hey, We arrived on Wednesday in River Valley for a one night stay in a really remote little hostel in the country-the roads were so tight the bus couldn't even make it so we had to walk there. It was well worth the effort though, the place was wicked and gave us a roast beef dinner and we slept in what looked like one huge bunk bed so it was cosy, hmm. In the morning we got straight into wetsuits for the white wter rafting. We were briefed on safety proceedures and then got into our rafts of 6 and were off down the river. The rafting there was Grade 5 which is the highest commercially rafted grade of rapids and therefore pretty extreme for beginners. We first tackled a few grade 2 and 3 rapids and when we were all trained up we did the grade 5's which were awesome. I just absolutely loved it, I could go every day! We also had to jump out of the boat at one stage to see what it was like to be thrown over board and swept under a grade 1. Before this I would have considered myself a strong swimmer but as soon as I hit the cold water I was floundering and couldn't get near the raft so I clung on to a bit of rock and they had to haul me in. It was a bit of an eye-opener and we were all determined afterwards to keep the boat upright. At the end of the waterfalls and rapids we had the option of jumping off this huge rock into he river- which of course I had to do. Got about 4 seconds of freefall before slamming into the water-so amazing. 3 hours of rafting really took it out of me though and I slept most of the 5 hours to Wellington. When we arrived we got some dinner and had a wander around the capital. its a bit like a very minature London and has a good vibe, we have got 4 nights here so hopefully we'll keep occupied!