Our Excursion to Penrith Whitewater Stadium, December 6, 2001
We began the day pretty early for a school day, some of us getting to school before 7:05am. No-one arrived late so we were out the gate before 7:30 headed for a day of excitement and challenge. Some of the students talked about being scared of what was ahead, but were still keen to give it a go.
We arrived at the Stadium ahead of our reserved time and got oriented to the place and the facilities. Many of us took a walk on the path around the course to check it out. The pumps were not on at this stage so we could see what things were going to knock us around later on. These two photos are the same place, taken first from above, then below
We saw many scrape marks on the concrete at the bottom of this drop. These were caused by kayakers doing crazy stunt maneuvers in the rapids. Our instructors (Wayne and Tania) gave us a demonstration of the types of tricks that they could do there. The words used to comment on what they were doing included, "INSANE!..AWESOME!...WOW!!...NO WAY!!" These people really know how to have fun in a kayak! Cartwheels, end-over-end flips and pirouettes were in abundance.
We were put into groups, geared up, and got our boats into the water then headed out to the lake beside the course for some stroke work and training. Candice, Shaun, Talia, Matthew, Tim, Matt and Katie setting up their foot rests and getting comfortable in the kayaks under Tania's guidance.
Wayne's group worked on special strokes; had to charge full speed at a pontoon and stop quickly without crashing into it or turning, and had to do wet rescues and floating kayak re-entries - all lots of fun! This photo shows Terence Hill and Mr. Wilson emptying the water from Terence's boat while in the background Trevor Wilkie is getting back into his Bass boat assisted by Gavin Dean.
After the session in the lake we had a rest for about 20 minutes before being taken to the MONSTER drop at the bottom end of the whitewater course. The instructor told us that the likelihood of any of us getting through it without tipping was almost nil.
Shaun Castro about to
take the plunge Joel Harris being
offered a hand by Simon
Most proved him right, but quite a few made it through with flying
colours! Katie Lloyd is shown here in full flight, about to go for
her big swim.
Matthew Allen and Trevor Wilkie blitzed it!!!! As for Mr. Wilson.... he ditched it before he went over the drop! He got taken by surprise and flipped, couldn't get the correct setup position to roll back up quickly so punched out and took a long swim dragging the boat behind him. After we we'd all tasted the fury of the water on our kayaks we had the chance to take on the full course using the one and two-person inflatable kayaks. We started off in the pool at the bottom of the course and caught a ride up on the big conveyor belt.
This takes you to the top pool and starting place for the ride of your life! Some went for a swim at the first sign of white water, while others had varying degrees of success. Gavin Dean's going for it here, about to take on the "monster".
Matthew Batterson about to beat the monster...
and then have a go from the bottom! That's one crazy guy!
Mr. Wilson headed for the big one..
Upside-down inflatables. Matt Best & Tim Anglesea found that at least they're easy to drain the water from.
A few students managed to get two runs through the course in the inflatable kayaks before we had to pack up our gear and hit the road back to Dapto. We were all a bit tired after our time there, but many students talked about coming back in the holidays.
Did we have FUN? YES!
Do we want to come again next term? YOU BET!!!