I was not able to make the field trip last Saturday (May 14) to the ANZ stadium because I was in Melbourne for the weekend. I decided to share my experience White Water Rafting during Easter break instead. I went White Water Rafting with two friends on level 3 rapids. We were given helmets, a life jacket, and a paddle each. We expected it to be fairly easy and relaxing because the stream was calm and slow. However, we were not aware that they were going to remove the dam releasing water into the stream to make the rapids more forceful. Thankfully, we were accompanied by two guides in our boat. The journey down the river started off rather slow, but before we knew it, we were paddling down small rapids and crashing into rocks. We started to realize our guides were crashing into the rocks on purpose to make it more exciting and fun for us. We stopped at multiple points to regroup and regain our energy. At certain points, I had to grab onto the rope to stop from falling off and I even fell into the raft a couple times. The experience was much more strenuous than I had expected.
When I got back to Sydney, I did some research on competitive White Water Rafting in Australia, and discovered the Australian Rafting Federation, founded in 2000. The ARF is an internationally recognized body that organizes White Water Rafting competitions in Australia. 30 million people worldwide are actively involved in White Water Rafting as one of the fastest growing adventure sports. Team Oz reps a consistently high standing in worldwide competition. Team Oz depends a great deal on sponsorship and financial support from their fans to be able to compete nationally and internationally. The ARF is also extremely devoted to ensuring the future success of the Rafting Industry within Australia. A picture of Team Oz is featured below:
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