Rafting - Rangitata River

At stupid o'clock am (8:30) I got picked up by our driver, Ian, so I was instantly his best friend which came with great inside knowledge of the bus. Don't sit there - the seat is wobberly.

The two hour trip out to the rafting lodge which was passed by the amusement of the poor soul who got the wobberly seat. The whole trip was spent looking like he was planning to launch himself out the door at any moment. On arrival we were treated to lunch and tea and coffee (after two months of traveling little things like free tea and coffee will make that the best day ever) which instantly put this rafting above Queenstowns attempt on the Shootover river.

The river its self was pretty amazing - Middle Earth is looking good these days - and there was a good amount of water flowing through it. Our guide was great and had lots of useful knowledge such as: today 1500 tons of water is passing through this point every second, or at 2000 tons the water level would be here, or at 3000 tons the water would be here and you would be dead.

After 3 hours on the river we finished off with a nice little cliff jump. Now there are not many times you find you self in mid air and have the opportunity to think to your self "Shouldn't I of hit the ground by now" and "Have I actually left the cliff edge" and then "Its a bit windy - I must be falling" and then that suddenly is replaced by "Oh my, this water is a bit nippy"

The day was finished off by a great bbq and a bus back to Christchurch - And then the pub