Dart River Safaris

Well I got picked up early this morning to go to Glenorchy and the River Dart (doesn't look like the one in Devon!) and have 'a journey that touches the soul' - their slogan not mine!

Stu was our driver and he later turned out to be my canoe guide and partner! We drove up the Glenorchy Road to Glenorchy! It was so gorgeous driving up along the lakeside, Stu gave us some commentary but I can't remember much!

At Glenorchy - which is tiny - we went to the Dart River Safaris office paid our money and got kitted up. This was awful! Luckily I had been told to bring a swimsuit but others hadn't so had to put these horrible wetsuits over their underwear! Even getting it on was a challenge! Then we had to wear horrible booties! I couldn't even zip mine up and they were awful to walk in! Luckily we were given fleeces and spray jackets to wear over the top!

We were then bused down to the river and got in our jet boats! This was awesome! We jet boated for about an hour and a half and did lots of spins! It wasn't as fast as the excitor in Paihia but it did wicked stunts!

The views were absolutely fantastic! The area we were in was used for the surroundings of Isengard and Sarumans Tower in LOTR! Our driver was lovely he stopped every now and then and explained the history of the area and also about Lord of the Rings! One of the mountains was also where Gandalf fought the Balrog at the end of the first movie! There were two jet boats out at the same time and it was his son driving the other one so there was lots of friendly banter and competition! Especially spraying each other when doing twists!

We then alighted at the river bank where another boat had dropped off the inflatable canoe/kayaks (known as funyaks!). We had to inflate these ourselves (with help of course) and there were hundreds of sandflies. Luckily I had applied liberal amounts of repellent and escaped major injury! They managed to get my knuckles though! Once the funyaks had been inflated we were split into four groups of four kayaks. Stu was my group leader and as I was all by myself I was in the boat with him! He said 'this'll be the easiest day of you holiday!' - No joke I didn't have to anything really. i paddled now and then but he did all the steering with his paddle. I suppose this was cool as I just sat back and enjoyed the views but I was looking forward to a bit of paddling action after my amazing kayaking in Abel Tasman!

We stopped after 45 minutes for lunch, only problem was that we had to walk about a kilometre to where we ate lunch. Normally no problem, but having a wetsuit on and wet uncomfortable shoes over rocks! So I could only take small steps and could feel my scab coming off from where I had blistered on the heli hike in Franz Josef - AGH!

When we got to the clearing we then went down to another river area where the guys had pulled some funyaks up river and we could paddle into the most amazing gorge! I couldn't believe how beautiful it was and how clear the water was! It was obviously formed by water eroding the rock and the water runs straight down from melting snow which was visible from the river! It was so magical, I felt that I had well and truly stepped into middle earth!

Lunch was a buffet affair with make your own sandwiches and then a fruit and cake platter for dinner!

As I had found it difficult to walk in my wetsuit and was therefore last coming up to lunch the Dart River people let me go back in the funyaks! This was way better than walking! It was also a bit rough - small rapids - great fun!

We then all regrouped and made our way in the funyaks down the river! We had to raft up with another funyak as they were finding it very difficult to row! It was interesting though to talk to them, they were a chinese-american couple from LA on their honeymoon! The lady is a news anchor in LA!

Going downstream was so easy we just stayed in the current and it took us all the way down. We had to watch out for jet boats though! We ended up at another bank where we deflated the funyaks and boarded minibuses to take us back to Glenorchy.

On the bus trip - with Stu driving we were shown some of the LOTR locations! Where the ents come out of the forest to attack Isengard, where Boromir was shot by Orcs, Lothlorien woods. It was unbelievable how obvious these sights are! Also this area (called Paradise!) was used for Walking with Dinosaurs and Narnia!

We went past Diamond Lake - those of you have been in my room will know this sight as it is the one on my bathroom door! It was so cool seeing it in real life! The scenery is so amazing with snowcapped peaks, ice blue water, lush green trees - horrid sandflies!

Back in Glenorchy I was so glad to get rid of the wetsuit! I went for a coffee and ice cream in the local cafe before we got back on the bus to Queenstown!

Back in Queenstown I went and had a Fergburger for dinner! Fergburger is the most amazing burgers ever! They have your normal beefburgers, lamb burgers (little bambis), Chicken burgers, etc! And they are massive!

I went back to the hostel room after this and chatted with the dorm mates and went to sleep - I was so tired after today! I am never going near wetsuits ever again!