Bloody early start today, picked up from the hotel at 4:50am on the dot!
We were last to be picked up by the tour and joined 6 others for our big adventure. On the bus were a family of 3 from Liverpool UK, 2 Brothers from the US a single Italian girl from Milan and ourselves. A great mix of people and we all got along great. After a 2.5-3hr informative bus ride we left our tour guide and joined a big yellow school bus and other rafters for a one hour bumpy, dusty ride down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
At the bottom we were divided into groups and lucky for us, we all managed to get onto the same raft. Rafting in the Colorado differs from WW rafting in Aus because the rafts are bigger and powered by 75hp outboard motors driven by traditional American Indians(Hualapai). Our guide was great, very informative. I was one of the last to get onto the raft so I had the front..yes, the wettest, roughest seat on the raft. Simona felt brave and changed the seat with me but to her luck she got the biggest rapids that put her on the bottom of the boat. Good thing she didn't find the bottom of the river instead. She looked like a soaked goose with her city makeup. The temp in the canyon was roughly 44C and the water was about 5C. So when the first wave goes over the raft, you really feel it. The rapids last until lunchtime (approx 3hrs) and then after lunch it's smooth motoring at a leisurely pace for another 2hrs through the Grand Canyon to where we meet the Helicopters. We waited about 5mins for our helicopter ride back up to the top of canyon. The whole helicopter ride took about 10mins and was awesome, being a small helicopter with glass all around, we could see for miles and miles.
Our tour guide was there to meet us with his air con bus and I must say I was glad it wasn't the school bus again. A couple stops along the way and we were back at our hotel before dark. A great day, one that we will remember for the rest of our lives.
Highly recommended and a great way to see the Grand Canyon from a very different angle.
