The end of a holiday

Okay, we'll get on with telling you how the rest of our New Zealand holiday went. But it's only because Faith posted a comment. The only way I know that anyone has been reading the blog is if they leave comments. If there's no comments, I figure no one is reading it or cares if there's a new entry.

Anyway, back in New Zealand, the next day was our day of white water rafting. We'd decided to raft the Wairoa River, which has grade 5 rapids. Five is the most extreme rapids you can commercially raft; after that you need a special license. The rights to the Wairoa were bought by the power company that wanted to use it for hydroelectric power. They wanted to dam it up to harness its power, but the kayakers and rafters were very upset that they would lose such a great river for rafting. So they came to an agreement: every Sunday in summer, or about 26 days a year, the power company would allow the river to flow its natural course. The rest of the time, it would be dammed and the riverbed would be dry. Rafters and kayakers want to make the absolute most of those 26 days, and they go out on the Wairoa every one of those Sundays. Our tour guide (who has been rafting the Wairoa for more than 20 years, since before the arrangement was reached) says it's like church - no one misses a day if they can help it, and all those who go out on the river get to know all the others on water craft on the river.

I wanted to bring my camera on the trip (it has a waterproof housing), but the guides said it would be too big and would get in the way. They were right; it turned out we needed our hands free at all times. There were a few commands we needed to know: "Forwards" and "backwards" are self-explanatory. "Left back" meant the left side of the raft (there were 6 of us in each raft) paddled backwards while the right side paddled forwards, useful for turning. "Hold on" was used for rapids - we were to stop paddling and grip onto ropes on the side of the raft. "Get down" was for fiercer rapids still - for that command we were to all go into the bottom of the boat and hold on for dear life. "Hold on" and "get down" were commands we learned to follow quickly, and they came up a lot.

We were wearing wetsuits, which was a very good thing because we got absolutely soaked. But it was an absolute blast. Going down the rapids was like being on a water ride at a theme park, only more fun, and we were allowed to jump out of the boat and swim in some of the calm pools. The scenery was beautiful, and going down waterfalls was very exciting.

But after the second or third set of rapids, we got stuck on a rock. Our raft hit it at the wrong angle and became lodged, and with water rushing into the bottom of the boat we couldn't get it unstuck. We all held on as tightly as we could to the rope on the side of the raft while our guide and a nearby kayaker tried to figure out how to get us unstuck. Leslie was behind me, so I turned to see how he was doing. He was in the bottom of the boat, struggling to hold on. The water of the river kept rushing over his nose and mouth, and he was unable to hang on. He says he didn't almost drown, but it sure looked like that from where I was. He was carried by the force of the river a few feet, but the guide grabbed his life jacket and sat him on the rock we were stuck on. The kayaker, who had by this point gone to the shore, threw him a rope. Les held onto it and was pulled to shore. We then all had to repeat this procedure. We were completely submerged during this mid-river rescue, but we had wetsuits, helmets and boots to protect us from the river's many rocks. Once we were all safe on shore, we tried to dislodge the raft by tying the rope to it and pulling, but it was still stuck. The water rushing into it weighted it down, and it was really tough to budge. But the guide, who stayed on the rock, managed to dislodge it a bit, and we all pulled it free. We walked through the bush on the shore downstream to get out of the rapids and re-embark in calmer waters.

Our boat encountered no other unexpected difficulties throughout the rest of the journey, but one of the other rafts in our group tipped over at the bottom of one of the waterfalls. It was nicknamed "tipping point, " and it was easy to see why. But I have to say, the mid-river rescue was probably the most fun thing about the whole trip. It was so adventurous and real. The white-water rafting trip was the highlight of the whole vacation for both of us. It went on for several hours of adrenaline and excitement, then calm and serene sailing, then more exciting rapids.

Two sets of goats along the route apparently did not realise that it was a Sunday during summer. They had been cavorting (or whatever it is goats do) in the dry riverbed when the water was released. They must have been terrified to see a huge wall of water rushing at them. They climbed to the highest rocks they could find, which luckily for both pairs, was above the water line. But then they were stuck in the middle of the river. This was their plight when we came across them - stuck on a rock in the middle of the river looking confused and helpless. They probably also didn't know that the water would be shut off at 4pm, so they wouldn't be stuck for too long. When they got out, they probably would be more wary of dried-up riverbeds in the future.

Not having had our fill of water sports, when we got back to Rotorua we rented a couple of kayaks ourselves and paddled around Lake Rotorua. It was calm and beautiful and stank of sulfur. Leslie managed to tip his kayak over and got poured into the lake. He was out beyond the boundary of where we were supposed to be, so I wasn't with him when it happened and thus can't say exactly how he managed it. But he has so far found no sympathy for it, from me or the kayak rental people. He had to lay out all his money all over our room after that to try to dry it out.

The next day we went on a boat trip to go swim with dolphins. I couldn't make my camera work properly, and it was running out of batteries, so we don't have any underwater pictures of that, sorry. But it was really cool to be in the water with them. You could hear their shrieks and clicks and cries everywhere, even underwater. And they seemed to be swooping and gliding all around us. We didn't get too much time with them before they swam off, but it was pretty amazing. We were snorkeling with them, so we could keep our faces in the water the whole time and see them cavorting around. If you ever get the chance to swim with dolphins, take it.

In the afternoon we went to Ohope Beach, near the town where the dolphin swimming was. The beach was a surfing beach, so the waves were intense. I sunbathed for a while, but Leslie convinced me to come in eventually. He really likes being knocked down and battered around by waves, so he was out where they were breaking. I thought he was just messing around when he yelped "Ah! My pants! The ocean is taking my swimming togs!" But it turned out he wasn't kidding - as he was knocked over by a wave, it managed to rip his swimming trunks off him. He was then left naked and fighting with the waves. I went to get his boxers from shore, but he was being carried further and further down to a more populated area of the beach. He's lucky I was the one swimming with him - I'm pretty sure a male friend would have just returned to the towel and read a book for a while and left him stranded. But I did bring him back his boxers and he got out of the ocean with his modesty and dignity still intact.

That night was New Year's Eve, so we bought some strawberry champagne and had dinner at an Indian restaurant. Partway through the meal a Scottish bagpipe band parked itself outside the restaurant and played "Amazing Grace." It was an odd mixture of cultures - Scottish and Indian in New Zealand. For New Year's Eve we sat on our balcony outside our hotel room and watched the fireworks over Lake Rotorua. It was a peaceful, beautiful setting for it, and strawberry champagne was delicious, or as delicious as $6 champagne can be.

And that's all, folks. The next day we flew back to Melbourne and resumed our regular lives here at home.