Sledging

Yes folks, this is what its all about!

Hopping on a specialized boogie board and floating down the white water rapids with nothing but a set of fins and a helmet. Some people may think that it is insane and dangerous, but I reply "danger is my middle name".

Still in the town of Rotorua, I now find myself on the Kaituna river which possesses the highest commercialized waterfall in the world (standing at 7m). Because I was doing a combo package, I begin the morning going on a grade 5 waterwater rafting trip. The highlight being the waterfall and let me tell you, it did not dissappoint. As we all hang on to dear life, the boat begins to descend into the unknown abyss. We soon find ourselves submerged for a couple of seconds before regaining our orientation and continuing along as if nothing just happened.

Next was to do the same river on a sledge. Unfortnately (or perhaps fortunately), the guides would not allow us to go down the 7m waterfall as there has been too many accidents that have happened on it. We start at the base of the falls and make our way down the river. The initial feeling of fear due to the little protection we had was soon overcome by excitement building up as we went down each rapid.


We even took it a step further and jumped back on the rapid going the other way and maintaining an equilibrium on the standing wave. It felt like a defining moment for me as I was able to surf this wave for a significant amount of time considering this was my first attempt.

In the end, I now understand why the "Amazing Race" deemed this the best activity in all the places they went to...

- the lone asian