Slapped by a fish......

Honestly!

So here I am in the Bahamas. And the hotel is paradise. I had debated spending quite so much on this part of the trip but figured it would be my chance to stop and properly wind down. I am not very good at sitting still but every so often you just need time to be. Such inertia does bring its dangers, with less distractions there is more time to think, and sometimes you can tie yourself up in knots trying to over analyse matters but I am making a concerted effort to be brave, follow my heart and care less about what others may think. Well that is the plan but it is easier to write than do!

Anyway I treated myself to the most luxurious surroundings that I have never experienced before, and I do feel a bit of an imposter. Collected from the airport in the hotel car, I had been greeted by 4 people before I even made it through the front door! And they rang an old school hand bell to mark my arrival! Dustin, the manager, announced that they had upgraded me to a suite, which I swear is bigger than the ground floor of my house, and it comes with a butler service!!! The bar is an open hacienda on stilts  by the sea and there is so much garden that I got lost trying to get back to my room on the first night! Most of the other guests look uber glamourous, dripping in designer labels, and I am trying not to stand out in my M&S sale dress! The staff will stop in their golf buggies and offer you a lift! They all know my name and just keep asking, "Are you on your own?!" Seriously I feel like I am on a James Bond set and the past two days I have been waiting for Daniel Craig to emerge from the sea, but maybe he got his dates mixed up! Tomorrow is his last chance to impress!

So I have spent the past two days on a sun lounger, snoozing, reading and swimming in the most beautiful turquoise sea. And the sea is so warm! Yesterday I was swimming around, minding my own business, and this fish, about the size of a trout, so not small, swam straight at me, jumped out of the water and full on slapped me!!!! What the.....? I yelped, but there was no one there to see/hearit, I then suddenly wondered if the fish was running away from something bigger, and started to edge back towards the beach. But there was no fin! Just one very confused fish and one very confused Guernsey girl! Go figure!

Yesterday I did venture out of the hotel grounds, when Alan, my ex-boss, and his lovely wife Jan picked me up and took me up the coast for cocktails and dinner. It was great to catch up with them, they are fabulous company, and we ended up sat on their 5th floor apartment balcony watching a tropical lightening display that lasted for hours. Every so often there would be the most tremendous downpour, and then it would stop and the lightening would continue. It's so mesmerising watching a tropical storm. 

According to the weather reports it has been a light hurricane season here, and hopefully that trend will continue for the next two weeks.

Did I mention that there was a bottle of Veuve Cliquot in my room when I arrived? And they deliver champagne and chocolate covered strawberries to your room every evening? I may just need to sell my house, and refuse to leave here!

So tomorrow is my last full day here, and I will pretty much adopt the same pattern, snooze, swim and read, before heading out for dinner with Jan and Alan. Then it will be time to get back on the roundabout, re-enter outside life and join the chaos that will be Cuba......

Our Grand Canyon family......

As the photos are beginning to circulate I wanted to post ones of our lovely "family", including dressed up for our toga-tastic party......

So over Vegas....!

After Nick headed back to Sacremento I was by myself for the first time on this trip. As with my last trip it is these switches that are the hardest part, transitioning from being part of a group, however big or small, to be by myself. I have to adjust focus and adapt. Luckily however I did have another friend to play with! So after completing some admin in the morning, signing documents for my new work, sending emails etc I wandered over to the Venetian for lunch with Juicy Lucy! It was great to have a good catch up about all things Guernsey, and Thomas no doubt your ears were burning, as you were mentioned quite a lot!!!

We headed off for a mooch around the shops and then meet Andy, who wanted to take Lucy to a bar in the New York New York, so I tagged along. He had been to the bar before and seen an act that involved two duelling pianos! We were intrigued! The bar was practically empty and when the show started we felt so embarrassed for the two pianists. They sit opposite each other and try and whip up a frenzy by asking for requests and then pitching the punters against each other, so one may play country music until the other one gets a higher bid to play a rock n roll song. To start with it was cringe-worthy with maybe 20 of us in the bar, but in less than an hour they had pulled a crowd and were slickly pitching the Americans against the Canadians, the Aussie's against the Brits, colleges against each other, any angle to increase the tips coming in.  

We were there for about 4 hours and by the time we left it was rocking! Such fun! I will let you try and guess what my requests were, but I will say that I did jump up and down when the Proclaimers were played!!! I think I was quite squiffy by the time I got back to the hotel, in fact I know I was, because I headed straight to Maccy D's for fries, and I don't even like Maccy D's!!!

My last day in Vegas was fairly uneventful. I wandered around a little bit, but had pretty much seen everything, and was tired of the people and the noise. I watched the sun go down over the desert, one last time from my room. When we were in the canyon we had played a game. As soon as we pitched camp each night Steve, Keith and I would pick a rock, pinnacle or ledge to be the place where the last rays of sun would hit before sunset. And in the morning we would try and guess where the first sunlight would catch. Every time I watch the sunset from the beach in Guernsey, I will try and remember those moments.

This morning it was an early start and straight to the airport. My flight to Miami headed off and within 10 minutes we were passing the Hoover Dam, then Lake Mead where the Colorado River enters the lake and turns blue again. 

We had briefly seen it from our plane to Vegas 5 days earlier. Then I got to fly alongside the south rim of the Grand Canyon itself, catching glimpses of the river deep below. As seems to be my modus operandi at the moment I couldn't help but shed more tears at what was truly my last glimpse of such a bewitching landscape. Reality was far too quickly turning into a memory. Those who have already returned to work have been emailing to say that they feel our adventure was a dream, and now my physical connections to the landscape were also broken.

I think it is going to take me a long time to process what I have seen and experienced, and the impact that has had, but I have more adventures ahead.....

Another quote....

Corey read this passage from A Boy's Life, on our last full day, whilst floating down the river:

"We all start out knowing magic. We are born with whirlwinds, forest fires, and comets inside us. We are born able to sing to birds and read the clouds and see our destiny in grains of sand. But then we get the magic educated right out of our souls. We get it churched out, spanked out, washed out, and combed out. We get put on the straight and narrow and told to be responsible. Told to act our age. Told to grow up, for God’s sake. And you know why we were told that? Because the people doing the telling were afraid of our wildness and youth, and because the magic we knew made them ashamed and sad of what they’d allowed to wither in themselves.

After you go so far away from it, though, you can’t really get it back. You can have seconds of it. Just seconds of knowing and remembering. When people get weepy at movies, it’s because in that dark theater the golden pool of magic is touched, just briefly. Then they come out into the hard sun of logic and reason again and it dries up, and they’re left feeling a little heartsad and not knowing why. When a song stirs a memory, when motes of dust turning in a shaft of light takes your attention from the world, when you listen to a train passing on a track at night in the distance and wonder where it might be going, you step beyond who you are and where you are. For the briefest of instants, you have stepped into the magic realm.

The truth of life is that every year we get farther away from the essence that is born within us. We get shouldered with burdens, some of them good, some of them not so good. Things happen to us. Loved ones die. People get in wrecks and get crippled. People lose their way, for one reason or another. It’s not hard to do, in this world of crazy mazes. Life itself does its best to take that memory of magic away from us. You don’t know it’s happening until one day you feel you’ve lost something but you’re not sure what it is. It’s like smiling at a pretty girl and she calls you “sir.” It just happens."

(Obviously I can't take credit for this beautiful photo!)

Viva Las Vegas!

As you can imagine arriving back in Vegas was a massive culture shock. The sights and sounds were an assault on the senses, and the extreme opposite end of the scale from the past few days. Reunited with my suitcase (and clean clothes!) I hid in my room for the afternoon, and spent time trying to soak and scrub myself clean!

In the evening I joined Keith and Victoria for dinner at Shibuya, a Japanese restaurant in the MGM Grand. The restaurant had bamboo-like poles from floor to ceiling affording each table an element of privacy and a cocooned sense of cosiness. Relishing in drinks delivered to the table rather than having to fetch a can from the net under the boat, we traded stories and chatted over sushi and sashimi (my favourite!). The whole evening was so joyful, and all too soon it was over, and the sadness of farewells loomed.

That night I had no stars to fall asleep under but I did have a fully working bathroom yards from the bed!

The following morning, used to getting up at 5am, I struggled to sleep in and eventually headed back to the MGM Grand and Starbucks. I sat with my coffee and pastry surrounded by flashing lights, whirring and pinging noises, scantily clad women chatting on mobile phones, glitz and glamour, and couldn't believe how different it had all been 24 hours earlier. No cowboy coffee and the call of the conch shell today.

About to checkout of the Desert Rose Resort and head to the Monte Carlo, and I bumped into Keith who had decided to stay an extra day. So he hopped in the taxi with me, we left my case with the bellboy and we decided to hang out. I am not entirely sure who suggested it first, it am blaming Keith!!, but before I knew it we were hot footing it to the New York New York hotel and queuing for the roller coaster ride that loops and soars around the outside of the building! We figured that if we can survive grade 10 rapids then flying through the air at speed and looping the loop must be a piece of cake. I screamed and laughed, sometimes attempting both at the same time, pretty much from beginning to end. Afterwards it took me a while to stop my legs from trembling!

All too soon it was time for the last goodbye, and emotional outburst number 83! What have I become?! How is it that I can miss people so much that I had not even met 10 days earlier? I feel like there is a part of me missing.

Luckily a couple of hours later I had the distraction of Nick, who had flown in from Sacramento to meet me for two days. Within 5 minutes of arriving at the hotel he had already won $500, so I ordered him to pay for dinner! We ended up at a restaurant he had been recommended called Aureole at the Mandalay Bay, very posh, and we celebrated with a bottle of bubbly before he tried to convince me to eschew all French wine and drink Californian! We had a go on the slots, but I quickly lost all of my money (well what I was willing to lose), and then got the hump because Nick kept winning!

The following day after the final remnants of Colorado dirt was scrubbed from my feet during a well needed pedicure we ventured out to investigate the Bellagio and Ceasar's Palace. It is amazing to see all of the high end shops, selling ridiculously expensive items, one after the other, and obviously all making money. We did happen to wander into Tiffany's and leave with a couple of their eggshell blue boxes wrapped in white ribbon. I was beyond excited and felt highly spoilt.

We did find a quiet spot in the Bellagio, away from the hum of the casino, a small bar called Sensi that was great for people watching. We managed to sip a couple of cocktails sat beside a couple who had just been married by Elvis! After a quick change back at our hotel, we found our way back to the same bar and feasted on oysters, sashimi and sushi, with the most incredible elderflower and lavender cocktails, before heading to see Rod Stewart in concert. 

Now this admission, about actually paying to see Rod Stewart, has caused a rift in the family, with threats of being disowned by my brother, it's a long story, but needless to say, CJ regardless of your disapproval I keep telling you that you are legally obliged to love your sister! 

The concert, his 70th at Ceasar's, was slick and he rolled out all of his favourites. No bagpipes though.....! But watching him kick footballs into the audience was hilarious. When they landed it caused some full on scrummage that any rugby team would be proud of!

A quote....

"The song of the river ends not at her banks but in the hearts of those who have loved her" - Buffalo Bill

Where on earth do I start.....? (Part Three)

Thursday 18th September

So far today I got emotional when I woke up and realised we only had 5 miles left of our 188 mile journey. I cried when I got off the boat for the last time. I couldn't hold it together when we said goodbye to our excellent guides. Corey and Steve were so generous in sharing their knowledge, wisdom and passion for the Grand Canyon. I cried when taking my last look at the river, our constant companion for 7 days, I cried when the helicopter flew me out of The Canyon, and we soared over the ridges that had hemmed us in, and I cried when I had to say goodbye to those of our group who headed back to Marble Canyon.

And now here I am at Bar 10 Ranch, a few miles from our extraction point. There is grass under my feet, flushing toilets, proper showers, and a tiny slice of civilisation. But I am not sure that I am ready to go back to city life and mainstream. Whilst we all wanted a shower and a proper bed I think we were also very jealous of the new group who were being flown in for the last four days of the river! whilst we were being flown out. We were in a rythm and knew what they had coming their way. They did look very clean though!

What a trip. I was so nervous at the beginning. It has been physically demanding, mentally challenging and created an emotional meltdown. All comprehension disappears, what you see, hear and feel is beyond understandable, sensory overload, and ultimately there is no option but to give yourself over to your surroundings, surroundings that whilst on the face of it are inanimate, but you finally realise they have soul, spirit and life.

So the river will no longer be my companion, my bedroom walls will no longer scale 100's of feet beside me, and I may never see the stars shine again so brightly. And that makes me so sad, but also privileged to know that I have accomplished a journey that has not been taken by many others. I have seen a part of this world which is not easily accessible to the masses, and the memory of those stars and the sights and sounds of the river will keep me company. They are now my heaven.

Where on earth do I start......? (Part Two)

Day Four

All exhausted after the concentration and physical challenge of day three it was great to find out that the following day would be more mellow. In 3 days we had travelled 109 miles, and the pace was about to change. We took on 3 gentle rapids and the pulled up on shore to go and investigate Elves Chasm, a green haven of clear pools, dripping moss and ferns and the red and honey coloured sandstone. At the top of the creek was a deep pool and waterfall. I was first in! Behind the waterfall was a cave and Steve showed us how we could rock climb through an opening so that we could stand on a ledge half way up the waterfall, and then jump! Such fun!

Four miles downstream we stopped again and explored the Blacktail Canyon, which is a geology master class all by itself, and demonstrated the Great Unconformity. Effectively we were at the deepest part of the canyon, in geological terms, and were surround by rocks 2.2 billion years old. The next layer on top was only about a billion years old, so what happened in between? Whatever happened was obviously eroded, creating a massive time gap. I couldn't get my head round it! And still find it a mind blowing concept!

Blacktail Canyon itself twisted and turned in hues of grey and black, layers like a Mille feuille, but random rocks wedged up to forty feet above us suggested the force of flash floods that frequently occur. Further up the canyon than others I thought I was having an epiphany when I could hear music bouncing down the walls of the canyon. It turned out that another group had beaten us up there and were testing the acoustics for their two guitars! Not an obvious busking spot!

After a stop for lunch we headed to the Stone Creek water cascade. A lovely flow of water that felt just like a shower!  It should be said that the weather in the canyon was perfect. We were aware that towards the end of the week there was potential for rain storms and flash floods, and whilst we saw "thunderhead" clouds, and on the second to last night had lightening and thunder, we never experienced any rain. That said it was sooooooooo hot! Especially at night when you would get the hot thermals blowing up the river. As a result any time we found fresh cool water we would just wade in, clothes and all. We would wash in the Colorado, which whilst still freezing, we were beginning to get used to, but the water is full of silt. The camps were all sand banks, and the thermals blew fine grains of sand everywhere. So we were all engrained very quickly with the sand, and even when you washed you were just washing it back on! Needless to say with limited changes of clothes and basic washing facilities I was not looking my party best!

The best side effect of the heat was that I did not feel the need to sleep in a tent! And one of the highlights for me was lying on my cot starring up at the night sky. I can honestly say that I have never seen so many stars. And the Milkyway was so clear. On the last night I fought to stay awake so that I could drink in the view and try and etch it on my brain. Even typing this now and thinking about that sky is causing me to well up. I am so useless!

When trying to sleep I did get a tad freaked out about the possibility of critters. We knew there was the potential for rattlesnakes, and whilst we did see one snake it wasn't in camp. Obviously there were scorpions around, but I didn't see any. We saw long horned sheep, ravens and ducks, bats, dragon flies, butterflies, red ants and horrible biting flies. But that was about it. But most nights I would freak myself out with thoughts of snakes in my sleeping bag, or monsters behind bushes. I almost screamed one night when I thought there was a snake under my cot, but when I put my glasses on I realised it was the cord from the sleeping bag. Doh!

As far as the group went, there were 18 of us. Myself, and one other British couple, Steve and Tracey, who were lovely and we got on really well. Steve's enthusiasm for everything was just infectious. The rest of the group were all Americans and they were so friendly. A group of 6 were celebrating George's 65th birthday. George was practically deaf, had been down the canyon before so wasn't intimidated by it but more than that George was a child of the 60's, and to be honest I think he still thought it was the 60's! At one point he said to me if I needed anything to drink or smoke, he was my man! Alex, his son-in-law was the unlucky one to stand on a scorpion, but at least he was married to the nurse in the group! Not that she could really do anything. He just had to ride out the pain. There was a father and daughter, two cousins, partners, but of the four singletons Keith, Victoria and I hit it off from the very beginning. We always camped together, one tent for changing in and then our cots lined up outside. Victoria was a glamourous Mother Hen, always making sure we were okay, despite having injured her elbow, and Keith was our knight in shining armour, always appearing to help, always smiling. Without them both my week would have been so incredibly different, and I feel immensely honoured to have met them both. Victoria referred to us as "family" and I am struggling to understand how I can miss two people so much when I had not even met them 10 days ago. 

Day Five

After a night at Owl Eyes (two holes in the cliff, that did look like owl eyes), we had another mellow day. 

We stopped at Deer Creek Falls, a 100ft waterfall that generated spray that gave an illusion of air conditioning! There was an option to hike up above but with the warning that anyone with vertigo should probably refrain. So some of us just found a rock in the shade and vegged out. Another group stopped by for a while so that gave us the chance to talk to new people, and swap experiences.

After another stop for lunch we headed to Matkatimba Canyon, for what Corey referred to as "jungle gym"!!! The canyon quickly became narrow and those up for the challenge, rock climbed, shimmied, slithered and pulled our way up and over obstacles to get to the top. It was great fun, and for once have a big bum helped me when I had to wedge myself against one wall whilst walking my feet up the other wall!

By the end of day five I was starting to succumb to a cold, and just plain exhaustion, but everyone seemed a little fractious when putting up camp at Matkat Hotel (but obviously there was no hotel!) apart from the constant lovelies that were Victoria, Keith and Tracie! 

The food on the trip was amazing, and in true American style there was so much of it. Every morning we had a different breakfast of cooked food and fruit, lunch was normally make your own sandwiches or wraps, but there would be cheeses, meats, olives, gherkins, crisps, cookies......, and then dinner would be called by Steve blowing through his conch shell. Hors doeuvres first, then a main course (we had Mexican, Italian, steaks, a BBQ) and then dessert (made usually by a lady named Sara Lee!!!) Hanging from the boat were two nets which we would fill with our beers cans. They would drag behind and be kept cool, if not a little shaken! We all agreed that we would probably leave the canyon heavier than we arrived! 

Day Six

Our last full day, and we were excited for our first trip, but knew that we had to complete lava in the afternoon, our second Grade 10.

Havasu falls drops into the Colorado at Mile 157. We had to moor up half way down a rapid, which was not without its issues, safety being the major one. So we had to be careful to get off and on the boat. We clambered up the sandstone flats, turned the corner and looked up the creek, which is flanked by travertine formations. The water itself is laden with minerals that create a vivid turquoise colour. We clambered up as far as we felt we should before lying in the waters and just taking in the views. It was an oasis. Pure and simple.

Lunch today was at one of the nicest spots. Most lunch spots or camps have the river running past quite quickly and the noise is always there in the background. But this time we were on a bend in the river and there was no fast water, it was just still. Peaceful. And I remember commenting to Keith how unexpected the stillness was. Moments like that are good for the soul!

In the afternoon Tracey and I took to the front of the boat for a while. I rode a Grade 9 but only because Corey assured me it was a gentle Grade 9, in fact the difficulty was due to the rocks under the water, so it was technically difficult to navigate but was not too bumpy. Again we both headed for the back of the boat when we approached Lava and Son of Lava. They lived up to their reputation, but I was quite relived afterwards in the knowledge that all of the "Big Ones" were behind us.

We occasionally saw other groups on the river, one other J-rig, groups of doreys or kayaks, some of them doing trips of 14, 18 or more days. At a quieter stretch of water we met one such group who started singing to us "What's your price for ice? Six blocks would be nice"! Impressed by their effort Corey gave then two blocks and was promptly flashed by all the girls of the group. 5 minutes further down the river we were ambushed by another group who had heavy duty water pistols and good old fashioned buckets of water. Being at the front of the boat I pretty much took the brunt, but funnier yet was the line of men on the river bank who mooned in unison! Obviously you can spend too long down the canyon!!!

Our final camp was at Upper Chevron, and when getting off the boat Steve announced it would be a toga party, so we had to dress up using our sheets! And we still had a lot of beer to drink! Dinner was prawns and dip, followed by tasty trout fillets, and a Dutch oven baked cake! We all sat in a circle and chatted, listened to Steve sing with his guitar, and just soaked up the atmosphere.

Where on earth do I start....? (Part One)

The last few days have flown by in a haze and even trying to begin to piece together the pieces and put it down in writing is causing me to well up. I have been turned into an emotional wreck! Usually I am so good at keeping my emotions under control but over the past two days I seem to have done nothing but cry!  

I suppose like all stories I should begin at the beginning! And I make no apology for the length of this missive...

Friday 12th September

I am not sure if I felt sick when I woke up due to nerves, sleep deprivation or the sheer unsociable hour.  4am is not my most functional time of the day! A few of us met in the lobby, were herded onto a bus, driven to Las Vegas airport and shuttled by prop plane 45 minutes away to Marble Canyon. Cue emotional outburst number one! As the sun was rising we had managed to glimpse the landscape through the morning haze, rock formations, colour, desert sands, just magical. And then we descended below the cliff line, landed on a small airstrip with nothing (and I really mean nothing) in sight except a road and a Chevron petrol station! We were promptly marched across to the petrol station and told to buy beer, "get double what you think you need!" The rest of our group were already there and after being bused down to Lees Ferry we were given an initial briefing, loaded on to the J-rig and had departed by 8am.

We all thought there would be a gentle learning curve to our trip but within 5 minutes we were wet, and boy was it cold. Perishing. Colder than a winter's day at Shell Beach!

The J-rig was big enough for the 20 of us and the position on the boat affects the intensity of the ride (sometimes, other times it is just as intense regardless of your position)! We had two guides for the week, Corey from Canab, who demanded that I state he is ruggedly handsome, and Steve Wiley, who tended to steer the boat most of the time and keep a low profile until he had a chance to break out his guitar. We would saunter downstream chatting amongst ourselves or receiving a master class in geology or history from Corey until we neared our next rapid, at which point Corey would advise who it was that had died at the spot to name the rapid and then shout "Hang on! Don't die!"

At about 4 or 5pm we would moor up at a sandbank and the evening ritual would begin. Day One was Sand Pile. Steve would tell us to get "the hell off my boat", would detail where the kitchen and toilets would be situated and everyone would scatter looking for the best spot to camp. Then the "fire line shout" would be heard and we would all line up and bring the cots, chairs, tents, bags and kitchen equipment off the boat. We would then set about arranging camp, washing in the river (still cold, and brown with silt) and before we knew it the dinner call would be heard. In the mornings the opposite would happen, wake up, have breakfast, take down camp and fire line everything back onto the boat.

The views from the boat were awe inspiring and immense. The walls of the canyon could be over a 1500 feet high in places, and they closed in and then widened out again in layers of black ore, red sandstone, white limestone, vertical fault lines, lava flows, horizontal layers like pastry. By day two we were seeing alsorts of shapes in the rocks, Asian temples, Egyptian statues, the Sphynx, robins, chickens, and I swear I even saw a rock that looked like Bruce Forsyth! We also passed the Puebloan Granaries. 1000 year old grain stores, high up in the cliff side.

Day two was fairly mellow, we spotted the Desert View Watchtower at the top of the South Rim way off in the distance. It was weird to think that probably about 15 years ago I had been in that tower looking down at the river!

Toilet facilities! We all know that men have the easier deal on this! In camp there was a facility to enable us all to dispose of solid waste, usually hidden behind a rock or a bush, and with flashing lights leading the way for night time. Strict etiquette dictated the process of engaged or empty, by way of the placement of an orange seat cover! A yellow bucket allowed the ladies to wee in privacy! We were also given plastic cups in case the need arose during the night. However when we were on the river it was a case of trying to wee off the back of the boat whilst it was in motion (I never gave in to this option), find a good rock at the edge of the river and pray that there were no other boats heading your way, or by the end of the week (due to the sheer heat) we would just wade into the river and pretend to look for eagles!

Leaving the Carbon campsite on day three we were all rather anxious. We knew it was a day of tough rapids, including Crystal, our first grade 10. The rapids on the Colorado are rated up to 10, and there are two 10's, Crystal and Lava. You would know when a rapid was about to hit because the river would disappear from sight in the distance, as you got closer you would see the white water being tossed around. At the very edge of the rapid the water would be glossy and smooth, then Steve would cut the engine, the boat would slide over the edge and then we would be tossed and slammed and dunked and spat out. It's must be like being on the fast spin cycle of a washing machine! Even the lesser grades could catch you off guard, Victoria was badly hurt on day one by a freak wave, and I was totally side swiped on day three, by my nemesis, Serpentine, and left hanging on with one hand, whilst my legs were all over the place. "Never underestimate the backhand grip!"

Before the rapids though we did jump off the boat to explore Red Wall Cavern. An immense overhang in the rocks.

Tracey and I decided to sit behind the boys at the beginning of the day and take on some 7 and 8's. Trying to "Suck Rubber!" and keep as low as possible. But when we hit Unkar we bailed and moved to the "princess pads" towards the back of the boat. We had lunch at Phantom Ranch and then hit Crystal. Steve shut down the engine first and gave us a briefing. The only option was to hang on and not let go. Considerable hollering and cheering ensued after we got through, and I broke out the Percy Pigs in celebration!

Finally at the end of a tough day of battering and soakings we pitched camp at Bass and went about 200 yards up river to play in the Shinumo waterfall which was hidden up a side creek.

What have I done.....?

Feeling a tad nervous today!

Why do I put myself in these situations??? Booking random destinations and then throwing in some "extreme sports". 

Inspired by a BBC programme I didn't give two thoughts to booking a week long whitewater rafting trip through the Grand Canyon...... A whole week! I have never even done a day trip. In fact I booked a trip in Cairns many years ago, dreamt the night before that I was thrown overboard, freaked out and refused to go when the alarm went off!

The enormity of my actions didn't really hit home until 3 days ago when I was checking I had adequate insurance! 

Insurer: "We only cover to Grade 3....." Trip Organiser: "Well Sam I can confirm there are 6 grades of rapids, but Grade 6 is impassable. You will encounter up to Grade 5!"

Insurer: "Grade 5? So you must be very experienced?"

Erm, help??! So to be honest I am now freaking myself out quite considerably! Whilst I genuinely believe that you should try new things, face your fears and try things that scare you, quite frankly I think I may have gone too far this time! 

So as I sit here at Gatwick waiting for my delayed (only be an hour) flight, winding myself up there is only one course of action that will take my mind off it: Time to shop!!!

Here we go again......!

I seem to do a lot of packing in September! Last year I was heading off to exotic and far flung destinations, and here I am packing to travel down rivers, trek into rainforest and live the hedonistic life that Viva Las Vegas has to offer. So just a few packing dilemmas there! 

I am trying to follow my instructions for packing for my first week fairly closely, after all there will be zero shopping opportunities to emergency purchase any additional supplies "on the river"! I do keep re-reading the list to ensure it really does only permit 2 changes of underwear........ Hmmmmm, I may need to sneak in some extras!

A quick check of the weather looks promising!!!