Day 45, 46 & 47 (Pokhara, Last Resort)

Halfway mark aboard OzBUS, can I get a woop woop? It's mental to think we've been on the bus for 45 days at this stage, it doesn't seem like it's been that long but in another way it seems like a lifetime has passed since we got the Sail & Rail from Dublin.

We got up at crazy o'clock to drive for 3 hours to get to the rafting place between Pokhara and Chitwan. The rafting was to be about 2 hours long and it was at grade 3+ because of the level of rain the day before. It's fair to say I was very, very nervous! I had been considering pulling out what with feeling unwell but was convinced to do it because in fairness I may never get the chance again, and I certainly won't get the chance to do it there and with this gang of people again. I am soooo glad I was talked into it (thanks Mel). When we finally got to the office and were kitted up with our lifejackets, helmets and paddles, we stumbled down the hill to the riverbank where there was a scramble of people wanting to get into either the fast or slow boat. Given how unadventurous I was feeling I went with the slow one, while Una the crazy lady hopped into the fast one....but this is where it got weird..the slow boat took off and finished before the fast one?!?

We had a few practise strokes and were semi-ok..then we hit the first rapid. Holy Hell!! My boat went in first with the guide screaming at Richard to paddle and him struggling to find water to paddle in. Panic set in to all of us and even though we thought we were paddling, we obviously weren't doing enough so 5 of the 8 of us in the boat got tossed out into the rapid..scary times! I got sucked underwater and struggled to get back up, when I did I saw Sara's arms ahead of me but the rest of her was completely submerged so I yanked her up and in turn got myself sucked under again. When I clawed my way back to the surface again I saw that the boat was at least 25 feet away from me with most of the crew clambering back onboard. I meanwhile was too far away to swim to them so took the opportunity to collect the many paddles, sandles and flip-flops that were shooting past me in the water while waiting for the rescue canoe to come get me. I had to climb up onto that holding onto all the gear and wait while the canoe guy worked his way over to my boat. Meanwhile, on the other boat 8 of the 9 people aboard had ended up in the water seconds after us. Una was one of them and had got trapped under the boat..she'll be able to explain better if she ever gets her finger out and writes about it (I jest..she's currently beside me writing up the entry about the turkish baths..better late than never eh?).

After that first rapid we were all so terrified of the potential to end up getting chucked back in again, and so determined to stay aboard that we wedged ourselves into the boat good and proper and paddled with so much ferosity that we did indeed all remain inside the boats. That was until we chose to jump into the river to have a swim on the quiet parts. The water was filthy, really muddy from all the land around the river that had been rained on so heavily the day before. (The silt was really shiny and my clothes had to be washed several times to get it out!) The only casualty from the rafting was one of James' flip-flops..everyone else managed to get off intact :)

We met Kim and the other 5 passengers after 2 hours or so on the river during which time we'd all been sunburned through our sunscreen, Una pretty badly as the pictures show. After lunch we hit the road to Kathmandu where we had 5 nights accommodation paid for by OzBUS, one of which I was foregoing to go to the Last Resort on the Nepal/Tibet border to see the crazy loons in the group do bungee, swing and canyoning. I half considered the swing but needed to see it in action first to gauge how terrified I'd be and the likelihood that I'd actually go through with it if I paid for it. The drive up there was long and rough going with bumpy, windy roads pretty much the whole way. But once we got there it was totally worth it – the place was a little bit of heaven.

Pretty much as soon as we arrived the bungee and swing guys were tied up and sent to the bridge to get their activities done before lunch. We watched from the viewing area and though it looked quite scary I thought that I'd be able for the swing so reckoned I'd do it the next day before we left to go back to Kathmandu to rejoin the group. So, the next morning I get up and find out that they don't do the swing on Thursdays, only Wednesdays and Saturdays or something like that. I was a bit upset but inwardly relieved that I didn't have to do it in a way because I figured once I got out on the bridge and into the harness then my bravery would fail me and I'd chicken out. I was taking advantage of the plunge pool to cool down when Mel came limping over (after a bungee accident the day before) to tell me that a gang of overlanders from EOE had arrived and were looking for bungee and swing action so there were enough people for it to make sense for the guy to open up the bridge. So now, no excuses, I was doing it!

I told Nadia it was on and she wanted in too, so the both of us headed into the bar to be weighed up and then off to the bridge to be harnessed up. There were 5 people for the swing, three of whom were doing the bungee too along with two of their other mates. The bungee/swing people went first, then Nadia and I was left til last. What you see from the viewing platform is completely different to what you see from the bridge. I had watched as they faltered and then walked off the platform into what looked like a short drop..then they disappeared from sight so we assumed they were swinging. What actually happens, and what I realised for the first time when the first guy walked off was that you freefall 100m into the canyon (the height of the bungee) with your rope in your hand but it's completely slack until you get to the bottom of the 100m when it tightens up and you're sent into a pendulum 240m wide at around 150km per hour until you come to a stop. I stood in silence, gulping for air and wondering what the hell I was thinking when I voluntarily agreed to be strapped up, attached to a long rope and walk off a bridge to drop into the canyon below. I wanted to chicken out but I knew everyone was watching and I'd been so sure I wanted to do it that there was no way I could back out when I was already on the bridge and had parted with my cash. I hoped I'd be second in the queue but alas no..I was last so I had to stand back and watch everyone else go and let the nerves build up to the point where I thought I was gonna cry.

Then it came to my turn. I'd watched the day before as Emily and Jacinta faltered on the platform so knew that if I was to do it, it needed to be fast – like ripping a band-aid off! So, I stepped up to the edge, turned to the camera for a photo and was gone.....screaming 'ooooohhhhhhh fffuuuuuuucccckkkk' for the 7 seconds of freefall before the rope caught hold and I swung across the canyon...MAGIC! I loved it..it terrified me, but I loved it!

On the way back from the Last Resort half the people decided to sit on the roofrack of the bus. Had I not been so sunburned from rafting I would have joined them, but I figured sitting in the sun for 3 hours or more was probably a bad move so I enjoyed the full seat inside the bus to myself the whole way back to Kathmandu.

For photos from the white-water rafting and my swing at the Last Resort click here.