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Wanderlusting Linley
Just possibly, not definitely.
Today started tolerably. I had to get up before 7am and I hate getting up. But once I got over that I staggered towards coffee and my day got under way. Today was slated to be my busiest day, with a wicked ass combo booked, hence the early start. Latte in hand, I presented at the Station (building where people meet to do organised stupidity) and was informed my day had been shuffled. The thing I was booked to do first had been moved to last and the thing I was most apprehensive about was now first. Oh, goody. The one upshot of this switch around was that I was getting to said apprehension inducing activity via chopper. And I don't mean the stupid motorbike.
Now, I luuuuuuurve helicopters. :-D I have for many years. I find them so exhilarating. Provided the pilot does suicidal, dangerous and unusual things that one would think choppers can't do. I asked very nicely and pointedly if I could sit in the front of the chop-chop as I had the GoPro. They very nicely said yes. :-) I was only doing the activity we were going to because I could ride the helicopter on the way there. Seriously. This activity is the one thing on this trip I've actually done before but I decided to do it again just for the chop-chop. And because I've done it before, I knew to be apprehensive. This means I had something go wrong last time I did it and it detracted from the fun factor and I'd like to avoid that same thing happening again if possible but of course you can't control mother nature.
I'm not even going to try to describe the chopper ride in great detail. Just watch the video when it uploads. It was a short ride, but designed to scare the living hell out of you. I didn't know helicopters could fly on their sides. How 'bout that? I mean I've done free-falls and nose dives in choppers before but this kind of banking was pretty interesting.
What is said hairy activity I was heading towards? White water rafting. I did this six months ago in West Virginia. Scary place. Scary people. For those that don't remember, or didn't see the video, on that particular expedition, our delightful guide decided to tell us to stop paddling when we really should've been and let the raft hit a rapid without momentum. Understandably, it flipped over on us. That wouldn't have been a big deal except that I got stuck under the damned thing. That part was truly not fun and I ended up with water in my lungs before managing to get out from under it. I wanted to avoid that again where possible but of course, it's a river, it's wild and these things can happen. So while I wasn't willing to bow out, I was apprehensive.
Confidence was restored fractionally by the amount of "things" they gave us for the ride. In WV, the wetsuit cost extra and that was your only optional extra. Here in Queenstown, they gave us a wetsuit, a wetsuit jacket, wetsuit socks, wetsuit boots and a frog-tog style wind breaker. All included. Despite the absolutely frigid morning, I was pretty comfortable in that getup.
They put me into the crew of a Maori guy called Chief. Of all the people hanging around the river looking like they worked there, he was the last one I'd have picked but they said he'd been there for 23 years and was very safe. Hmmm... He naturally did that thing all people do in this business and trash talked us. It was his first day, we were all *******, every rapid was going to end in capsize, and so on. As it turns out, most of the people in the raft were either ******* or a bit useless. I'm not an expert at this but I do know how to dig in and paddle properly. Four of the others didn't. Two guys who I suspect had limited English just paddled randomly. The two girls in the row in front of me - Poms - did more giggling than paddling. And once the video uploads, you'll see where that got one of them, and as a direct result, where it nearly got me. ON THE FIRST RAPID!! The one in front of me wouldn't row in any sort of collective timing and she barely dipped her paddle into the river but just kind of flicked it around near the surface. Very annoying for me because when I tried to row in time, I'd hit her paddle. Argh! She was very sweet but I wanted to brain her. I should've gone with the raft of army boys. I'll bet they rowed in unison!!
Also unlike in West Fur-chin-ya, there is no real smooth riding to speak of on the Shotover River. This river is a lot more narrow and a class one nearly the whole way at minimum. At the first bend we were going over bumps and dips of water. There wasn't a whole lot of time to practice and get coordinated before we were actually having to concentrate on staying in the raft.
Another thing done a bit differently here is that the guide would actually call "Everyone get down!" at times. This means that instead of staying perched on the side of the raft - as is usually done in white water rafting - you drop onto the actual floor and hold on. I'm not sure on the reason for this but I would hazard a guess at it being because this river was so much narrower. Having us inside the body of the raft meant he didn't have to worry about us getting swiped off on the canyon wall when the water got wild. Maybe. Or maybe after what happened on the first rapid, he decided to just commandeer the damned thing and get us out of the way because we weren't coordinated enough to be of benefit.
One thing we did practice, was hitting rock walls. For real. He would let the raft run up against the cliffs and call what we should do, how to drop down and scoot to one side, and to lean together against the tilt of the raft.
The rapids in WV were bigger in the sense that they went longer and kind of rolled more. The rapids here were tighter and sharper, which is possibly why we had to practice weird things like crouching on the floor. I'm not sure which was worse! Or which was more fun. Because when it's all said and done, I still had a blast. :-) Chief looked after the crew really well.
White water rafting I guess can best be described as wild, rough, unpredictable, wet and thrilling. I would encourage most people who have a bit of pluck to give it a go. One thing Queenstown has that The New River in WV definitely didn't have, is a mining tunnel. As you may've guessed, it was blasted by miners. I can't remember how long they said it is. Long enough to get fully dark for a fair way, and it wasn't until watching the GoPro footage after that I realised just how tight the tunnel was. Not much clearance. Anyway, at the very end of the ride, you go through it and then down a drop rapid. WICKED fun. :-D
All the good bits are on the video.
Oh, and luxury of luxuries??? This place has a sauna and super hot showers for use after you finish rafting. That would have to be in the top five showers of my life, it felt that good!! I had lost all feeling in my fingers and toes at this point except the sensation of pain.
Warm, dry and cozy again, from there I walked a couple of hundred metres across to the Shotover Jetboat. Sweeeeeet... Anyone who has heard of Queenstown will consider the Shotover Jetboat synonymous with it. It's *the* thing to do. I knew it was going to be fun but with the GoPro I wanted the "most funnest" seat on the boat and was told at the back and the sides was best. Also wettest, but they kit you up for that so no big deal. What they don't tell you is that when the water hits your face at that speed, it really freaking hurts!! And it stays damned cold. Oh, did I mention that? It's still snowing up in the hills some nights so that water is very bitey just now. So, yeah. Fast, fun, freezing, you totally have to do this!!
There was one poor little kid on the boat who spent the ride trying not to spew and they eventually stopped to let him off because he reeeeeeeally wasn't enjoying it. I think everyone else loved it though. I sure did!! And the Shotover advertises itself as the only company on the river to do 360 degree turns. I have included a good selection of these on the video.
The boats are fabulous and specifically designed for travelling fast through shallow water. As in, 2 - 4 inches deep water. As such, they spend a lot of time skimming verrrrrry close to the banks of the river, where you can see the rocks just below the surface. They also do this thing where they drive right up on canyon walls, like they're going to scrape the side of it, then put the boat into the equivalent of a drift and barely skim past it. If you stuck your hand out, you'd lose it. IT'S ACE!!!!!!
And as if that wasn't enough, I had another activity of death planned for this afternoon, but very literally, after we were all kitted up and ready to go, the volatile Queenstown weather turned and we had to cancel. I've rescheduled it for another day and have crossed my fingers for the weather to cooperate.
Tomorrow I'm taking the adrenalin down a notch and doing something super, super fun. HA!!
Video is almost half loaded. I blew my wifi limit loading yesterday's video and had to steal some from an unsecure wifi in the area to finish it. I went to reception this morning to get my limit reset and the girl told me she'd unlocked it so I can just go nuts now. It's still not uber-supersonic fast, but I'm doing the best it allows. :-)
There are no chop-chop photos, just the video. I haven't yet bought the photo/video package from the white water rafting as I think my video is actually better, as is my video of the Shotover Jetboat. But I did buy the photos from that. :-)
Today started tolerably. I had to get up before 7am and I hate getting up. But once I got over that I staggered towards coffee and my day got under way. Today was slated to be my busiest day, with a wicked ass combo booked, hence the early start. Latte in hand, I presented at the Station (building where people meet to do organised stupidity) and was informed my day had been shuffled. The thing I was booked to do first had been moved to last and the thing I was most apprehensive about was now first. Oh, goody. The one upshot of this switch around was that I was getting to said apprehension inducing activity via chopper. And I don't mean the stupid motorbike.
Now, I luuuuuuurve helicopters. :-D I have for many years. I find them so exhilarating. Provided the pilot does suicidal, dangerous and unusual things that one would think choppers can't do. I asked very nicely and pointedly if I could sit in the front of the chop-chop as I had the GoPro. They very nicely said yes. :-) I was only doing the activity we were going to because I could ride the helicopter on the way there. Seriously. This activity is the one thing on this trip I've actually done before but I decided to do it again just for the chop-chop. And because I've done it before, I knew to be apprehensive. This means I had something go wrong last time I did it and it detracted from the fun factor and I'd like to avoid that same thing happening again if possible but of course you can't control mother nature.
I'm not even going to try to describe the chopper ride in great detail. Just watch the video when it uploads. It was a short ride, but designed to scare the living hell out of you. I didn't know helicopters could fly on their sides. How 'bout that? I mean I've done free-falls and nose dives in choppers before but this kind of banking was pretty interesting.
What is said hairy activity I was heading towards? White water rafting. I did this six months ago in West Virginia. Scary place. Scary people. For those that don't remember, or didn't see the video, on that particular expedition, our delightful guide decided to tell us to stop paddling when we really should've been and let the raft hit a rapid without momentum. Understandably, it flipped over on us. That wouldn't have been a big deal except that I got stuck under the damned thing. That part was truly not fun and I ended up with water in my lungs before managing to get out from under it. I wanted to avoid that again where possible but of course, it's a river, it's wild and these things can happen. So while I wasn't willing to bow out, I was apprehensive.
Confidence was restored fractionally by the amount of "things" they gave us for the ride. In WV, the wetsuit cost extra and that was your only optional extra. Here in Queenstown, they gave us a wetsuit, a wetsuit jacket, wetsuit socks, wetsuit boots and a frog-tog style wind breaker. All included. Despite the absolutely frigid morning, I was pretty comfortable in that getup.
They put me into the crew of a Maori guy called Chief. Of all the people hanging around the river looking like they worked there, he was the last one I'd have picked but they said he'd been there for 23 years and was very safe. Hmmm... He naturally did that thing all people do in this business and trash talked us. It was his first day, we were all *******, every rapid was going to end in capsize, and so on. As it turns out, most of the people in the raft were either ******* or a bit useless. I'm not an expert at this but I do know how to dig in and paddle properly. Four of the others didn't. Two guys who I suspect had limited English just paddled randomly. The two girls in the row in front of me - Poms - did more giggling than paddling. And once the video uploads, you'll see where that got one of them, and as a direct result, where it nearly got me. ON THE FIRST RAPID!! The one in front of me wouldn't row in any sort of collective timing and she barely dipped her paddle into the river but just kind of flicked it around near the surface. Very annoying for me because when I tried to row in time, I'd hit her paddle. Argh! She was very sweet but I wanted to brain her. I should've gone with the raft of army boys. I'll bet they rowed in unison!!
Also unlike in West Fur-chin-ya, there is no real smooth riding to speak of on the Shotover River. This river is a lot more narrow and a class one nearly the whole way at minimum. At the first bend we were going over bumps and dips of water. There wasn't a whole lot of time to practice and get coordinated before we were actually having to concentrate on staying in the raft.
Another thing done a bit differently here is that the guide would actually call "Everyone get down!" at times. This means that instead of staying perched on the side of the raft - as is usually done in white water rafting - you drop onto the actual floor and hold on. I'm not sure on the reason for this but I would hazard a guess at it being because this river was so much narrower. Having us inside the body of the raft meant he didn't have to worry about us getting swiped off on the canyon wall when the water got wild. Maybe. Or maybe after what happened on the first rapid, he decided to just commandeer the damned thing and get us out of the way because we weren't coordinated enough to be of benefit.
One thing we did practice, was hitting rock walls. For real. He would let the raft run up against the cliffs and call what we should do, how to drop down and scoot to one side, and to lean together against the tilt of the raft.
The rapids in WV were bigger in the sense that they went longer and kind of rolled more. The rapids here were tighter and sharper, which is possibly why we had to practice weird things like crouching on the floor. I'm not sure which was worse! Or which was more fun. Because when it's all said and done, I still had a blast. :-) Chief looked after the crew really well.
White water rafting I guess can best be described as wild, rough, unpredictable, wet and thrilling. I would encourage most people who have a bit of pluck to give it a go. One thing Queenstown has that The New River in WV definitely didn't have, is a mining tunnel. As you may've guessed, it was blasted by miners. I can't remember how long they said it is. Long enough to get fully dark for a fair way, and it wasn't until watching the GoPro footage after that I realised just how tight the tunnel was. Not much clearance. Anyway, at the very end of the ride, you go through it and then down a drop rapid. WICKED fun. :-D
All the good bits are on the video.
Oh, and luxury of luxuries??? This place has a sauna and super hot showers for use after you finish rafting. That would have to be in the top five showers of my life, it felt that good!! I had lost all feeling in my fingers and toes at this point except the sensation of pain.
Warm, dry and cozy again, from there I walked a couple of hundred metres across to the Shotover Jetboat. Sweeeeeet... Anyone who has heard of Queenstown will consider the Shotover Jetboat synonymous with it. It's *the* thing to do. I knew it was going to be fun but with the GoPro I wanted the "most funnest" seat on the boat and was told at the back and the sides was best. Also wettest, but they kit you up for that so no big deal. What they don't tell you is that when the water hits your face at that speed, it really freaking hurts!! And it stays damned cold. Oh, did I mention that? It's still snowing up in the hills some nights so that water is very bitey just now. So, yeah. Fast, fun, freezing, you totally have to do this!!
There was one poor little kid on the boat who spent the ride trying not to spew and they eventually stopped to let him off because he reeeeeeeally wasn't enjoying it. I think everyone else loved it though. I sure did!! And the Shotover advertises itself as the only company on the river to do 360 degree turns. I have included a good selection of these on the video.
The boats are fabulous and specifically designed for travelling fast through shallow water. As in, 2 - 4 inches deep water. As such, they spend a lot of time skimming verrrrrry close to the banks of the river, where you can see the rocks just below the surface. They also do this thing where they drive right up on canyon walls, like they're going to scrape the side of it, then put the boat into the equivalent of a drift and barely skim past it. If you stuck your hand out, you'd lose it. IT'S ACE!!!!!!
And as if that wasn't enough, I had another activity of death planned for this afternoon, but very literally, after we were all kitted up and ready to go, the volatile Queenstown weather turned and we had to cancel. I've rescheduled it for another day and have crossed my fingers for the weather to cooperate.
Tomorrow I'm taking the adrenalin down a notch and doing something super, super fun. HA!!
Video is almost half loaded. I blew my wifi limit loading yesterday's video and had to steal some from an unsecure wifi in the area to finish it. I went to reception this morning to get my limit reset and the girl told me she'd unlocked it so I can just go nuts now. It's still not uber-supersonic fast, but I'm doing the best it allows. :-)
There are no chop-chop photos, just the video. I haven't yet bought the photo/video package from the white water rafting as I think my video is actually better, as is my video of the Shotover Jetboat. But I did buy the photos from that. :-)
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