We have had an awesome last couple of weeks, with the weather being PERFECT! Summer has finally arrived (just a little bit late), and we are definitely making the most of it and getting out on the beautiful blue water as much as possible. The mighty Rangitata River is running pretty low at the moment, so we are super lucky that the Rangitata is a Grade 5 river regardless. So even though its low we are still getting some wicked Grade 5 white water action – life is good!
This past weekend was Bullerfest 2010 held in Murchison on the Buller River. Bullerfest is the biggest white water festival in Australasia, attracting around 500 people from around the country for 3 days of rafting and kayaking. One of the big events is the Raft-A-Cross race, and a big congrats goes to our guides and trainees Amigo, Muz, Chunk, Duncan, Paul and Jenny (from Peel Forest OPC), who battled 12 other teams to take out first place!
Last week we also took one of our booking agents, Emily from the Christchurch I-Site, rafting and she had an awesome time! Check out her experience on the Christchurch and Canterbury Tourism Blog here.
On a sad note – Vic has left the kitchen for the season to head down to Waimate wallabie country, but we are stoked to have the lovely Sarah taking over BBQ duty.

While going through some old emails recently we found this one from Chris in the UK and thought we would share it:

Dear whoever,

I have just been on your website and reminiscing about the time myself, girlfriend (now wife) Natalie and friends Rory and Ann Marie spent with you rafting in 2004 (I can’t believe it’s already almost 4 years ago(now 6 years, Chris sent this two years ago!)). I was looking at the pictures and just had to send you the one of us that you guys took for us back in October 2004, I think the faces tell the story!!

The fact that we went travelling for 1 year to some amazing countries and yet this is the picture that is still the wallpaper on my computer at work tells you how much we enjoyed it and the memories it provokes!!

Keep up the good work and put this picture on your website

Chris Morgan (UK)

We absolutely love getting feedback from our awesome customers, and we work really hard to provide the best possible New Zealand white water rafting experience, so its awesome to get great feedback like this! If we have taken you rafting recently (or not so recently) and you enjoyed your experience, please let us know – we love to hear what you enjoyed and what we can improve on. Send us an email or write us a review on either Rankers www.rankers.co.nz or Trip Advisor www.tripadvisor.com

After the crazy weather at the beginning of the year and the drizzle last week, we are super stoked the sun has finally come out to play! And after the high water we had early in January, the river has calmed down and is a beautiful, clear, blue, perfect for rafting. So its fantastic to be getting out there and making the most of it.  One of the (many) awesome things about the hot weather is it means we can do lots of playing on the river – surfing, swimming and jumping off rocks, are heaps of fun when the sun is shining and the river is crystal clear. Heres a few pics from the last week of us loving the blue….

Mother Nature has been playing havoc with the weather lately. It’s been beautiful and hot here in Peel Forest, but heaps of rain falling at the Rangitata headwaters has caused the Rangitata River to flood with the  river peaking at 800 cumecs this week, 4 times our safety cut off level! This has meant a few dry days off for the guides, and when we have been able to get out on the water it’s been some big, crazy water to add to the excitement of the river.

But a flood isn’t enough to keep us off the water, this week we’ve run the Lower section with a couple of American University groups. The normally more sedate Lower Rangitata becomes  exhilarating and exciting in flood, and everyone had an awesome day of rafting down this wicked stretch of river before heading back to Christchurch. 

Fingers crossed the weather calms down this week and we can enjoy some more hot summer days on the Rangitata River.

This November some of the boys decided that they would get involved with ‘Movember’, an awesome cause to raise awareness for men’s health.

As anyone who visited the lodge during November will tell you, there were some seriously dodgy Mo’s gracing the faces of various guides. So we thought we would share some of their efforts with you. Cheers to everyone who put money in the tin and supported the blokes.

December brought more crazyness with our Christmas ‘Do/ Justines Leaving Party. In honour of Justine the awesome Office Hag leaving us we had a ‘J’ theme for our Christmas party. Everyone looked stunning, with some sporting really crazy outfits, including Jason cross dressing as Justine and our bus driver Ron dressing as raft guide Jason.

So  after 9 years Justine is leaving us and heading down south,  but fortunatly for us she will be making star appearences now and again, so we won’t have to miss her too much.

Merry Christmas from everyone at Rangitata Rafts, hope everyone has a good one!

A superb day to be out enjoying rafting on the crystal blue water of the Rangitata. I just found an old email comment from a guy named Tim which I had to share with you “I have rafted twice with you and it was excellent both times. It was more of an authentic Kiwi back blocks adventure then the more “disneyified” trips of other tourist towns which seem to have more of a “conveyor belt” feeling about them!” The views of the mountains & plains give you a feeling of endless space. Cheers Tim

October has been and gone  so we thought it was time to share  what some of the punters have said about their rafting adventure down the mighty Rangitata River.  (if you don’t read them all make sure you check out the last crazy one)

• “Lots of great fun and plenty of adrenaline! Wicked sweet BBQ afterwards!  Awesome trip overall” 
• “Our guide was friendly & very competent. We were given enough time to be familiar with the basic skills.  The experience was totally exciting and fun”
• “An absolute credit to New Zealand, friendly, fun and fantastic”
• “Just loved the nasal flush!”                                          
•  ”Rapids were crazy! Jumps were cool, really excellent”
• “Don’t think cold, freezing – think invigorating!”  
•  ”Beautiful surroundings, great staff and awesome rafting! Great day and great food!”
• “You might get wet!!!” (now that is a very truthful comment)
• “A shame AWESOME is an over-used word….. awesome staff, awesome time and awesome food!”
• “Extremely well organised, confident and knowledgeable staff, excellent progression of rapids.”  (Hmm, I bet those guide’s mothers are pleased to hear such rave reviews about their boys!)

And I have left the best and the longest for last;

“A true testament to Kiwi hospitality and adventure! WE had the best time ever, great guides, river, photos and chowtastic BBQ and we think …

• the potatoes were lush
• and the showers are heavenly
• and the guides haristyles are inspirational
• and the fire is hot
• and there are free brews
• and the sofas are incredible
• and my bed is so snuggle and far enough away from the smelly boys
• and I liked the stripey polypro tops
• and the grass was cut so nicely
• and the photos on the walls are fab
• and everyone has been sooper welcoming – the best in NZ!”

They were taken from the Oct surveys – next time I will hunt out some comments from the visitors books which can always be entertaining!

Those  out rafting the Rangitata gorge today are moving very quickly down the river  and without much paddle power.  The nor-west wind is right behind them pushing them as they ride the grade 5 rapids.  The start of Oct we had another quick trip as the power of the Oxford Rowing Eight aqua-planned the rafts down the river (or so Jason, one of our guides thought) he reckoned they were the strongest paddlers he has ever had.  They didn’t even realise when another raft tied on behind them and got a free ride on the flat section!

NZ rowing medallist – George Bridgewater, decided to bring the rowing crew to raft with Rangitata Rafts after he was recommended it by a friend, and he wanted to leave a lasting impression of New Zealand for the guys at the end of their time at Oxford.  This is what he had to say about it “Thanks for taking us rafting on your magnificent river.  I was really blown away on what an adventure it really is – the guys were so pumped after the day and it was a vry special end to our Southern sojourn.  I’ll be sure to recommend it shamelessly whenever I can.” 

So as you can see the Rangitata Rafting season is underway, despite the rain (hey you are going to get wet anyway so you might as well get out and enjoy it).

This is the first blog on our new website and from now on we will try and keep you updated with the happenings both on and off the river.  The guides are slowly starting to return from their winters away to warmer parts of the world so I am sure they will have a few stories to share (or not)!

Have a good week.  Cheers Alex and the team @ Rangitata Rafts

Welcome to the brand new website for Rangitata Rafts!