We were booked on the 1pm adventure rafting trip so we
needed to arrive at Montreal Rafting, south of the city, by 1230pm. We got there even earlier than this, allowing
us to have a warming cup of tea on the RV first, as it was somewhat gusty. We also each opted for the additional extra
of a wet-suit:
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| The 'before' picture.... |
We explained to the lady at the counter that we were all
first-timers and a little nervous, so she advised us to stick to the back of
the boat where we would feel the rise and fall less. Despite this, we were too slow getting into the boat,
so guess who got to go at the front?!
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| Spot the geek with the camera... |
They also had hard hats with the
fittings for Go-Pro cameras so I got to take some live adrenalin-filled footage:
There was an extremely strong current as the volume of water
in the river was really high. This meant
that we all had to paddle strongly as a team to reach the correct point on the
river to hit the white water. It was
tough going, but the exertion kept us warm.
There was more stopping than expected.
We would paddle hard and then the guides would shout ‘break!’ and we’d
hang on to a tree or a piece of rock to get our breath back and discuss the
tactics for the next water obstacle. I
think this happened three times, between which we flew through some large
looking waves and got a soaking! I think
it was more the apprehension, as we saw the waves we were heading for, that
gave the adrenalin rush. Before we had
too much time to dwell on it we were through it and out the other side and the
water calmed back down again.
The two hours flew by and surprisingly we were
told we were heading for shore where a bus would pick us and the boats up,
having travelled about 7km downriver. It was at this point, when Ann was
starting to shiver from the cold, that Simon thought it would be a good idea to
use his arm to sweep his mother into the water backwards! I gawped in disbelief as I watched poor Ann
disappear away from me into the water. Luckily, we were not in an incredibly
fast-flowing section so she remained next to the boat and was hauled out by the
shoulders of her life-vest. She took it
with brilliant humour. I’m not sure I’d
have been laughing through the ordeal. Simon informed us that it wasn’t
personal – Ray or I would’ve had exactly the same treatment if we had been
misfortunate enough to sit by his side! The
rest of the day we tried to make Simon feel suitably guilty for doing this,
especially as no one else got completely dunked as we had expected at the start
of the day! There were various gags about him being written out of the will
when they get home…. But here’s a pic to
prove we all survived relatively unscathed!
Back on the RV to get changed and have a warming drink, we
discussed our experience. We’d all had a
fun time but agreed we thought there’d be more constant white water with less
paddling in between! Maybe next time we’d
try it on a thinner stretch of water with more obstacles. Or maybe it was a
good thing to have experienced our first go on a river like this where you had
the opportunity to catch your breath?!
Traffic back to our campsite was heavy so it was late
afternoon by the time we arrived. The
weather was behaving according to plan, so tonight we hosted Ann and Ray for a
final barbecue for their last night in Canada.
Despite our earlier exertions I was feeling bad that we hadn’t had the
chance to experience the park we were staying in despite spending three nights
there! Thankfully, Ray was happy to
accompany me out on the bikes to explore the area. This park was similar to the last one, in
that it was a series of adjoining islands.
We headed off to see how far we could get. The answer to that was - not very far! The only method to reach the next island
across was a cable boat that ran between 9 and 5pm. It was now 545pm!
We cycled the
circumference of the island we were on, seeing some nice views and a deer or
two, but we could only string it out for about 30 minutes before we were back
where we’d started at the RV site. And Simon and Ann were still on the same game
of chess! They had at least lit the BBQ,
so dinner was on its way, which was a good thing as I was HUNGRY!
We spent the evening playing cards as we had most evenings
in their company until it was time to call for a taxi and walk them to
the gates to catch their lift to the hotel.
Their flight home wouldn’t be until late tomorrow, so we agreed to
pick them up about 11am so that we could make the most of our last hours
together.
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