This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
this trip — rafting was something I had never done before, and the idea of floating down a river in a small inflatable piece of plastic definitely appealed. River Valley Lodge, just ‘outside Taihape, was our camp for Friday night. The place was already occupied by a bunch of tourists in a green bus, and we quickly learned that they had priority the next morning when it came to organising the rafts, gear etc. Anyway, we were on the water by late morning, ready to brave the wet element in our twoperson rafts.
I was really excited about going on
On cautious advice from the lodge operator, we decided to walk the second rapid, but decided to run the third, which he had also warned us about, although I’m sure it was only a grade 2 or 3. It looked okay, though rather narrow and with a rather large rock in the middle... Moments later I found myself standing on top of this rock, with fellow paddler Bentine floating downstream, and the raft stuck up against the rock — incredibly heavy with water gushing through it and impossible to move. I quickly realised why it’s so important to tie the packs down really well! Lyndsay later claimed I panicked — I think not — but I had no idea what
’ to do and how to get off my rocky place! Jumping into the water-flow did not appeal. After some anxious moments of indecision, the raft-makers and experts, John and Paul, eventually came to the rescue, and we ing wet but definitely feeling more confident.
We were secretly hoping more people would fall out, as even though the experience was character-building, we didn’t want to be the only ones having a swim that day. Wayne, in his rather unstable one-person boat was the next to fall out, and repeated this several times, so that definitely made us feel better! A long and cruisy lunch-break was had on the sunny side of the river — which even included a guided waterfall walk. Our gear was kept amazingly dry inside our tightly packed and rolled packliners, and we quickly dried ourselves out in the summery sunshine. The rest of the day was great, and no more swims were had from our raft. We passed through some great scenery with awesome gorges with steep, tall cliffs towering straight up above us. Eventually Lyndsay assured us the campsite was just around the corner, and indeed, i
Jeanine Langvik after a few more bends, there it was. The complex logistical process of cooking an elaborate 3-course meal for 18 was started, and over the next four hours we chopped, peeled and cooked, and then indulged in a yummy gourmet dinner around a great bonfire. Richard apparently had had a long day as he collapsed behind a log... For the rest of us, it was definitely long past the usual tramping bedtime when we crashed under the stars.
Sunday turned out beautiful, and after pumping some more air into our rafts we were again on the river, paddling hard with cold hands to get into the sun. During the day, the river mellowed out and we mostly floated along, although some long-haired groovers went mostly in circles! We got strung out towards the end as our leader charged ahead, and with sore shoulders and arms we finally beached close to Utiku. We all agreed it had been a really excellent weekend, and I thoroughly enjoyed trying something different! Well done Lyndsay for organising a great weekend, and Paul Critchley and John Booth for sorting out the rafting side of the trip and providing expert advice!
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- -continued on downstream —-soak-