After a hard week at work for the both it was good to get away for the weekend. We met up with Tom and Rachel and headed off in convoy fashion towards the Rangitata gorge. We had an action packed weekend in store starting on Saturday with some white water rafting on the Rangitata river and finishing with a trip to see the worlds largest knitted jumper!We spent a rather chilly night in our vans and were pleased to see that upon waking the skies had cleared and the rain had gone leaving us with a nice blue sky to drown under. We were about to go down the roughest rapids available to the general paying public with only one person in our boat who knows what they were doing.After a safety briefing and the obligatory gimpy photographs having been taken we got into our rafts and were assigned our places. I took the starboard front seat with Tom on the port side, then heading towards the back of the boat Katie and Rachel were put on the port side with the other two places were taken by an English boy and his nervous looking Dad. Our first half an hour on the water was a gentle drift along on the flat calm water with us going through paddling techniques the all important positions for the boat including what to do if someone falls out and how to get them back in. This of course is better demonstrated by some of us falling in and the others dragging us back in. It was at this point that we realised that even with the sun shining down on us and all of our layer the water was still cold enough to take your breath away. It was then I decided that it would probably be best not to fall in and vowed to wedge my feet in a bit tighter to keep a good grip on the bottom of the raft. Our first set of rapids was a nice and easy grade two. Myself and Tom being at the front of the boat, and, may I say, possibly the sacrificial lambs of the trip were the first to get a good soaking. These grade two's were simple so next the grade threes. A bit more tricky and a bit wetter with the water not only soaking us two but making its way back to the rows behind us. Then our first grade four rapid. This apparently was a tricky one to get right as the usual flow of 140cubic meters of water per second that was previously spread over about 100 meters width was all squeezed through about 10 meters. Now in laymans terms this is a lot of water through a small gap. Our job was to paddle like we have never paddled before. Once we were lined up at the top of the rapids it was paddles up out of the water and prepare for a drenching. 10 seconds later we popped out the other side with the boat completely full of water and us all grinning like idiots.We all got our rafts over to the side of the valley in order for the guides to scope out the best route through the first of our trickiest grade five rapids. We were told that if we wanted to chicken out of the next set of rapids we could climb to the top of the gorge and walk round with one of the guides. I cant imagine why anyone would want to do that but at least they give you the choice!Back in the boat we discussed the plan of attack and we were off. A bit of paddling forward gently then hard backwards then hard forward and then hard on the left side and backwards on the right side and then, GET DOWN and we all squatted down inside the raft and suddenly we were entirely under water but somehow managing to keep moving in the right direction and with the boat remaining upright. It was only when seeing the photos after that we realised that although all of us paying customers were safely inside the confines of the raft our guides head can just be see above the water steering us manfully through the white foam.After pretty much suffering the same fate at the final set of grade fives we stopped at the side again to rest and give us a chance to have a go at some tombstoning. This is where you throw yourself of high objects into the water. In this case we had a 4.5m drop or a 10m drop. Of course me and Katie opted to do both! Photos show that Katie did the 10m drop with a bit more, erm, Gusto than me!So it was nearly time to head out of the gorge but not before our guide tried to capsize the raft by letting out some of the air and getting the front end trapped in a rolling eddy at the bottom of some rapids. Much to his annoyance we were two quick in balancing the boat and although at one point I was completely out of the boat and submerged we came out of the rapids all in our correct places. So after our near drowning it was back to the rafting HQ for a BBQ and then back to our campsite for a well earned pint or 4 in the neighbouring pub. It was only a small detour on the way home on the Sunday to top the weekend off. We stopped in a small town called Geraldine to take a look at the world largest Jumper. Not much we can really say about this apart from, yes, it is a very big jumper! Strangely Rachel seemed more excited about seeing this than the rafting!!