Day 59

---

Day 58 was boring. It was spent on a bus, mostly asleep or watching Batman (they have DVD players on the bus). I saw Mount Cook though. That was the highlight of the morning. Then I got into the white water rafting office in a place called Geraldine. It's in the middle of nowhere, they're still busy working the Mullet. Or as someone affectionately put it the "Mull-ay" (i.e. French pronounciation - how sophisticated). I got given a piece of banana bread. That was the highlight of my afternoon.

I arrived at the lodge and it was just me and two Canadian girls. We spent the entire afternoon watching How I Met Your Mother (someone lent me the first 5 seasons) because it was pouring outside and that was literally The. Only. Thing. To. Do. Had dinner, chatted with a couple of couples who had arrived (one couple from Guildford, one from Lyon). We got up bright and early to go rafting... It was FREEZING. It still is. I may have to stop wearing flipflops. Maybe not as cold as the UK... As we were getting changed into our wetsuits it started HAILING and thunderstorming. Great. We arrived there and it was just raining. But the river is glacier-fed so it is freezing too. I'm not sure what was colder, the rain and wind or the water. It was very unpleasant at first. We had a fair few rapids to go down - the last one I was honestly terrified. Although, the worst thing that could happen would be me falling in and I was blessed with a boat full of young strong men to pull me out again (but it didn't happen anyway). The rafting was FANTASTIC and then we had a big barbeque (the sun came out eventually). I have no photos, unfortunately. I figure that all the rafting photos look the same so if you google Rangitata Rafts then you'll see what I got up to. I'm in Christchurch now, there's a big cathedral right next to me. I'm going to whip out the Lonely Planet, go for a wander and then sleep. Kaikoura tomorrow!!! Whale season is over so I'll be swimming with ze dolphins!!! Yes, you should be jealous...

---