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.