Rafting and Redwoods

Everybody in the group had adventure day, basically 6 options different options to chose from. I chose the white water rafting option. Which in the morning, I admit I was reallllllly not looking forward to. I had been freezing for the past 5 days and now I was expected to get in an ice cold river! But regardless I put on my bathing suit and boarded the bus. All together in my group there was about 15 people going, and mostly guys. Seeing as there was a whitewater rafting plus spa (sitting in hotsprings) afterwards options, most of the girls seem to pick that. Go figure. Either way, it ended up being a blast.

We got to the shop and got fitted into a fleece which goes over full pants wetsuits and booties, plus a water proof pull over. Everybody looked quite funny, but I was not once cold, FINALLY! Now the river we were going on was rated as class 5 rapids, with 2 waterfalls. One was basically a practice one, 2-3 meters high, and then a 7 meter high waterfall (about 20 feet), apparently the tallest commerically rafted waterfall in the world, essentially i’m about to pee in my wetsuit at this point I'm so nervous. I started off in the middle of the boat, but mid ride I moved to the front spot because 1) the girl in front could not seem to get the hang of a paddle, and 2) it was easier on my knee when you had to crouch down to go over a waterfall. If I wasn’t nervous before, now me and this other guy were the first people to head down this waterfall, with an entire boat and 5 other people waiting to fall on top of us.

After a few instructions on how to actually crouch down without getting hit in the face with a paddle, and the procedure for what to do if/when the boat flips over at the bottom, we stopped in some dead water and pulled to the shore next to a path going up a hill to the road. They explained this was the “aussie” exit  (kiwis always make jokes about the Aussies). It was the last place on the river you could bailout (“for those who don’t have the balls” as our raft guide told us), the rest of the river was in a forested canyon and the only way out was the river, which looks like it could have been a scene straight from Jurassic park. It was more or less peer pressure that everybody stayed in, but in the end it was a blast!

Not my boat, but another australearn group later in the day

 2 of our 4 boats flipped at the end of the waterfall, thankful not mine, even though looking back on it, it seems like it would have been fun. After a few more rapids and some fun tricks, (they let us rapid surf and go down a rapid in the water just hanging on to the boat) the ride was over! Everybody wants to go back and repeat it! Unfortunately, there photographer was out “sick” which our raft guide said was just a bit hungover from last night, so there is not photographic evidence of me going down a 20 foot waterfall. I’m quite disappointed!

Group in the Redwood forest

"Damn that's a huge tree"

When we got back to the kiwipaka a group of us decided to walk to the red wood forest. As they told us, it was one of the only other climates that redwoods could grow beside California. The reception staff claimed it was a 30 minute walk. In the end it took us an hour! It was completely worth it though. Again it was a scene from Jurassic Park, looked untouched by humanity. We hiked around till it started getting dark, luckily we had a forestry major from northern California with us. He could spit out facts and stories about redwoods and nature for hours, which was pretty entertaining, and I learned a few things too.