21st June 2009

Today we went rafting !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhh, it was sooo good/scary!! We got picked up from our hostel at 6.30 AM !! It took just under 2 hours to get to tully. We stopped for breakfast and drinks then headed for the river!! There was 24 of us today, in peak time there can be up to 100!! So we were lucky as it meant less waiting around! We got kitted up in our lifejackets and shoes etc, which was not sexy at all!! We were then put in groups with one of the rafting guys and had a debriefing! There were six of us in our raft, 2 chinese girls, one couldnt swim (great start doing grade 4 rapids, lol) and the other was fully dressed in jeans, trainers etc! We also had 2 girls from Italy who were cool. So after being told of certain positions to take depending on the river, we had a little test run before being thrown straight in!

The first rapids was only grade one so not bad, the water was pretty cold but ok once you got use to it. Within the first 10 minutes we were heading for a grade 4. Without much notice we were going full pelt at these rapids when we became stuck between/on two big rocks (not the plan!), so the boat in slow motion started to tip sideways. Neither me or Mike were holding on as we were being told to paddel, as the boat tipped more I fell backwards out of the raft onto a massive rock and then Mike also fell...right ontop of me!!!! We then got stuck in the rapids and dragged downstream until we were thrown a rope from another raft who then pulled us in! When we first got up we were both a bit out of it, working out where we were and checking out the nice cuts and brusies we had already got from the rocks while floating downstream!! But after 5 mintues we found it pretty funny and couldnt help but laugh at ourselves for being the first 2 to come out of the rafts. Ash, our raft leader did say he hadnt done that before and it wasnt intended, lol. We were lucky we werent hurt anymor ethought, as 5 mintues later, a guy had his tooth knocked out by hitting his mouth of someone elses helmet coming down another set of rapids!! Then further down another raft completely turned over throwing everyonr off and this guy was caught in the grade 4 rapids for ages and ended up busting his knee! So with Mikes track record we were did extremely well not to end up in hospital!! We both loved it though, and once you get into the swing of it its easier. They threw us out a couple of times on purpose! We also got to swim in the rapids for a while and jump off a really high rock right in the middle of the lake.

Lunch was so good too, although i had made my first burger up, it was so good, salad, cheese, onions etc, I put my plate down to take my jacket off and a damn bird (yes Nic, they are evil!!) nicked it so I had to go and get another!! We would both definately recommend anyone thinking about doing it to do it!!! It was one of our best days and activities we have done so far!! Enjoying looking at the looks on our faces in the pics!!