Sonntag, 14. August 2011
Aug 13: A day full of fun and mishaps! =D
canadiantour, 23:03h
I already got up at about 8 am to get ready for the White Water Rafting Tour in Chilliwack today. I arrived in front of the SWAP office at 09.30 am and met Tanja there in order to give her her sleeping bag and some my food.
The bus was supposed to depart at 10.00 am – if there would have been a bus to depart xD So the day started already with a mishap:
The 1st mishap: The bus arrived over 1 ½ hours to late. Somewhen around 11.45 am. When we finally got on the bus, the second mishap followed.
The 2nd mishap: Either a car accident or some building lot – both things caused traffic jams and made us arriving in Chilliwack even later. Instead of arriving at 11.30 am, we arrived at 13.00 pm xD =D
This led to even more chaos: We had to hurry up with filling in some forms, eating lunch in rush and then heading towards the „Dungeons“ to get the bathing gear. So while i was eating my lunch, I took on my bathing gear and tried to take some picutres at the same time... woah xD =D
One of the guides explained that there are to possibilities of a White Water Rafting Tour – either the one for beginners („classic tour“) or the one for advanced („canyoning tour“). For the start we decided of course for the classic tour ;)
So the whole group was devided into two smaller ones.
Afterwards everyone got a paddle and we got onto the bus, bringing us to the spot we were supposed to set off for the tour.
The 3rd mishap: when we arrived at that spot, somehow it turned to be too less rafts for to many people. No idea why. Either they did not count properly or the people didnt show properly whether they want to do the classic or the advanced tour. No matter what reason was the right one, we had to wait for more boats coming. Again waiting xD. And I already found it a pity that i was not able to take my camera with me. Already now the surrounding view was so awesome. Hardly possible to describe.
I have no idea how long we waited, when finally a car with more rafts arrived. At least I and four others from the SWAP-group got our raft and after some more time our guide – calles Sam – was present as well. =) So the raft could start at last! =D
It was like in a picture book, when we were floating down the river, the sun glistening on the water and mountains rising high in to the air in the background. Water splashed in our faces, when it was extremely rough. It was fun, ideed, and i hoped that i would not fall into the water. Even though, this would have been some experience as well. xD
The 4th mishap: At the start of the raft a young woman took a photo of us, taking some more during the raft. Our boat came to a hold in a calm pool, as we wanted to walk to a waterfall. Everyone came to halt, as well, including this young lady. And then it turned out that she did a huge mistake... she forgot to close the zipper of the water-proof bag, containing the camera. As she even fell out once into the water, the camera was completely wet now. Broken. Later she and the other guides realized that even the SD-card was useless. That mean altogether that there are no picuters at all af the rafting tour! Yippie! xD =D It is definetely a pity, but i wont forget this tour, anyway. These experiences are saved as memories in my mind ;) Its only quite hard to share them with you. But well, perhaps i am able to repeat that somewhen. =P
So we didnt only walk to the water, but we walked through it. Cold mountain water was pouring down on my quite hard, leaving me totally soaked behind xD
Then the tour could go on.
The 5th mishap: It was really an adventure to raft down the river – for some others it was probably to much of an adventure... a boat behind us got stuck on a rock. While some of this team could remain in the boat, two of them saved themselves on this very rock. And they didnot dare to move themselves... their raft in the meantime was floating down the river without them.
My team stopped its raft as well. Our guide Sam tried to help the two on the rock and finally – after a while – they got rescued by an other raft. During this action we waited on a nearby shell, eating oranges which were brought by the save boat =D
After everything was arranged again, the tour could continue once more...
The 6th mishap: As the river and its nature is almost without human influence, there are many rocks and trees blocking the way from time to time. One time it happened that one tree lay across the river and we had to use a different way. And that means walking and carrying the boat over lots of slippery rocks in the water.
Thenceforward no more mishaps happened. Except for me forgetting a spare pair of shoes …
So altogether the tour was absolutely an adventure. Probably it wasnt a usual tour at all, but at least my firat white water rafting looked like this and i will keep it in mind like this ;) as i said, there are now unfortunately no pictures at all of the tour itself. I can just recommend to you to do water rafting yourself one time =)
We we were back at the water-rafting-office at about 6.30 pm. We changed our clothes and got finally rid of this disgusting and wet bathing gear =D On our way back home we had a break to buy some dinner. Everyone was quite finihed after that tour and i myself dozed a bit during our journey back to vancouver.
As i had no dry shoes with me, i had again to put on my soaking wet shoes. But putting them in the washing mashine and in the dryer afterwards made them look like new once more =P
I did my laundry and started packing for the other, but fell into bed around midnight, quickly asleep (and completely alone in the three-bed- room, by the way ;) )
The bus was supposed to depart at 10.00 am – if there would have been a bus to depart xD So the day started already with a mishap:
The 1st mishap: The bus arrived over 1 ½ hours to late. Somewhen around 11.45 am. When we finally got on the bus, the second mishap followed.
The 2nd mishap: Either a car accident or some building lot – both things caused traffic jams and made us arriving in Chilliwack even later. Instead of arriving at 11.30 am, we arrived at 13.00 pm xD =D
This led to even more chaos: We had to hurry up with filling in some forms, eating lunch in rush and then heading towards the „Dungeons“ to get the bathing gear. So while i was eating my lunch, I took on my bathing gear and tried to take some picutres at the same time... woah xD =D
One of the guides explained that there are to possibilities of a White Water Rafting Tour – either the one for beginners („classic tour“) or the one for advanced („canyoning tour“). For the start we decided of course for the classic tour ;)
So the whole group was devided into two smaller ones.
Afterwards everyone got a paddle and we got onto the bus, bringing us to the spot we were supposed to set off for the tour.
The 3rd mishap: when we arrived at that spot, somehow it turned to be too less rafts for to many people. No idea why. Either they did not count properly or the people didnt show properly whether they want to do the classic or the advanced tour. No matter what reason was the right one, we had to wait for more boats coming. Again waiting xD. And I already found it a pity that i was not able to take my camera with me. Already now the surrounding view was so awesome. Hardly possible to describe.
I have no idea how long we waited, when finally a car with more rafts arrived. At least I and four others from the SWAP-group got our raft and after some more time our guide – calles Sam – was present as well. =) So the raft could start at last! =D
It was like in a picture book, when we were floating down the river, the sun glistening on the water and mountains rising high in to the air in the background. Water splashed in our faces, when it was extremely rough. It was fun, ideed, and i hoped that i would not fall into the water. Even though, this would have been some experience as well. xD
The 4th mishap: At the start of the raft a young woman took a photo of us, taking some more during the raft. Our boat came to a hold in a calm pool, as we wanted to walk to a waterfall. Everyone came to halt, as well, including this young lady. And then it turned out that she did a huge mistake... she forgot to close the zipper of the water-proof bag, containing the camera. As she even fell out once into the water, the camera was completely wet now. Broken. Later she and the other guides realized that even the SD-card was useless. That mean altogether that there are no picuters at all af the rafting tour! Yippie! xD =D It is definetely a pity, but i wont forget this tour, anyway. These experiences are saved as memories in my mind ;) Its only quite hard to share them with you. But well, perhaps i am able to repeat that somewhen. =P
So we didnt only walk to the water, but we walked through it. Cold mountain water was pouring down on my quite hard, leaving me totally soaked behind xD
Then the tour could go on.
The 5th mishap: It was really an adventure to raft down the river – for some others it was probably to much of an adventure... a boat behind us got stuck on a rock. While some of this team could remain in the boat, two of them saved themselves on this very rock. And they didnot dare to move themselves... their raft in the meantime was floating down the river without them.
My team stopped its raft as well. Our guide Sam tried to help the two on the rock and finally – after a while – they got rescued by an other raft. During this action we waited on a nearby shell, eating oranges which were brought by the save boat =D
After everything was arranged again, the tour could continue once more...
The 6th mishap: As the river and its nature is almost without human influence, there are many rocks and trees blocking the way from time to time. One time it happened that one tree lay across the river and we had to use a different way. And that means walking and carrying the boat over lots of slippery rocks in the water.
Thenceforward no more mishaps happened. Except for me forgetting a spare pair of shoes …
So altogether the tour was absolutely an adventure. Probably it wasnt a usual tour at all, but at least my firat white water rafting looked like this and i will keep it in mind like this ;) as i said, there are now unfortunately no pictures at all of the tour itself. I can just recommend to you to do water rafting yourself one time =)
We we were back at the water-rafting-office at about 6.30 pm. We changed our clothes and got finally rid of this disgusting and wet bathing gear =D On our way back home we had a break to buy some dinner. Everyone was quite finihed after that tour and i myself dozed a bit during our journey back to vancouver.
As i had no dry shoes with me, i had again to put on my soaking wet shoes. But putting them in the washing mashine and in the dryer afterwards made them look like new once more =P
I did my laundry and started packing for the other, but fell into bed around midnight, quickly asleep (and completely alone in the three-bed- room, by the way ;) )
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