Rafting!
Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Friday, 13 May 2011 23:08
On Monday morning we had been told to call the rafting company at 8.30am to see if they were running again, so we got up and were ready to go by 8.30am apart from breakfast (if it wasn’t on we were going to have a fry up!). So I called and they said it was on, could we be there by 9am, which was a bit different to the 9.30 than they had told us, and we were about 25 mins drive away, so we were cutting it a bit fine! However, it all worked out ok, they said come at 12.30 instead. So then we had an unexpected morning with not a lot to do, so had a yummy fry up breakfast and lazed around!
We got to the raft place and met everyone, there was a big group of people who worked together, and then a few couples like us. They asked us if we could sledge in the morning, rather than after the rafting as they were going to flood the river at 4pm and we would be a bit rushed, which suited us fine, and meant we could enjoy each experience separately! We got kitted out in wetsuits and booties, life jackets and helmets and then jumped on the bus to get to the river. They gave us some safety instructions on the bus, which always seem to frighten me more, I guess it’s thinking about worst case scenarios! There were three rafts for us, so we carried them down, split into three groups and got in! They are a Maori company and said a Maori prayer as the river is a very important place in Maori culture Our guide Sam was great, although liked to liven up his day by soaking people and pushing them in! He yelled out the basic instructions of what we had to do, paddle forward, or backward, stop, or get in, and showed us where to put our feet to wedge ourselves in for the waterfall! We had waited to do white water rafting in Roturua as we had read that it was the best, and this particular river has the highest raftable waterfall in the world, a 7 metre drop which we thought would be rather thrilling!! We had a practice run on a small rapid, Sam pulled one of the blokes from another boat into the water, which was funny, and then away we went! We went down a 2 metre waterfall 
as a kind of practice run, which was scary enough! The rapids were great fun, and then we came to a stop at the bank of the river, to wait for our turn on the waterfall. There was another raft waiting, and the first one had gone. They tell you that you can get out and climb up the bank and meet on the other side if you don’t want to do it, but no one got 
out, so the guy said another Maori prayer, and off we went. At this point it is safe to say we were all pretty terrified! So, we paddle to the edge, and get down and wedge ourselves in, and brace for it! He had told us to look up, and then tuck our faces down at the last minute, but as you can see from the pics me and a few others put our heads down straight away! I am sat right behind Ben, who you can see was also a little worried going over the edge!!! I cannot really describe what happened then, just a LOT 
of water, we went right under, and then bobbed back upagain, me minus an oar! I felt myself lose my grip on it while in the middle of the waterfall and had no hope of holding on, so thankfully the safety kayaker retrieved it for me when it bobbed out of the waterfall quite a few seconds later! We all regained our composure and had a group photo, 
which I think shows how ecstatic we were that we survived, particularly Ben!!! The next day when we went sledging we got into the river at the bottom of the waterfall and were just in time to see a group come down, and capsize! It was complete carnage! The boat was upside down, there were people floating down the river, one swimming towards us on the bank, our guide told him to go back to the boat and he looked so forlorn, he just wanted to save himself and get to the bank, but the right thing to do is go back to the boat, so off he went! There were oars floating off, the two guides were trying to flip the boat upright, and then a girl popped out of the waterfall, she had been swishing around in that for a while! They tell you to curl into a small ball if you are in the waterfall, as it will keep you circling in there if you fight it, bobbing up, round and pushing you back down like a giant washing machine. I spoke to her afterwards, and she said it took her a while to realised that she was in the waterfall, but once she curled up she popped out, but she was pretty scared! I am so grateful it did not happen to us, it looked absolutely terrifying! So, back to our experience, we were all overjoyed we had made it to the bottom of the waterfall! We hot a few more rapids, and he soaked us again at the front of the boat! 
Then he told us if we wanted to have a swim, now would be a good time. Ben and another guy took him up and jumped out! They were merrily cruising along, when I looked ahead and saw a rapid coming up, yelled at Ben and he started to swim towards the boat looking a bit wary! He did not get to us in time to get into the boat, so Sam was telling him to hold onto the rope on the side of the boat and go down feet first! I was a little concerned about this! Ben said he was more concerned about getting caught under the boat, and it smashing him against a rock which would not have been fun! He made it down the rapid fine and continued to swim around. Then Sam our guide got a bit frantic as we neared the next rapid, yelling at him to get in as we got closed! You can tell by the volume and waving of arms that is was not a good idea to be swimming down this one! Ben got close to the boat and Sam dragged him in by his life jacket, hauling him in just in time!!! Hit a few more rapids, got a bit wetter, and then it was all over, far too quickly! Because of all the rain that meant we could not raft the day before, the journey down was ultra fast, only about 30 mins, when it normally takes 50! I was gutted it was all over as I was just beginning to enjoy myslef and not be so worried! However, we had sledging to look forward to the next day! Needless to say we were both pretty tired that evening!
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