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11~16~00

Leaping from Waterfalls

Today I went canyoning.

This involved following a river down a canyon; by abseiling (rappelling), jumping, and sliding. The canyon we visited was a steep, narrow canyon with a small but fierce river flowing through.

After a brutal hike straight up a steep hill, we rested our burning calves by donning wetsuits, helmets, and harnesses and being instructed in how to abseil. We then walked over and peered at our first challenge: a daunting 20+ foot jump into a small pool. There was no easing into our canyoning adventure; we had to jump in all the way, feet slightly bent and arms crossed. We screwed up our courage one-by-one and jumped into the abyss.



The water was ice-cold. Frigid. Straight from the snow higher up the mountain. The shock of it made my lungs constrict and I began to pant roughly as I swum out of the pool. Only after I made the safety of a rock did I realize how cold my hands and feet were, and that I had water up my nose. At that point, I dreaded the next few hours and the freezing water to come.




For the rest of the day, though, my feet would be the only real victims of the cold. They became numb in the first half hour and remained so for the rest of the day (about four hours). My hands would get extremely cold when in the water, but warmed up quickly after I got out. The rest of my body was kept less cold by the wetsuit, but I was hardly what you'd call warm.

Fearing the cold plunge





The green dot is Farley's head

We proceeded down the canyon, stopping twice for snacks and to warm ourselves up. There were several abseils, including one that must have been 60 or 70 feet, in which we descended right through the waterfall (very cold, of course). In addition, we took advantage of many natural waterslides, sliding down on our behinds into deep pools.





I'm resting on the rock

A natural waterslide



It was very fun, and just the sort of unique adventure I came to New Zealand for.

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