The day I drank a river...

Hah - fooled you people who thought this would be about partying etc. Nope, I went "sledging". This means taking a thick boogie-board with handles and going down the same rapids that other people raft on. In my case, I chose the Kaiteri river near Rotorua (thermal hotspot of New Zealand) with grade 5 rapids.

Let's just say that I have never been so terrified - I actually burped because I inhaled so much water - and I would not recommend it to anyone but those that are tired of life! Well, maybe if you're 6'3" , are an olympic swimmer, have built-in body armor, and can't get "oomph" from anything else life has to offer.

They tell you - hold the hell on no matter what - jeez. I went down the first rapid, hit a massive wave, got sucked under, twirled about, hit some rock - hard, inhaled some more water, got sucked under again, got dragged into the rocky wall, got hit by another sledger out of control, and then blissfully drifted to an eddy (calmer patch) at the side. FIRST rapid... I just wanted to get the hell out, rather than hold the hell on! (that's me in the picture gasping for air!!!)

I got the picture CD, but since that's somewhere in the massive orange suitcase, I'll have to upload at a later date so you can view my shame. They actually MADE us swim against the river at the last rapid so we could SMILE at the photographer perched just above us. **Found the CD, and that's me "posing" below...

Problem: there's a grade 6 rapid around the corner and "no one goes around the corner today". Well, Marisa went around the corner because Marisa was tired from "posing", so Marisa had to be pulled back by 3 guides before completing the "round the corner". The guides were amazing and I truly think I owe them my life... and they owe me my money back as I did NOT enjoy (all) of it!! :P