I know many of you who are reading this blog have been whitewater rafting. We have, too. I also presume that some of you have even been thrown from, fallen from or tipped over in a raft. We had not. You notice I said "had".
It all started last night when we walked over to the Queenstown Rafting Center to confirm our trip.
We were scheduled to raft the Kawara River, a 2-3 level river but we learned that no one else signed up so the trip was cancelled. We could either get a refund, try to schedule another day or upgrade to the Shotover River which was almost fully subscribed. I asked why no one wanted to do the Kawara River. The operator told me that "maybe people consider the Kawara River too tame and prefer the Shotover." I said, what's the difference? The Shotover has level 3-5 rapids but, the operator said, "there is not much difference. No other skills are needed. You just need to be confident in the water." That should have been a clue.
We were told all we needed to bring was a bathing suit and a towel, everything else would be provided.
Researching this trip online after the fact, we learned that the Shotover and Kawarau are two very different rivers. The Kawarau is a higher volume river but not as steep so, although there are several good rapids, they are not as “technical” and not as challenging as the Shotover and one is less likely to get thrown out of the raft. The Kawarau is a nice scenic river and tends to be the more relaxing trip and great for people like us who are not adventurous rafters. Maybe this is why no young adventurers signed up for it. Too lame for them.
The Shotover, on the other hand, as its name correctly suggests, is a 36 mile-long river which is fast flowing with numerous rapids. It is lower volume but a steeper gradient and not as wide, which increases the excitement level. It also increases the chance of being launched out of a raft. The rapids also change in characteristic depending on the river level and flow. The Shotover certainly is more suited to people who are adventurous and water confident, and not bothered by ending up in the water. The brochure simply states: “Minimum age of 13 is required. A confidence level in the water is recommended for this adventurous trip.”
Without knowing any of this, the next morning we showed up at the Rafting Center for our first briefing. We learned that upon reaching the rafting base we would be issued a sleeveless full length wet suit, a wet suit jacket, rubber booties, a helmet and a life jacket. It all seemed rather cumbersome and unnecessary to me at the time.
It was a ten minute van ride to the rafting center where we changed into all that gear and were given another briefing. This time they said leave all valuables behind. No jewelry or watches--not even sunglasses. Needless to say, my camera wouldn't be going. So, we took no pictures of our rafting adventure. But, fortunately the rafting company’s photographer would get some great shots of us.
After suiting up, we had a 45 minute ride in a packed van on a teeny road atop sheer cliffs. It was a warm sunny day, which was nice, but in the bus it was hot. Can you imagine all of us sweating in our wet suits as we climbed up and over the mountain before finally descending to the Shotover River?
The Skipper’s Canyon Road is a notorious mountain pass blasted out of solid rock by Chinese laborers. The road took 22 years to complete and it probably doesn’t look much different today than when it was first made 140 years ago.
It is a gravel road made from a very narrow cut in the middle of a cliff face.
The road is 12 miles long and winds its way down some 360 feet to the river with incredible twists and turns, tight corners and exciting cliff edges.
Our driver would tell us as we rounded each turn how we could measure our elevation at that point. He would estimate how many end-over-end flips would occur if the bus left the road before crashing into the canyon floor below. I think he got up to ten flips for a 200' drop.
During our third briefing, at river’s edge, which took 10-15 minutes, it became very clear that this was not going to be a lazy ride down the river. We learned all the emergency positions, what to do if we were thrown out of the raft or if it capsized---the whole drill.
After the briefing the raft guide said refunds would be given to anyone who didn't want to continue with the trip.
Now I was getting nervous. Jerry gave me a funny look, as if to say “what have you gotten us into now.”
Next we were divided into groups of seven and posed for a riverbank photo.
Then, we got in our raft and introduced ourselves all around. Our fellow rafters were a New Zealand family (from the North Island), mother, father, daughter, son and son's girlfriend, Jade (remember this name), who was already wishing she had asked for her refund. Our river guide, Nolan, was from Memphis, Tennessee and the only other American among some 45 people rafting on 7 rafts.
I am in the back of the raft on the right and Jerry is in front of me.
Nolan now did our fourth briefing which tested how well we had listened to the third briefing. We had to demonstrate our proficiency of the various emergency positions.
This was getting serious.
Confidently, however, we shoved off on our two hour trip and started a nice calm float down the river. Nolan explained that the river bed was not hard rock like many of our US whitewater rivers and it would change with flooding, which he said it had. He also said a demolition team from his company would be on the river today dynamiting boulders that had been rolled into the river by recent storms. The river, Nolan said, had swollen, changed its course and had become very fast moving. The trip we were on was only the second day that they were rafting in the past two weeks. “The river wasn’t settled down enough,” he said. This was another bad omen!
Nolan also pointed out newly exposed 150 year old remnants from the gold mining days such as sluice boxes, metal box frames and an entire steam engine. Odd as it may seem, the rafting company can dynamite the boulders but is not allowed to remove these protected artifacts unless they pose a danger to rafters.
Gold mining featured in the Shotover’s early history and it was one of the richest gold bearing rivers in the world. Beginning in 1862 when gold was first discovered on the river, the river has been panned, cradled, sluiced and dredged up until the 1990s. Today, small-time gold seekers still work the river for gold. One of the raft guides was getting married shortly with a wedding ring made of gold that he had found on the river. But the river’s main use now is whitewater rafting.
We practiced our paddling skills as Nolan explained the strategy for several upcoming rapids.
Rafting from Deep Creek over peaceful waters at first, we were told that next would be the exhilarating rapids of the lower canyon. We would go through Rock Garden, After Shock, Germans, Sharks Fin, Toilet, Oh Shit, Pinball and Jaws then raft through a 560 foot Tunnel before shooting Cascade Rapids to complete an exhilarating day.
Exhibiting acceptable skills we began our whitewater rafting journey through the spectacular Skippers Canyon.
All of a sudden, a rapid appeared. The adrenalin pumped.
We were warned that there is a possibility of the boat flipping but we weren’t quite prepared for flipping over bow to stern on and having to experience being pummeled down grade four/five rapids.
We got through Rock Garden and After Shock with no problem although we did have to assume the “Get down” position for both. We weren’t so lucky on Germans, the third set of rapids, where the raft took a nose dive and flipped end-over-end catapulting all of us into the rapids.
When we flipped, some, including Jerry and me, were under the raft for what seemed like minutes but I know it was only seconds. After freeing ourselves, I was washed to the left side of the river and Jerry, shot off to the right. All of us were pushed under water, swallowed water and bounced off rocks while trying to keep our feet headed downstream and our heads above the ice cold water as per our emergency instructions.
Stopping our momentum in the rapidly running river wasn’t easy. It required catching a lifeline from a guide in a kayak or grabbing an oar extended from someone in another raft.
Still clutching my paddle, I was on my merry way toward another set of rapids when someone yelled “swim, swim”. I released the paddle and started swimming to the voice. I was lucky in that I caught an extended paddle handle as I passed the fourth raft.
I was hauled into one of the rafts and discovered one other raft mate had been hauled in before me. Pretty soon his sister struggled past. She was eventually hauled in with a safety line by a river guide in a kayak.
Where was Jerry?
Very soon our raft appeared with our guide and the New Zealand father. We were missing Jerry, the mother and Jade. Soon the mother appeared in view walking up stream over the rocks after being retrieved by a raft further downstream. Still no Jerry or Jade.
After retrieving some oars and getting reassembled back into our raft, we set out again, minus two, to find Jerry and Jade. I was without a paddle so I sat in the bottom of the raft. We managed Shark’s Fin fairly well. Then came Toilet. We did that one in the “Get down” position. We rounded a bend and found a calm section in the river so we pulled over to the side to regroup and hopefully find Jerry and Jade.
We sat for a long time before seeing Jerry walking along the rocks upstream toward the boat. He had gotten trapped under the raft and surfaced in the center of the rapidly moving river headed toward the treacherous right bank. Because he couldn’t make it to the left where other rafts had stopped to aid us he continued through two more rapids. He had just gone down the “Toilet” rapids trying to keep his head and feet above the surface of the water. He said he tried to swim across the river but the strength of the current kept carrying him down river. Ultimately he managed to grab an oar handle from someone on the very last raft. They about choked him to death in trying to get him in the raft. Jerry said that as he swam across the river he saw Jade shooting past him.
We got word that Jade was further down river. We paddled a bit further to retrieve her. She was clearly shaken and in tears. None of our crew had any idea what had just happened, as it had occurred so quickly. It wasn't until we had all gotten together that Nolan explained what had happened: we were hit by a massive wave and the raft decided to do a nose dive when going through the Germans.
Back in the raft and, except for Jade, cheerfully optimistic about continuing on, we were instructed by Nolan on how to prepare for the Oxenbridge Tunnel and the Cascades Rapids. The Oxenbridge Tunnel is a 560 foot tunnel that was part of a failed mining scheme attempting to divert water from the river to recover gold from the riverbed. We were to keep our heads down through the tunnel as Nolan kept us off the tunnel walls.
Everything went fine and we got through the tunnel OK. However, as we hit the Cascade Rapids the back of the raft filled with water and we lost Nolan. We also lost Jade. Athletic Nolan literally leapt back into the raft but Jade was long gone. We paddled further down and Jade there was standing, terrified at the shore being aided by one of the other guides.
We retrieved Jade and paddled the short distance to the waiting trailers. We were at the end point of the trip, everyone unhurt but Jade was clearly shaken from the experience.
We helped hoist the raft atop the trailer and hiked up the hill to remove our gear. While having a flat-white (the New Zealand description of a Cappuccino), Jerry encountered the Aussie who had extended his oar to him and helped him out of the river.
On the bus ride back to town we talked about our exciting Shotover adventure. The trauma was over. Even Jade seemed to have recovered.
This being our last "event", we ended our South Island Adventure on a pretty exciting note.
Here we are in our hotel room finishing this blog which will be our last for a while.
We've had great time and appreciate the travel company, Experience New Zealand and Laura Singer who put this fantastic itinerary together.
Now we are going to relax at the Sofitel and enjoy Queenstown until flying to Auckland on Friday to prepare for our bike trip through the North Island.
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