Rafting- TPP

Date:19th-23rd, 26th-30th March
Location: Arnold River, Murchison
Participants: Group 1; Kristin, Julia, Rhys, Hugo, Jono, Logan, Watson, Ari, Rob Bruce, Corey
Duration: 2 weeks
Grades: 2-3+
Weather: Mostly fine
Incidents/ Injuries: The day before our two weeks of Raft-life began I managed to injure my back, by picking my Kayak up awkwardly. This was enough to cause a muscle spasm in my lower back, that later resulted in tendon injuries in my neck. Because I didn’t want to miss out on Raft, I ignored the pain and caused more damage to my back. If I had given the lower muscles of my back time to heal, as opposed to putting strain on the upper half of my back, the healing process would have been dramatically abridged. However, I paid the price by having to miss out on a tramp, lots of valuable SDL time in the holidays and weeks of restricted physical activity.

  Raft proved to more than just fun and games. It was a large responsibility, having the lives of others, quite literally in your hands. I did feel much safer in a big red “life jacket” as opposed to a Kayak. Cruising down the Arnold for the first was a good way to learn the paddle strokes required to guide the raft. I found flipping the raft a lot of fun and I was pleased that I was able to get into the raft, the first time I tried to get in (from the river) without assistance.
  Murchison had to be the highlight of my rafting time with Polytech. River rescue was both intriguing and challenging. I also felt that it brought us closer together as a team, trusting and working with one- another. I was willing to try everything, even though I was put out of my comfort zone a number of times. I never thought I could do a lot of the things I did that week. I thoroughly enjoyed swimming down rapids, flipping the raft, rocking it out in the “self guided missile” and jumping off cliffs into the Buller River. It was interesting to hear many of the stories that our tutors Barry Goes and Coran Gould, had to tell about rafting. Not all of them were fun stories but I could definitely understand why they gave us the hard word on responsibility.
  Having a sore back the entire time was quite restricting, but I’m glad that I didn’t miss out on learning all that we did over that two week period. It was undoubtedly much more exciting than sitting at home, learning how to tie a Fishermans knot.