Whitewater Rafting!

(11.12.08 1:30pm Garths House, Rarotonga)
Next morning (11.4.08) we woke up at 6am and headed out to have breakfast and figure out what we wanted to do for the day. At breakfast we looked through tourist magazines to get some ideas and both of decided that we would like to go white water rafting. We drove around the historical area of Rotorua and visited Ohinemutu, an ancient Maori village. However do my disappointment the only thing that remained in the village was a church and meeting house. A few days earlier I put out an email to www.wakaama.co.nz an outrigger website in NZ to see if I could find clubs on the North Island to train with while traveling around. Troy, from Rotorua had had responded saying he could take me out for a paddle so I decided to give him a call and see what his schedule looked like. He told me that there was a race that night and he would be able to get me a boat and that there was a big race on Saturday if I wanted to paddle with his crew. He also gave me two numbers: Lances who was he was a white water rafting guide that paddled with his crew and Mike who he said would take me for a paddle if I went down to Hastings. He mentioned that if I gave Lance a call he’d probably take us on a rafting tour. I called Lance who he said he was keen to take us out and told us to come over Okere Falls Restaurant to meet him. We followed him back to his house where we got geared up and loaded the Raft. He drove us to the starting place and explained a little about the route we were about to take right before we jumped in the boat and head down river. It was just the three of us and he pulled off to the side before our first white water section to explain what we would be doing. He said he would try to steer us straight into falls and we’d have to paddle hard until he said to get down, after that “it’s all up to the river” he said. He told us that the lower we were the safer we were, so when he says to get down we should tuck our paddles and sit on the floor with knee’s tucked into our chest, holding the ropes of the raft. He had us practice the procedure a few times and then we were off. The first two falls were minor but again he pulled the raft over right before the third fall. He explained that it was an 8 meter (26foot) drop and reminded us to paddle hard until he says get down. He also let us know what to do if the raft flips or we are washed out of the raft. In just a flash we were down the falls and looking back at what we had just overtaken. As we came around the corner we noticed a group of people on the side of the river bank and as we got closer we could see that they were doing CPR on someone. We pulled our raft up and went to see if we could assist. There were three guides already performing CPR and they had it under control. Apparently he felt short of breath after going down the big fall and as they came towards the end of the course he fell over in his seat out cold. He had a heart attack. They continued CPR for 22 minutes until the ambulance showed up at which point they shocked him a few times but still weren’t able to revive him. They loaded him up and took him to the ER but after the ambulance left the doctor said he wouldn’t make it. This was the first death ever on a rafting tour. After unloading the gear at Lance’s house we went back to the Okere Falls Café for lunch. After lunch we spent an hour and half walking around Rotorua killing time til our host came back home. I dropped Steph off so she could take our host to dinner while I went to meet Troy at the race. There were about 20 or so people in the 8K sprint race. At the start I shot out in front of everyone but soon was over taken by Tyrin, 3 time NZ national champ, Troy and one other person. The first 4K’s was straight upwind into a cold breeze. The air was so dry I had to scoop up some lake water to wet my throat. I ended holding my place through end the race and finished in 4th place. After the race we talked story and ate sausage sizzles. Afterwards I met Lacie-Ann, a fellow Mauian who was also traveling around NZ. Steph and I had intended on visiting some cave to see the glow warms but after dessert with Lacie-Ann it was already 930pm so we decided to call it a night. Next morning (11.5.08) we again woke up with our host at 630 and hit the road. We headed to Taupo where Steph had breakfast and walked around the town while I took a nap in the van. I finally woke back up at 10am, had breakfast and made my way into snowboard shop to check on the conditions on the mountain. I found out that the lifts were closed due to a new storm that had just arrived and already dumped close to a foot of powder. I was told that the mountain would be closed again the following day but hopefully be open by Friday. Steph and I met back up and headed to Johanna’s, our CS host, house in Turangi. When we arrived she fed us some soup and made us some tea. She was a 64 year old lady who had lived in NZ for over 30 years, 8 of which in her current home. She moved there with her last boyfriend, Gary, who was a Maori man and as a result of her relationship with him she had a gained a bit of understanding about Maori culture and language. I enjoyed exchanging Hawaiian words with her for Maori words and seeing the similarities and differences. For instance: Wahine in both languages means women, however Man in Hawaiian is “Kane”, while it’s “Tane” in Maori. Steph went for a hike and I remained at home to chat with Johanna and catch up on my blog. For dinner Johanna cooked an awesome vegetarian dinner and amazing dessert for us.