White water rafting guide Hamish Watters stands in a garage, a 30-minute drive north of Wellington city, hosing down an inflatable raft and hanging lifejackets up to dry. The owner of Wellington Rafting has just taken five tourists down the swollen rapids of the Te Awa Kairangi/Hutt river.
It has been a good morning for it – rain the previous day has lifted the river levels, giving customers a thrilling ride as they flew over gushing white water, hurling their rafts over hidden boulders and negotiating eddies near the gnarled banks.
