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Not my photo
- stolen from here
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Also known as river boarding, I understand this sport was invented
by some Rafter who hopped out onto a bunch of life preservers and
coasted through the rapids sans boat. I'm sure you can Google
for the real story, but all I can say for sure is that it's certainly
a laugh.
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Not my photo
- stolen from here
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I've tried it a couple of times and although it is fun,
I've still never managed to successfully "surf" a wave.
Admittedly this is primarily because I have absolutely no sense
of balance and am as ungainly as a newborn giraffe - and that's
when I'm on dry land.
The first time I had a go was in the Zambezi River below the Victoria
falls (the same place i did the 111 meter bungy).
The gorge is over 100 metres deep with huge rapids - Grade 5 - and
if the waves don't get you then the crocodiles in the shallows will.
It was pretty awesome and people really do get
hurt fairly often. The only problem I have though (apart from the
inability to surf) is that since having tried it on 14ft waves,
having a go on a pissy little Grade 3 hardly gets my heart going
- Ohmygaaaard! he's so hard! - No, that's not what I mean,
but the Kiwi ones I tried were more for the scenery than the thrill.
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Not my photo
- stolen from here
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There
are two main operators where I lived in Queenstown, and
as I've stolen their respective photos to put on this page
I really should give them a mention. First off is
Mad Dog who are a bunch of loons who happily drive around
town in a van that barks and howls over loudspeaker…
Yeah.
They surf a long but relaxing stretch of river and offer
the opportunity of being dragged behind a jet ski at 297
mph (I may be slightly wrong about the exact speed, but
it feels that fast). If you've ever wanted REALLY clean
skin then this option will be your thing - and that feeling
of gripping on for dear life as your fingers slowly lose
hold of the handle sure is a nice touch.
Serious Fun are their rivals and are equally mental
and also swimmingly nice people. With them you can go on
a bit more of challenging rapid for more adrenaline addicted
folk like me. Both give you the chance to see unfeasibly
gorgeous scenery, and when you're in the water you'll notice
that you're covered in gold glitter. I mean this literally
as you are covered in gold dust that sparkles in the sun
- the Kawarau and Shotover rivers being extremely rich in
gold washed down from the mountains.
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