We drove to Queenstown, where it was busy, drizzling and crowded. The campsite would be full by evening, but as we were reasonably early, we got ourselves a nice spot, by the little stream.

After lunch, we walked to the 'Station', where the Shotover Jet office is. We had already booked it in Wanaka, but they weren't sure if it was going to go ahead because of the rain. In the end we did take off, but with a 'rain warning', meaning we would turn back if the weather got too bad.

We drove the ten minutes in a bus and by the time we got there, it had cleared up a bit and had stopped raining, so we were good to go. We donned rain jackets and a life jacket and got into the jet boat, which held about 14 passengers and the driver.

Keiron and I were in the third row, me on the right hand side of the boat. Our driver took off at high speed and quipped 'I see you are already holding tight onto the hand rails - that's good'. He made a turn for an action photo and we were off. We jetted through the canyons, the driver skillfully manouevering us close to the rocks and through the sometimes shallow water (a jetboat only needs a few inches clearance). We got wetter and wetter...

When he motioned his hadn in the air, we knew we were in for a 360 degree spin, which was really great, but of course the splash meant more wetness. We went up and down the canyon a few times, doing a few more 360 spins on the way.

Occasionally the driver would stop and, cool as a cucumber, ask questions or tell us something about the canyon as if he had not just taken all our lives in his hands.

It was pretty exhilarating and just the right amount of scary. They definitely lived up to their promise of 'thrill therapy' (they claim a dose of adrenalin is good for you), unlike the 'Excitor' jetboat in Bay of Islands, which in comparison was more of a limp squid (Keiron's words).

Afterwards we had a drink and pastry in the Naff Caff, Keiron even outdid me in the navigation department in finding it! I fell asleep in the tent, we had dinner and then read our books in the nice lounge at the campsite.

The clocks are going back tonight (it's autumn here now) so we get an extra hour's sleep...