Rangitata Rafting

Eric, Krisanne, and I drove to raft on the Rangitata River, a few hours outside Christchurch. This was my fourth rafting trip (two in the U.S. and one in Canada).

First, the scenery was absolutely spectacular. At the start of the trip, we had a view of a mountain range that fed the river. The guides told us it takes about eight hours for the glacier melt to reach our start spot, so the water was quite cold. We bought a CD of the rafting pictures and later I will upload one showing the valley and steep tree-covered hills on both sides.

The rafting itself was extremely fun, and we finished with a 400 meter class 5 rapid. While that was exciting I think the highlight of the trip was the extra stuff they let us do: 1) jump in the river and float feet first for a few hundred yards, 2) jump in from 10 meters above, and 3) jump in and swim again around a turn.

After the trip we drove towards Dunedin.