My friend Dave Aubrey & partner Jess were over visiting from Canada. One thing Dave had really wanted to do was to go for a trip down the Hurunui. The original plan had been to pack-raft. I’ve never been in one of these before. The Hurunui was running pretty high (it’s usually 30 cumecs, it was running at 145 or something). So, much faster and pushier than it normally is. I’d borrowed a single from my friend Hamish, but, on the day they asked me to go down in the double with Jess (Dave and Warick were safety-boating, and Neil wanted to go in a single).
So, Jess and I gave it a go, almost capsized on the first turn into the river (I’m just nervous and leaning “into” the turn doesn’t come naturally). Anyway, after a couple of very tenuous crossings I decided that this really wasn’t for me. I almost never give up on an adventure, but, yeah, while I don’t think it would have been massively dangerous, it would have meant some long unpleasant swims, and quite possibly putting a hole in the raft. Jess quite agreed with me that stopping was a good idea.
It did give a bunch of time for chatting and taking pics, so, that was nice!
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