Grade 5 River Kayaking
Well today we both kayaked a grade 5 river including a 7m waterfall! What a fantastic trip although we both had loads of water injected into ears, nose and mouth so have slight headaches.
Before people think we’ve taken leave of our senses and jumped straight into white water rafting on a grade 5 river, well no fear we were both in tandem kayaks along with guides, not that it made the effort any easier. Especially in my kayak where I far out weighed my guide - poor Pete!
The route lasted an hour and the highlight was the 7m waterfall but also include numerous rapids and a couple of other smaller waterfalls at around 4m
Lea was fortunate to stay upright all the way but Pete and I couldn’t manage this under the largest fall. Despite numerous practices in calm water I wasn’t prepared for the violence of the water in the rapids. When we rolled I calmly followed the drill and dropped my paddle and bend double over the kayak and waited for Pete to right us. This he nearly managed to do but lost it at the last minute and we plunged under again. At this point I took a mouth full of water and it started to be less fun. Unfortunately the survival aspect of my brain kicked in and I forgot the drill meaning that we needed help to be righted and then had to empty to boat - sorry Pete!
That aside it was a brilliant experience although as I always suspected, Sea Kayaking is more my cup of tea and we look forward to that in a couple of weeks in the South Island.
For us its onwards to Taupo tomorrow before heading into the Tongariro National Park and our second tramp, more on that later.
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