Day Fourteen - White Water Rafting! (15th Feb)

Firstly, a little about white water rafting itself. Each rapid is graded anywhere between grade 1 (the easiest) and 5 (the most extreme). The idea is that you then jump in an inflatable dingy / raft whatever you want to call it, with six or seven other people and paddle downstream, navigating lots of rapids with different grades.

We chose to go with Eco Rafting, and initially planned a mid-range affair of hitting a river that offered mostly grade 3 rapids. As noobs, I (probably not so much Yo) felt that would be a much better way to introduce us to the trials of white-water rafting, and probably ensure we didn't go breaking bones or anything.

So we booked one a couple of days ago. It was a little disappointing, as the one we'd initially looked at doing was unavailable, but there was a (slightly) cheaper one launching that offered grade 2-3 rapids. Still, we'd get a reasonable taste of what white-water rafting was all about, right?

Last night, just as we were entering the hot pools (so around 7-8pm) we got a call from the rafting place, saying the track up to where the rafts launch from was closed due to the government doing a 'controlled burn'. However, as she felt pretty bad for us she was willing to offer a discount for their single day heli-rafting option. At a discount, it still meant around twice the price of our previous one, so we ummed a little bit and told her we'd get back to her shortly. Whilst checking the bank to see if we could budget it, we got a phone call saying that she'd spoken to the helicopter company, and could offer a better discount. As we were already inclined to say yes before the phone call, this was a pretty sweet boon and we signed up.

Heli-rafting was a little more hardcore (read: the hardest one they offered in single-day trips), where they choppered you 22km's up stream, and along with your guide and five or six others would have a pretty extreme day. There were plenty of grade 5 rapids (the river was  full of grades 3-5), and it sounded exciting. Frightening (considering how hard work the kayaking was), but also exciting.

We got to the designated helipad in the middle of nowhere a little early, and got bitten by dozens of sandflies as we waited for the rafting guys to appear. When they did arrive, they suited us up in thermals, wetsuits, 'booties' (wetsuit versions of shoes) crash helmet, splash jacket (raincoat) and life vest.

Our two guides were very much of the 'surfer dude' mentality. One 'Weka' wore dreadlocks, goatee and was pretty well built. He'd been rafting those waters for around 9 years so was pretty well experienced. He was clearly a lover of the extreme, and I could just as easily see him rock climbing or skydiving for a living as white-water rafting. In the back of his car was a hunting rifle; he said he never paid for his own meat. If he saw a deer in the wild he'd shoot it, and took a very 'human is elite' view of animals in general.

The other (I forgot his name) wasn't so experienced, and was working there as a summer job before flying over to California 'to live like a bum for the summer, then come back here and work hard again'. I thought he had an interesting take on life. Very different, and I'm a little envious.

There were six paying rafters in all, and two guides, so when the helicopter arrived it needed to take us in two loads (especially considering the gear that needed to be lifted). Myself and Yo got the second ride, and we watched with interest as they hooked the deflated raft to a rope and hung it from the bottom of the helicopter. With such a load dangling from the bottom, the pilot took his door off so he could look down and monitor things better. This made the flight all the cooler (and draughty), especially considering we got to ride up front again.

The 22km flight last about 7 minutes - so not long - and before we knew it we were in the middle on nowhere with no roads for miles around. Weka observed that we were so remote not many New Zealanders even had ever seen it.

First job was to inflate the raft, which had 4 compartments on the sides, three inflatable 'ribs' in the middle, and an inflatable bottom. We all took it in turns to help as it was a fairly big job.

Then came the safety lesson. Weka told us where and how to sit properly (along the sides of the raft, not the middle seats). You jammed your feet into the bottom of middle ribs to stabilise yourself, as you'd need both hands to man the paddle. He then told us about the different commands he'd be yelling at us during the voyage - the usual 'forward paddle', 'back paddle' 'paddle right' etc... then the more interesting ones; 'hold on' which involved hastily securing the paddle on your lap, grabbing hold of the rope that ran outside of the raft with one hand, while leaning and tucking yourself in to the centre of the boat. Then there was 'get down', where you'd again secure the paddle in your lap, and bunker down in the bottom of the boat. That was a 'shit, there's real danger ahead' kind of command. There were also things like 'jump left / right' where you'd all dive to one side of the raft - useful for avoiding rocks, I guess.

Finally he told us the need to know information about being thrown out the boat. How to lay on your backs or swim, never stand up, cos that'll throw you back on your face in the rapids. He buddied each of us up with a partner, and told us we were each responsible for getting the other back into the raft should they fall, and showed us the tools he had such as ropes and such to ensure that should we be dragged too far form the boat then he can throw us a line.

By now we were both realising that this was actually pretty dangerous stuff we were embarking on, and even Yo admitted she was somewhat frightened. Wow!

When we did get into the boat, we had a few practice sessions of his commands until we got them right (we all sucked at first), and then we set off. Most of the rapids came in too fast for me to describe, so I shall only say this: Holy fuck it was fun. We hunkered down a few times, so the rapids were pretty heavy going, but Weka was an excellent guide and only a couple of times did I feel any real danger. The other guy alternatively ranged ahead and followed behind in a kayak, taking photos and generally helping out with hands up where needed etc.

We then stopped at a big rock in the centre of the river, climbed to about twenty feet, and all jumped off into the waters below. The river was glacial, so pretty cold - but that's why we had thermals and wetsuits, and soon it became un-noticeable.

I can't elaborate on the rapids too much, because there were so many of them, but notable highlights include:

• Climbing a rock in the middle of the river. 
• Canyoning up to a waterfall, jumping off another ledge, and then swimming underneath the waterfall where the waiting hands of Weka ensured we didn't get swept away. The water here was approximately 23 meters deep, and the waterfall as pretty high - too high to easily guess. Weka knew the depth of the area by the waterfall because he'd had a previous tourist drop their GoPro to the bottom, and had to send someone down with scuba gear several times before they managed to retrieve it. 
• After swimming under the waterfall, we had to jump off into the waterfall and let the current sweep us out of the churn. The clamber over permanently wet (and thus presumably mossy, and very certainly slippery) rocks was somewhat frightening. I was half afraid I'd slip and break my neck or some other precious part of me. No one did, though. 
• The portage: not long after the canyon, there was a section of rapid that was too narrow for the raft. We got sent off to climb rocks on our own, then watched as first the raft was hauled over the rocks, then the kayak was hauled on top of a 'rock' that was 6 or 7 meters high. He climbed in whilst still on the rock, and then.... whee! slid down the rock and straight into the water fearlessly. After that, we had to abseil down the rock and into the waiting raft. 
• The final good thing: lunch. After some more lovely rapids and paddling, we came to the confluence of two rivers and pulled up on to the sun-warmed rocks to watch as the two guides prepared our food. They opened up a bucket with a watertight seal and pulled out cabbage, carrots, celery, a grater, a bag of corn chips, cheese, aioli, a can of mixed chili beans, and a can of sweetcorn. Once they were all chopped up/opened/grated, they were poured back into the same bucket, and a paddle was inserted to mix it all up. Finally, we were each handed a wholewheat tortilla wrap (Weka called them 'twisties', but later owned up to having made that term up on the spot), and the delicious mix was spooned onto our wraps with the flat side of the paddle. 

The rest was, well, plain sailing. Weka and the other guy (I feel really bad for not remembering his name!) swapped over, so that we were guided by the other guy all the way back after lunch. The rapids were not too frighteningly rapid, and we even hopped out and swum through one of them. 

A brilliant day, even with all of the freaking bitey sandflies. Unfortunately we left our phones behind due to the expected wet dunkage, but we've been told photos will appear on facebook imminently - hopefully exciting action photos of us navigating rapids and jumping into water!