January 16 - Day 8

 Today is our rafting day and the rain is still persistent, although occasionally lighter. We headed over to breakfast at Fire and Ice again. This place is wonderful and the food and coffee are absolutely perfect. It is the high point of the day for me.

After breakfast, we boarded the bus and headed to Hamner Springs Attractions where we will do our rafting trip. There was a lot of hurry up and wait with briefing and fitting us to our clothing. It was fun, not. Strip to your swim suit, put on a wet suit, a wet jacket on top of that, a wind breaker on top of that, a life jacket on top of that. Add booties and a helmet and you’re ready to go. If it was hot, the clothing would have been awful but we appreciated the protection from the rain and cold. We hiked down to the river, got a few more instructions and off we went. This river is a grade 2 so very calm with a few rapids that offered a little excitement. The gorge was beautiful in spite of the weather. Normally the water is a beautiful blue color but we got the brown muddy version. I really enjoyed going down the river in spite of all the less than perfect situations. We rafted down uneventfully. Matt and I were in the front and a little paddling was involved, but never strenuous. A jet boat took us back after about three miles or so of rafting down. 

The company prepared a BBQ lunch for us. It was ok. Nothing like the other food we’ve had but adequate. We now headed to a farm for a tour. We met Michael and James, father and son, who owned a large farm that raised sheep, cattle and deer. They described their farming process to us. We watched James shear a couple of sheep and watched their sheep dogs work. It was interesting. I really enjoyed it. Nothing canned or scripted. Just honest people sharing their lives. Afterward, we got scones with jam and cream and tea! True New Zealand experience and I of course, loved it.

After the farm, we headed back to Hamner. It was about a 45 min drive and of course, the rain continues. I fell asleep, nothing new there. We are on our own tonight. No shared dinner on the program. Matt and I decided to walk around some. It was raining lightly but not terrible. We feel bad we haven’t been able to explore at all here. We walked all around the town and around the grounds of an old hospital. This hospital was used to treat soldiers with nervous system disorders from the war and later expanded to treat women with nervous system disorders. We call these disorders mental illness now. They had a copy of the program the doctor used for treatment and it was so interesting to think someone was doing this in the 1930’s. It was humane and kind. Rest, exercise, meditation, good food. 

Neither of us were terribly hungry but decided to share some local fish and chips. We stopped at a place that was good and not expensive, even though you had to buy everything separate, including ketchup. 

We walked a bit more after dinner. Managed to get our 10,000 steps in, amazingly enough. Came back and watched a little TV and headed to bed. I continue to get really good sleep here. Feeling very rested.

Tomorrow we head out to Twizel. Hoping we see the sun. Haven’t see it since we left Auckland. 

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