Our Rangitata rafting trip was out of this world fun, fun, fun!!! We arrived at the rafting base river lodge, situated on one of NZ's finest high country sheep stations at the foot of the Southern Alps. It was a lovely little lodge with a log fire. We had been really excited as it was one of the main rafting rivers that could guarantee grade 5 rapids, plus the Rangitata gorge was absolutely gorgeous. After an early lunch, a briefing and getting to know each other, we geared up and headed straight to the river. The rapids built up in a graded progression to the intense grades 4 and 5, which allowed us time for a full safety briefing and some practice training. During our practical training we had to practice shifting across to one another sides in case the boat was to capsize. So we went through the routines and before we had been in the river 10 minutes Kate and the guy next to her had managed to tip all of the opposite side into the river, including me!! I'm sure it was fully intentional. We have been rafting 3 times now and Kate is often put to the back as she is small but we specifically asked the guy if we could go at the front together, which he was cool with. We went down some levels 2 and 3 to get warmed up and nice and wet, which was great. This really got us all in the spirit. The water was so called as it was a glacial river; however we had wetsuits on etc.
Before our first grade 5 rapid, we pulled up the boat and walked up the hill to take a look at it and we were told how we were going to go through the rapid. The water was flowing fast and there was a decent drop. Everyone was so excited to get going. Once we had tried some fresh berries from a local NZ bush we got back in our boats and went for it!! Within seconds Kate and I were covered up to our necks in water and we had lost one of the girls in the back who had got flung out the boat, pretty bad for a grade 5 rapid, especially on her first rafting experience. Not to be harsh but it was hilarious. We all tried paddling to get her, using our oars but she was too far away. She carried on down the rapid and was taken down the worst route possible, with many rocks and boulders, but she managed to get through it undamaged - we were very impressed. After the initial shock she also saw the funny side of it, however not at the time haha!!

Further down the rapids we had the option to jump of 'jump rock', 5 and 10 metre rocks. Kate and I were well up for it, after all its not going to be a patch on our bungy. The first rock at 5 metres wasn't scary; it was just the aftermath of the freezing cold water that wasn't so nice. When it was time to jump off the 10 metre rock, Kate was a little hesitant but managed to throw herself off it nevertheless, good times! Once everyone had jumped we carried on down the river to our second grade 5 rapid. It was so much fun, and the pics we got says it all, crazy!! For the rest of the rapids it was grade 2 and 3's, which we just had fun on, doing a technique called surfing the rapid, where it traps you on a wave, holds you there and just floods your boat and pounds everyone with water, the best fun you can have with fellow rafters!

Coming towards the end of the rapids was nice and relaxing, we were all full of adrenaline and all told our stories over a BBQ dinner back at the lodge.