A Weekend to Remember!

My oh my what a weekend this was! 

Sunday we went to Mt Sunday. Now that doesn't sound really cool to you guys, but let me put it in terms you would understand. Think Lord of the Rings for a minute. Okay, now think Riders of Rohan. Okay, here it is... "Mt. Sunday was the set for Edoras, the fortress city of the Rohan people in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King"...well, that's where I was! We went there and had a lovely picnic at the base of it. Then we climbed up. Jess, one of the girls here, turned 21 today, so this was part of her birthday surprise. We kidnapped her and threw her into the van. We all put white hand prints on our faces like orcs and made crazy noises (like orcs) on the ride there. She didn't get to take the blindfold off until we had her in the perfect place to see the amazing view of Rohan! (Pictures to come later on facebook)

Today we went white water rafting! We went on the Rangatata River - check it out... http://www.rafts.co.nz/ (Yes, that is the same river that they filmed part of Lord of the Rings where Froto and Boromir are - but we were in a different part of it.) We went over multiple rapids. Some grade one, grade two, grade three, and GRADE FIVE! There were two sets of grade five rapids. We made it over the first one soaked, but with smiles on our faces! Then we came to the second one. To put it simply I will say that I rafted half of this rapid and the other half I clawed at the water and fought for my life! Steve, our guide warned us about a certain spot that if we were to flip the raft it would be there. I was on the front right of the raft and all together there were 8 of us in it. We were supposed to paddle for all we were worth, so I leaned over to paddle and when I glanced to my left I was actually looking straight up at the sky. Well, kind of. Josh, who was originally on the other side of the boat, was about 2 inches away from me. In the next instant all 8 of us were in the river and the raft was upside down! There were so many things to remember:

• Relax. 
• Keep your feet up.
• Hold the boat.
• Hold your paddle.
• Try to grab the boat (if you aren't already).
• Try to swim to the edge of the river.

Knowing that was what I was supposed to do, here's what actually happened in my head:

• air....air....I NEED AIR!
• Ah, there's air, GULP, too late, I was back under water just before I got the gulp.
• Ouch, something hit me...oh, it's someone else's paddle. I'll just grab it for them.
• How do I swim with a paddle in each hand? 
• air...air....I NEED AIR

Eventually, I bounced up again backwards, and turned around just in time to see a huge rock about a meter in front of me. I quickly got my legs in front of me and kicked off of it to save my body. But that sent me back into the rapid and for another underwater adventure. 

After I found air again, I swam with all my might to the side of the river and tried to grab on. I saw other people floating by me. Then the other raft with all their people went by upright still...yay for them! Then I saw Steve, our guide, climb up onto our upside down raft and surf through the rest of the rapid. He flipped the boat back right side up, but motioned that I should stay where I was, then he was out of sight. Eventually, the third raft with the camera/rescue crew came down the river and got me and then brought me to our raft which was by now parked just a little farther down the river. One fun fact...I was the only person who kept ahold of my paddle! 

We climbed back in and that was the end of the really big rapids so we only had little ones left. We stopped again to do some cliff jumping which was sweet! I think it was about 9 meters (27ish feet). Tons of fun!

It was crazy, and scary, and I would do it again in a heartbeat! If you ever want an adventure check out white water rafting on the Rangatata River!