Jet Boat!!!!!!!

The Gang decided to sign up for a day of Jetboating with Roffy, an Otautau treasure. We knew we had signed up for a fast boat ride across a lake and down a river and back. What we didn't know was that the day would be full of other adventures as well. I think we were all pleasantly surprised by the variety and excitement we experienced. For example, we had no idea we would be able to play rock/log baseball on the edge of the lake at a little place called Teal Bay: 

And I don't think anybody expected to find the front half of a HUGE 'crayfish' (lobster):

You can see the amazement all over my face.

And look at THIS:

A great big swing bridge out there across the Mighty Wairaurahiri River!

We explored rivers.

We explored the coast.

and we explored this old hikers/hunter's hut, complete with 1983 Playboy Calendar hanging.

That mirror is awfully clean compared to everything else...

There was a waterfall.

We even got to see the burial site of a Maori Princess.

We got an impressive lunch of venison, sausages, lamb, and shrimp!

And Oh Yea! The Jetboating:

This might give you an idea of how fun it was!

Here's a little video:

If Dan had been a little closer, I would have achieved an 8-person selfie...

To give you a little more substantial information about the trip, we started at Lake Hauroko. We met up with Roffy there, loaded into the Jetboat, and took off across the lake to check out that waterfall and burial site. Then after a little zipping around and a stop at Teal Bay, we headed down 'New Zealand's Longest Waterfall' - the Wairaurahiri River - all the way to the Southern Coast of NZ. At the end, we stopped at Waitutu lodge for out lunch, then worked our way back up the river, stopping at a few points of interest along the way, including a wild deer booby-trap pen where people catch deer when they walk into a pen and trip the wire, causing the door to swing shut.

Our Trusty Vessel.

Stranded in the middle of the river.

Here's another video of the ride:

Loving it.

This thing goes pretty fast.

Look how shallow the water is. These boats only need maybe 6 inches of water. Pretty Rad.

Adventurers to the max. 

When we got back to the dock, the guys decided to go for a dip in the deepest lake in New Zealand. I think it's about 1200 feet deep, which is a little terrifying, really. And the water is freezing, by the way. 

 

A A Ron cannon-balling.

Group pic right before Roffy came and splashed us all with his boat: 

 And our last adventure of the day was a game of chicken. Nate and I were clearly the winners. Check it out:

Here we are, all calm, cool, and collected. Determination all over our faces, oozing confidence.

We were apparently so intimidating that we didn't even have to touch our opponents to win: 

Meanwhile, Dan is tempting fate by swimming out in the super-deep lake where there are most likely large dinosaur-like creatures waiting for another meal. I'm sure they're too big to reach into the shallow parts where I was.