At 8.15am we, rather hesitantly, made our way to the meeting place to take on the challenge of canyoning.

The day started in much the same way as did the white water rafting, with Ronnie almost wrestling me into a wetsuit, only this time we had more layers to put on. There was the wetsuit itself, then a heavy wetsuit jacket, then a 'nappy', which was a somewhat aptly named piece of kit, bright yellow in colour, that protected the rear end. Then there was the wetsuit head piece and lastly, helmets, the front of which had names that we would be referred to by the instructors, which we had to remember.

Eventually, 'Melon and Yoda' emerged from the changing rooms in all the regalia, feeling exhausted from the challenge of dressing. We then joined the rest of the group and started our first challenge, which was simply, to climb a very steep hill. This was no mean feet in our get up, walking was quite restricted and we were all so hot. We then had to zip line across a very pretty, yet high canyon, which was certainly breezy and offered a welcome relief to our now slowly cooking bodies.

After a couple of zip lines, in beautiful surrounds, we had to absail down a cliff face. This was now serious stuff and the temptation to say no was right up there for me. It was only the fact that by not doing the absail the only way out was to climb through dense forest in intense heat that pushed me foward, absailing was the easier option, so absail we did.

Leaning backwards down a sheer rock face was so unnatural and so scary and we had no control over it. Then half way down we were instructed to do a star jump, for photographs. Trying to do a star jump in such an unnatural predicament was a challenge in itself, but making it look fun was almost impossible, but we all somehow passed with flying colours!

We had now reached the hard part of the course, jumping into fast flowing water with nothing for protection but our new attire and a couple of instructors. I am pleased to say we did it, Ronnie, or Yoda as he was now referred to, turned back into the excited teenager I saw last week, whereas as I, or Melon, as I was now known, jumped in with all the finesse of a watermelon; slightly heavy, yet bouncy and buoyant!

Then we were off, clambering over rocks and avoiding areas of fast flowing waters that could easily whisk us off in a flash, it was so fast and yet so exhilarating.

The next challenge, was an area or rocks that had a natural channel carved through them with waters flowing over them at such a rate of knotts.
We watched as we were instructed on how to get through this, which was to lie down with arms crossed, in a position akin to some sort of death pose, which was slightly too preemptive for my liking! However, we didn't have the time to think about it too much, we got on with it at such a speed that we almost didn't realise what was happening.

This I could cope with, but it didn't end there, after a couple more fast flowing channels and pools later, the next challenge was to jump over a waterfall and into a pool from the top of the cliff! I was scared stiff, it was so high, Ronnie went over with such ease, as did the other guys, that I couldn't allow myself to be the whimpy female, I had to jump. All our padding saved us from any pain we might feel and it was over far too quickly to worry about. Again, we clambered up and down rocks and in and out of fast flowing waters.

We arrived at our next challenge and if I feared the last, this was something I really couldn't do. This jump was huge, even the guys hesitated, but by the time I had been guided down onto the ledge that tethered over the edge, there was no going back, it had to be done. Ronnie was all smiles and excitement, but I was now shaking, I was scared, but I didn't want to give up I would never live it down. It felt like an immemse jump along side a waterfall and into the pool below, I managed it, but it left me feeling a little bit shaken.

We were off again, climbing upwards towards the next challenge. The hill this time was so steep I had an instructor push me up from my behind, which was a bit of an added bonus! The challenge that greeted us filled me with absolute fear, Ronnie on the other hand, was like a kid in a sweet shop, waiting to be served, he was raring to go. In this challenge we had to take everything we learned, put it all together and do it on our own over a high canyon. First we had to zip wire halfway across the canyon, hang mid air and unclip ourselves, release a knot and absail to the water below. Ronnie did it with all the ease of a professional and looked fantastic absailing down from a great height, whereas for me, there was no way I could do that, I had reached my limit.

However, after some coaxing from the instructors I reluctantly decided to try and shaking like a leaf, I was off, flying through the air, it was so frightening and just for a moment I felt panicked, but the instructors were great and as they shouted support I was soon absailing down to the rapid water below, it really was a crazy, mad, but fun thing to do.

Before I knew it we were all in the water again and off, jumping through waterfalls, rapids and canyons and drifting down stream through very narrow revines. It was the scariest , but the most challenging adrenalin fuelled thing we had both ever done. If we thought that white water rafting was going to be the challenge of our trip, we were kidding ourselves, cannyoning was, by far, the more challenging, both physically and mentally.

It not only pushes you through some intense physical challenges, but it makes you face fears, by doing things that you never thought you could or might possibly do. It was, by far, the highlight of the trip.