Rangitata Rafting

Modified out house, makes quite a splash

The Following Pictures are of our Rangitata raft experience. The Rangitata river boast some of NZ's best rafting with several grade 5 rapids and spectacular views that appear in the Lord of the Rings films countless times. This trip was Emily and I's gift to one another in celebration of our 3 year anniversary, what a rush.

Bring it on, Emily getting ready to tackle the grade 5 rapids that lay ahead

If the back ground looks familiar, it is because it appeared in the Lord of the Rings movies. The Two towers in Particular. The Realm of Rohan was filmed in the mountains in the back ground.

Our crew for the day

All geared up and ready to go 

The paddling lessons begin

For the first 30 min or so the guide teaches you the basics on a nice calm stretch of river.

Grade 1 rapids

No problem

Getting warmed up for the grade 2,3,4,5 rapids

Grade 3

At this point, we were thinking what have we gotten ourselves into

All is well for now.....

We traveled down the river in groups of three rafts. Each raft supporting the other in case of a bail into the water.

Grade 4, starting to get a little more intense. The worst part was that before each big rapid, we would stop the raft and get out and size up the rapid before we paddled down.

Holding on

Grade 5, now we are at the rivers mercy

Some what of an uncomfortable feeling right about now haha

Luckily, our boat never flipped once.

John jumping off the 5 meter rock

The river is fed by glacial run off from the mountains, cold.......

Emily taking a leap of faith

Emily bracing for impact

John tackling the 12 meter rock

Ended up doing a bit of a bum drop, luckily the wetsuit took the brunt of the impact.

trying to mimic the salmon by paddling up the river, no luck.

NZ is home to several Deer farms. The majority of the land surrounding the Rangitata river is farm land. Sheep, Beef, Deer mainly.

The southern Alps

Ariel view of the Rangitata river

In the Lord of the rings movie the Two Towers, if you pause the movie exactly when the small girl falls off the horse when she arrives at the Kingdom of Rohan, if you look in the back ground, you will see two red rafts. The rafts and river that you see are that of the Rangitata.

Cook Strait, Mt cook and earthquakes

The following pictures are of our second trip to the Queen Charlotte sounds, Mt Cook and some of the Christchurch earthquake damage that we witnessed driving in and around Christchurch.

Enjoying a sunny day on Park lane (Tony and Robin's sail boat) in the Queen Charlotte sounds. This was our second sailing trip on the sounds. Thanks again Tony and Robin.

Emily enjoying the local marine life

Tony's catch, a barracuda

These predators were constantly nipping at my blue cod as I was reeling them in.

This narrow opening is the gateway to cook strait, which we sailed on this day.

Emily at the helm

John and Tony enjoying some late night sailing

The following pictures are of the damage caused by the Christchurch earthquake. Emily and I happened to be 10 min from downtown Christchurch when the quake hit. We never felt anything like it before.

Whole streets flooded

Liquefaction coming up through the ground around Tony and Robin's rental property. Many suburbs were covered in this sand like substance following the quake.

Emily in front of lake Tekapo

Emily taking a moment to pose in front of the church of the good shepherd

John with a monument paying respect to the dog, and their contribution to early farming days in the region

Mt Cook in the background, NZ's highest peak

Mt Cook.

The NZ flag flying at half mast following the Christchurch earthquake. The Edmund Hillary Alpine center.

A statue of the late Sir Edmund Hillary

Emily posing with Edmund. The statue's gaze faces Mt Cook.

Glacial water run off. The glaciers in this mountain range form Lake Tekapo

John with Mt Cook in the background. Sir Edmund used this mountain as a stepping stone before he went on to conquer Mt Everest

Different sized Paua shells. Paua is NZ version of Abalone and is used as a food source and the shiny shells are also used to make jewelery

John holding up a possum that he shot out of a tree on Tony and Robin's property. Sam the dog sniffed out the possum and sat under the tree until the dirty deed was done, thanks Sam.

Look away Anne-Marie

Our St Patrick's day feast in Blenheim. Courtesy of our fellow hostel flat mates. Was the first time we tried goat, and it was delicious.

Emily practicing her guitar, thanks to a fellow Canadian who was nice enough to give her some lessons.

Emily with some of our room mates, enjoying a night out in Blenheim following a hard weeks work on the vineyards.

Emily with Carmen (UK) and Vivianne (USA)

Caption of a park in Blenheim that John and I frequently visited

Enjoying a day in the park

We are currently living in the town of Blenheim, and have been here for almost a month now. Blenheim is located on the south island and is in the northern region. We have been working on vineyards the last few weeks, hand harvesting various varieties of grapes. Some of the vineyards we have worked for include, Marisco, Cloudy Bay, Wither Hills and others. We have been fortunate enough to taste some of these vineyards wines free of charge. We will be in Blenheim for another week or so before we head back to the North island. Hope all is well with everyone, thank you for reading. Keep and eye out for our White water rafting blog, which we will post shortly.