Dear Diary

 15^th February, Hilton Hotel –New Zealand

This day was the best day I have ever experienced. It contained everything a good day should consist of: excitement, fun, good mood, laugh, amazing people and fantastic landscape and nature. Dear Diary, today I took part of something everybody who is visiting New Zealand should do: Rafting!

It all began with me and my friends walking around in the streets of Auckland, when we suddenly saw a poster hanging on a wall. The poster said: “Do you want to have a once-in-a-lifetime-experience? Visit our office, and you will get all the information you need about river rafting. Don’t hesitate, it’s fantastic!” After reading it, we looked at each other and thought “Hey, why not try?” So, we went to the office, and at once I put my feet inside the room, a special feeling appeared. A feeling that said: you have done the right thing, and you will have a great time! And it seems like this particular feeling was right.

The next morning we went to Tongariro national park, where the rafting was going to take place, a little nervous, but exited. We met our instructors who seemed very professional. Their enthusiasm was huge, and they promised to keep us safe during the trip. After we had been taught about how to behave in the boat, we finally went to the river. The river was called “Tongariro White Water”, and it had a 3th grade of difficulty (where 5 were highest). 

When I sat down in the boat, all sense of nervousness vanished. My body became full of adrenalin and all my thoughts just disappeared. I was rafting with my friends, and the water was so clear and fresh that I could have drunk it! We rafted past volcanic cliffs, and through the native flora. The view was just incredible, and we did even see the Whio Whio (Blue duck) natives. With us in our boat was an experienced river guide, who told us about the environment and some interesting facts. Our boat went down the river in an unbelievable speed and we did even go down some scary waterfalls.

Sometimes the boat bumped into big stones. When this happened, the passengers (us) jumped very high, and it was really hard to not fall into the river. Everybody that knows me, are familiar with my unsteadiness –and this became even worse in the rafting boat! With an enormous splash I fell into the river like a big rock. I panicked, because the water was freezing and I was afraid of drowning, but fortunately my friends helped me up into the boat again. 

The perfect trip ended with a lovely dinner and good drinks at the base of the rafting-club. In my opinion this trip was the highlight of our days in New Zealand, and I definitely want to do this again!

Greatings from New Zealand,

Fanny