – many of the photos that appear on the blog have actually been taken by W and E with their digital cameras … a great resource – thanks to Nanna and Grampa. They are also
useful for keeping them occupied in the back of the Spaceship on long drives … being used for shooting movies of Emily's cuddly toys!)
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Benny
non-member comment
Whoop
I can just hear Peter whooping as you go down the rapids! Sounds awesome. Very jealous. (post report depression)