January 23 2010

This week, the Tourism Treasures series takes another detour out of Mid Canterbury and heads down to Peel Forest to check out Rangitata Rafts. It’s just one of the many tourism ventures within an hour’s drive of Ashburton that attracts hundreds of tourists from around the world. Erin Bishop reports.

When the Gualter family had a few days away this month, it was one out of the box.

 Alex and Tussock Gualter own and operate Rangitata Rafts at Peel Forest and because all their business comes in the summer, their chances of a summer family holiday are usually slim to none.

 A couple of weeks ago, though, they managed to string a few days away together.

 They went rafting.

 The Gualters have run Rangitata Rafts together for about nine years, but their association with it goes further back than that.

 Tussock started working as a guide for the company 18 years ago, when he returned from five years travelling the world by motorbike.

 He took over the running of it with two colleagues and the other two eventually left on other business ventures – one to set up the Peel Forest Outdoor Pursuits Centre.

 To be in such a business, it is important to be a people person, Alex said.

 And that was what they are.

 They love meeting people from all over the world and giving them a taste of New Zealand’s world famous adventure tourism.

 In rafting, rivers are graded from one to six, with grade one being flat water, and grade six being too extreme to raft due to waterfalls and massive, confused water.

 Rangitata Rafts offer two rafting trips to suit everyone’s needs; The Spectacular Rangitata Gorge, which is a grade one to grade five trip, and The Fun and Gentle Lower Rangitata, which is a grade one to two trip.

 The first involves up to three hours on the water tackling some ultimate grade five rapids along a 10km stretch of river, while the second is family friendly, laid back and can be as crazy or as gentle as people want.

 Most people are after the whole experience and tackle the more challenging gorge adventure, Alex said.

 The gorge trip builds in a natural progression and if it gets too much for some adventurers, they do have the opportunity to get out and walk with the Rangitata Rafts photographer for a time.

 They have a highly experienced team of guides on board, including guide Ben Dalgety, who has been with the company for 19 years.

 They work for Rangitata Rafts in the New Zealand summer, with the season running from September to May, and many head to places like Japan or Uganda to similar jobs in the Kiwi winter.

 They currently employ eight guides, two bus drivers who job-share and ferry clients from Christchurch to Peel Forest daily, and two cooks for their lodge.

 The Gualters are the ones who tie it all together and make sure it all runs smoothly.

 Over the years Rangitata Rafts has also started the raft guiding careers of about 20 Geraldine High School students through a scholarship programme where guides can train on the job.

 They’re in an industry where the weather dictates the terms.

 So far this year, the weather hasn’t been that nice to them.

 It had been a “testing” year, Alex said.

 In the first two weeks of 2010 they only had a couple of days where they were able to take people on the gorge trip.

 However they still  had a few trips on the lower river.

 When the river floods, they can’t operate.

 Already this year they’ve had to turn away groups of 35-40 people due to the  conditions – something no one in business ever wants to do.

 But that’s the way it is.

 They get a lot of social groups from Christchurch, particularly around Christmas time, and a few people in the area visiting relatives, but mainly their customers come from overseas.

 This year they’re seeing a lot of Australians, while they’ve also hosted a couple of groups from American universities.

 They can take up to 56 people at one time.

 “Last year the numbers were down a bit, due to the economic recession,” Alex said.

 “There’s a number of different rafting companies in New Zealand, but we are off the beaten track, which works both for and against us.”

 Many travellers start their trip in the North Island and work their way down, which means Rangitata Rafts has to work hard to get its name out there and attract those travellers towards the end of their journey.

 It’s something for all ages. People must be aged 15 or over to tackle the gorge trip, but as long as people are reasonably fit and healthy, they can have a go no matter how old they are.

 “We had one man rafting for his 70th and 80th birthdays and he still jumped off the jump rock into the water at the end,” Alex said.

 Alex’s dad is 73 and he claims to have rafted every year for about the past 17 years.

 And with the Gualters’ three children, aged 11, 10 and eight also having been bitten by the love of the outdoors bug, another generation of rafters could be right around the corner.

 Rangitata Rafts has recently opened an office in Geraldine where people can find out more about what they have on offer, and to find out just why the Gualters love the industry they’re in.