outtahere
Emma Wheaton ventures to the NSW Snowy
Mountains for a summer alpine adventure.
I'm standing by the Thredbo River,
at Thredbo Diggings, a camping and picnic site
in the NSW Snowy Mountains. I'm not here for
a picnic, though. Nope, I'm kitted out, head to
toe, with booties, one wetsuit (apparently today
is warm enough that there's no need to wear two),
a life vest, gloves and a helmet. At my feet is what
looks like a heavy-duty single air bed. I'm about
to embark on a new kind of Aussie adventure
called river sledding. Like Russell Crowe and
commercial bungee jumping, river sledding is
borrowed from those adventure experts, the Kiwis,
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and involves lying on a single-person raft, gripping
the front handles as you ride rapids and drift down
the river, pushed along by the spring snow melt.
Earlier, we'd checked in at Lake Crackenback
Resort and Spa's activities centre, Activate, to
meet our guide, Georgia, who was excitedly
discussing a new river sledding course with the
other staff. The new section starts further upriver
and is at a higher and steeper altitude. "Over the
same distance you drop 200 metres in elevation,
compared with our original route, which drops
80 metres," Georgia explained. Their enthusiasm
