Rafting the Shotover

Fun fact: Just after the US gold rush, there was a fair sized gold rush in New Zealand. Apparently, for a while, the rivers were lousey with gold nuggets. The Queenstown area was pretty major during this time.

My first adrenaline packed activity in Queenstown was Whitewater rafting. I have not even considered rafting as an activity since I was five and was coerced into doing it in Idaho (I really did enjoy it then, though). I had no idea of what to expect.

We arrived by bus and were herded like cattle into the building with guides gauging our sizes and handing us wetsuits, jackets, helmets, booties, etc. At the end of the line there were changing rooms for us to put on our new digs. After that, we waddled onto another bus and were taken on the scariest bus ride ever.

It was an averaged sized bus, not quite school bus sized, but I would say a 25ish passenger vehicle. Never again shall I doubt a motorized vehicle This beast went up (and down and all around) on the steepest, most windy, narrow, gravel road that I have ever seen. On one side, there was rock, and on the other there was nothing, not even a railing, but the river valley below. We didn't find out until later that most of the edges of the road were held up only by drystacked flat rock. AhhH! This was by far the scariest part of the day.

All of the girls from our crew ended up in one raft with our guide, Sandy (a bloke from a very small sheeping town in the NW of the south island). We shredded those rapids and really had a good time. I don't really know how to describe a rafting experience. We saw two goats in the cliffs and nobody fell out or was wounded. It was really a great time and I would most certainly do it again.

Folks from all nationalities ran the place and were truly passionate and truly happy with what they were doing.