Day 7 - River Valley Lodge to Wellington

I loved the River Valley Lodge. After a rough night with too many rumours and  and sexual encounters, Kamal and I decided to sleep downstairs on the sofas to get a good night's sleep - we didn't. We were woken up with crooked backs to the 6:30 kitchen staff preparing breakfast.

Then it was time for us to get all wet-suited up for some white water rafting and hope to God I don't drown!

About five minutes in I thought I was going to. We were told if we wanted to swim a rapid to do it then, before the current got too strong. I bailed out of the boat into the water, hit a rapid backwards letting water up my nostrils and down my throat. My jacket filled up with water making it hard to swim and your life jackets so tight it's hard to breathe. Grabbed onto another boat, coughed up a bit of water and avoided falling in again like the plague. We were lucky we could raft at all, as the previous day the water had risen in 20mins what it usually rises to over approx five hours. After heavy rainfall over the lasts few days, the water had risen from a flow of 32tonnes to double that. Which is absolutely crazy and the rafters had to pull their participants out of the water and abort the activity.

PHOTO TO COME

The rest of the ride was just as testing As my scary little swim, but so much fun. We hit grade 5 Rapids, where we were told, "if you do it wrong, we're f***ed". So we broke our backs to do it right. Even so the water can still be unpredictable. We hit a rock down one rapid and our boat kept filling up with water at an angle. All seven of us were throwing our entire body weight against the boat to budge it and we just about  got it moving. Then we hit another rapid with a log across the top and luckily made it over it rather than under it. We jumped waterfalls, Kamal jumped from a six meter rock into the fast flowing water - twice because the first time the go pro didn't record (after my first ordeal I decided against it). We had a great guide and a powerhouse of a team. We really annoyed it, even if I was shivering like it was minus 20 and I drowned a little bit. I can't wait to watch the footage back!

After the morning's demanding activities we had lunch at the lodge, which was a slice of quiche the size of my torso.  Then we jumped aboard the big green bus to Wellington.

Along the way we watched New Zeland Classic 'Boy' which was a good watch and helped to pass the time. After 5hrs we arrived in darkness to the sudden arrival of a coastal road with huge waves lapping at the shore. It was so windy! By the time we got to the hostel I took a shower that sounded like the walls were going to fall in and then sat in the room feeling the walls flex in and out drastically.

In Wellington, as it sits on a plate line, buildings are built to withstand earthquakes, so the flexible walls are normal but even so, it was still a little odd! Most of the houses are also built on the edge of hillsides, not sure if that's for the same reason. But the worst thing, the sound of the wind - my god! 

We managed to get about 4hrs sleep after saying goodbye to most of our bus as most are spending more time in Wellington. 6am wake up call tomorrow... Help me.