The Kiwis have a funny system of public holidays. They give the lovely people of Christchurch (and nowhere else in the whole of NZ) a Friday off work in order for them to visit the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral show. This is where all the farmers show off their prize heifers and sows and real "men" take part in arm wrestles, log chopping and pie eating competitions. As interesting as it seems to watch a man arm wrestle a hog or try and eat a cow pie we decided that we would take full advantage of the day off and head 5 hours south to throw ourselves off some waterfalls!We had booked a days canyonning with Deep Canyon who are based in Wanaka so it was another nice scenic drive again further south to the central Otago region through some scorching temperatures. The scenery was, as it always is, beautiful and we had a good chance to study the side of one hill as we sat on the roadside waiting for our overheated van to cool down enough to top up the radiator! After that small glitch we drove onward to Wanaka very cautiously with a radiator half full of water and Paul cursing the uphills as the temperature needle rose and coasting the downhills to drop the temperature again.We arrived in Wanaka and booked ourselves into the same camp ground we had used two months previous. Nothing had changed apart from only the highest of the mountains still had snow on them. Little did we know that one of them was Mt Niger (pronounced Ni-jer) which fed the Big Nige canyon with its melt water making the water temperature just over 0 degrees!We were up early for a huge breakfast only because it was recommended by the guys at Deep Canyon of course, so with bellies full of sausage bacon and egg sarnies we were driven out to the bottom of the canyon near the foot of Mt Niger. When we got out of the van the sun was beating down and we couldn't wait to get into the water to ccol down but before we could do that we had to get kitted out with our gear and trudge up the side of the hill to the top of the canyon. We had to carry our 10mm wetsuit bottoms and jacket, our harness, over jacket, helmet, abseil equipment and slide pad up the hill which was knackering enough. When we got to the top we had to get into all this black neoprene and practice our abseiling and have a safety brief before we could cool down. I really though I was going to expire by the time it was to lower ourselves into the still pool at the top of the canyon. I was the first down and after safety belaying for Katie I threw myself into the natural pool to cool down. At first the water seemed very… dry and warm until I pulled the neck of my wetsuit open to get some water in and I had my breath taken away by a rush water to my back and chest. The water there appeared to have remained in a liquid state well below 0 degrees. And never again will I complain about cold showers!As soon as the wetsuits started to do their thing we were off to our first abseil down the canyon. As you lower yourself over the edge of the waterfall from the rock into the water you are battered by the waterfall so the best thing to do is not stop. The idea at the first descent was just to get to the bottom. I managed to stay the right way up albeit arriving in the plunge pool the wrong way round which is more than can be said for Katies arrival minutes later where she was entirely upside down and back to front with the entire contents of the waterfall finding its way up her nostrils. After gathering our senses it was time for the next waterfall abseil. This time it was easier to turn yourself around and abseil facing forward. Katie absolutely plummeted towards the rocks expertly pulling herself to a halt before hitting the water below. It seemed that the near drowning minutes before did not faze superwife!The other way of getting down the canyon was to jump. The jumps had to be 110% committed and undertaken with no hesitation, so that's how we did it. Unclip your safety line and step off the rocks to plummet the 10m into the white frothy water below. Great fun!The final way of getting down was to slide. This involved sitting on your butt and throwing yourself into the passing water and riding down on the smooth rocks. Most of the rides are like being in a washing machine apart from one… This was like being in a washing machine with some rocks! We were told afterwards that that particular slide was called "The Bruiser". This all led us to one of the final slides which was called the seal slide. You simply lied flat on you stomach slid down the rocks, through the waterfall and dived headfirst into the plunge pool. After hauling our wet and battered, hungry carcasses out of the canyon it was a quick flying fox line ride back across to the other side before getting out of the wetsuits and finally having something to eat nearly 5 hours after getting into the canyon. This trip has given us a real taste for canyonning and we will definitely be returning to do the bigger, longer, deeper, faster and all round more scary Leaping Burn canyon later in the year.