Mad Dog River Boarding...Not for the weak

Queenstown, New Zealand – 14 February 2011 at 11:59pm
Kansas City, USA - February 14, 2011 at 4:59am

Happy Valentine’s Day! (Yes I know it’s not a real holiday but have a great day anyway)

Today started bright and early at 6:45am. Those of us who signed up to do the Mad Dog River Boarding activity had to be at the office at 7:45am. Upon arrival we were again greeted by some overly enthusiastic tour guides and were force to sign our lives away on some waivers.

We loaded up in the van to take the 45 minute drive around some windy roads to the “cabin” (aka shack) to get our wetsuits, flippers and helmet…anything that requires a helmet you know is going to be a good time. We squeezed into our wetsuits and booties (I was tired at this point…I had no idea what I was about to go through) and made our way down to the river. River boarding is actually somewhat dangerous…you must be a strong swimmer and feel comfortable in the water. The guides seriously do have a lot of responsibility to make sure that everyone makes it down the rapids safely. So to ensure that you won’t freak out and put yourself, the guide or any other ‘river boarder’ at risk you have to prove that you can swim. They took us to a part in the river where the current wasn’t as strong so we could prove ourselves. It was basically a fitness test…and a tough one at that. We all got in the water with our gear on and swam, and swam, and swam and practiced using our ‘body boards,’ getting on and off, on and off, basically doing drills until someone finally yelled out “I didn’t sign up for a fitness test!” (hahaha). 

Once we all passed the rigorous (what I thought was rigorous at the time…again, I had no clue what I was in for…I always seem to leap before I look…I should really pay more attention details of these activities before I go signing myself up for things) test we took off our flippers and hiked back up the hill to the shack, across the bridge and back to the van which took us about 5k-7k upstream to where we would get in the water and go downstream to where we started (the shack). While we were in the van, we went over all the signals to ensure that each of us had a safe journey down the rapids. 

I’ll admit it, I was nervous…to keep positive all I kept thinking was “you are learning great life lessons as well as skills & keywords you can add to your resume for when you start job hunting again…things like: instantaneous decision-making, independent thinker, ability to perform critical analysis in crisis situations, etc…not to mention…ability to keep head above water during life or death river boarding down rapids that are moving so fast they could fill an Olympic size pool in three seconds…yes the tour guide told us that. I think he could have told us that after we completed our journey down stream.

Anywho, we all filed into the water, one by one and held onto the rocks until our fearless leader said the words “Go!” Everyone tried to quickly swim to the middle of the river…obviously since a river makes a large ‘V’ formation you need to try to stay in the middle as much as possible so you don’t get beat up by a rock. At first I was seriously scared…the river was moving fast (and we hadn’t even gotten to the rapids yet) and you being to quickly realize how powerful the river is and how powerful you are not. I could see the rapids ahead and thought “oh, sh!t  Emily, what are you doing wearing a helmet and hanging on to a styrofoam board floating down a river in New Zealand for Pete’s sake!”

Once we reached the rapids thought, it was a blast. The freezing cold waves would smash you right in the face and toss you from side to side. My favorite part was when it would spin you around and around like a top and then kick you out into the next rapid. My goal was to not fall off the board which I was completely successful at…high-fives to myself. There were about 2k-3k of rapids, each one more fast and furious (no movie pun intended) than the next… It was so much fun. 

Going through the rapids were much less work than swimming in the “slower moving” current…it felt so refreshing after our previous “workout.” Once we made it through the rapids we just coasted downstream and followed our guide trying to stay in the middle…this was the toughest part. You really had to be strong to get back to the middle if you started to drift to the sides…the only way to do this is to point your board at a 45 degree angle upstream and kick as hard as you can…again, the river is powerful so you have to be more powerful … and efficient in your efforts. I was exhausted…completely exhausted…it felt like I had just completed three personal workout sessions with my trainer back home… I felt d.e.a.d. – but the ride wasn’t over yet… One of the guides (there were three with us in total) had us swim over towards the rocks while one of the other guides went to get the waverunner/Seadoo (whatever you would like to call it). We all put our boards up on the rocks and made the hike to the top of the cliff where we (again) one by one jumped off and floated downstream and grabbed onto the “water craft” who pulled us back to the rocks. 

As a kid I use to go cliff diving at the Lake of the Ozarks. My parents friends have a lake house and a boat and use to take all the kids to the cliffs to dive/jump…it was a blast. When I went to camp at Kanakuk, we would have to climb to the top of a telephone pole, stand on the top of it with only a harness around our waist and jump off hoping someone would pull the ropes and catch us…it was called the Faith Pole… I use to be fearless…I had no qualms about jumping off of a cliff or a pole several feet off the ground but for some reason, today, I had lost that fearlessness and was terrified to jump…it took me about 7 seconds to get the urge to jump. It turned out to be fun…it felt like being a kid again. Back to being fearless.

And just when I thought the fun was over…it wasn’t. Next we each got a turn to hang onto a body board that was securely fixed to the back of the waverunner and one of the guides raced us up and down the river swerving and spinning trying to throw us off…I was on the back with Chris (another guy from our group) and yes we got thrown off in a 360 spin…it was hilarious, but fun. Next we all climbed to the top of another area on the river (where the shack was located) to ride the big slide down the river on our boards so you would skim perpendicular across the river and then float downstream and grab onto the waverunner to bring you back up to the slide.

I was so exhausted by the time this activity was over… I swear I got my money’s worth! Thank you Mad Dog River Boarding for another great experience in Queenstown!

notice the bungy jump in the bottom right corner

After we cleaned up and dried off we rode back in the van to our original destination in the center of Queenstown. I knew my roommates were doing the “Lord of the Rings” guided tour and I thought they were doing something in the afternoon so I thought I would take a nap after my very active morning… I was wrong (again, don’t assume). They came back a few minutes after I returned so we all went for a ride in the gondola that takes you up the mountainside to catch some amazing views of Queenstown.

We had lunch at the restaurant in the observation building, did a little shopping  and watched people ride the luge down the mountain…it was a nice afternoon giving the wild morning I had.

After we rode the return ride in the gondola back to the city center we went to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients for tonight’s Valentine’s Day dinner....spaghetti bolognaise. Since I am not a cook I volunteered to do the dishes… The guests consisted of eight girls and one guy…at least someone was lucky at our table on V-Day and his name was Steven from Ireland.

After dinner and the clean-up we all headed for our rooms to freshen up before we were to go to the Ice Bar. The Ice Bar is literally a bar made of ice…the bar, the shelves, the glasses, the tables, the sculptures…all of it…ice. The temperature is kept at minus 5 degrees Celsius…which is about 22 degrees Fahrenheit. For $25 NZD (about $18.75 USD at the moment) they supply you with a coat, booties, gloves and your first beverage…a really sweet fruity drink that is served in a cup made of ice which at the end of the night you get to throw in a bin and break it! Since it is so cold the maximum amount of time allotted is one hour. So after our hour was up we all smashed our glasses and went across the street to the next adult beverage station to hang out. 

After a fun night of hanging out with my new found friends it is time for some sleep… I’m looking forward to tomorrow…it is our first ‘free’ day on the trip… I don’t have to get up and be anywhere I can just relax…although I think we might be going for a bike ride at some point….

Additional Photos: Queenstown