AdventureWorld May 1998

Location: Adventureworld, Interlaken. Participants: Lee, Ty, Andy, Andy, Jan, Tahir, Steve, Roberto Also Starring: Supid Americans, Jennifer, Kate Bigtits A weekend in May, 1998.
	Arrival: Saturday evening Agenda: Eat drink and be merry The Super Sharan got us there in one piece, well, apart from the others in the back who were keen on drinking and lasering people driving in the opposite direction! Checking in at our super 4* hostel, Balmer‘s, we were shown to our luxory dorm with 18 beds for the 5 people staying. Happy with the thought that we were already checked-in, we set about finding some Ents for the evening. We were directed to a ‘super restaurant‘ which took ages to find (it was not signed) and was in fact the Adventureworld centre. Worried looks all round. Our fears were soon dispelled when we ordered the AdventureBurger, about a kilo of horse meat for something rediculous like 10 francs. More shock followed as we ordered drinks. Beer, G&T, less than five francs. Stunned with this, we munched and drank as much as we could, obviously.
Imagine our horror that the down-side of such a nice place was the fact that we had been transported into some frat-house in middle America!! Meet Swissies? No. Germans? No, thank God! Americans, Canadians and a few Aussies? You bet!! Since we wanted an early night in preparation for the following days‘ events, we retired to the hostel at midnight and used its bar facilities until the 1am closure. From our prison cell, sorry, dorm, there was some noise as we settled for the night. This was later followed by Andy (H) falling from the top bunk (2 metres down) and myself going walkabout looking for the toilet (which was next door). So Andy woke in another bed (10cm from the floor) and I gave up my search for the toilet (in another room) and homed into another bed. You might laugh but stranger things have happened and will never appear on this web site.
	So, onwards and upwards we went, in the morning. Click on the picture opposite and we shall go to the rafting and canyoning pictures!!
Thankfully, the rafting did not start too early. This was good for two reasons. Sleep-in and warmer water!! We met at the centre again and this time were dressed up as SAS frogmen in preparation for what lay ahead…… Soon afterwards, we were allowed to carry our raft, a nice red inflateable model. And then, we were drilled on dry land by our top man, Marc, who was to guide us on our intrepid days adventuring. Once he was happy that we could handle him telling us what to do, Splash! – into the water we departed and waited for the other boat, a boat filled with the 8 most happy people that exist – NOT! Then the real adventure started. Free-flowing downstream is basically what happens to you, your man gives you instructions as required and basically gets you in a position to ride-out the obstacles. This includes trying to mount a huge rock in the middle of the river.
	We were fortunate enough that they photograph you from several spots down the river and you can get some special poses together and produce really good pictures. Which is what Marc had us doing here, ALL FORWARDS he shouts and tragically, Ty and Jan are crushed and nearly drown. Oh well. Thankfully, the boat did not sink and we were able to continue our intrepid journey, racing onto the next problem which would have us sitting on the bottom of the raft, crying!
Something must be said of the guide, Marc. He was nice and all that but he was well-able to lie through his teeth if it meant getting a laugh. One world record attempt for the weekend was Andy (H) trying to float beside the boat for about 25 minutes. Please bear in mind that the wetsuits were only 7mm and the water was about 3 degrees, coming directly from the glacier in the mountains above!! Anyway, he decided that he would quit when he could not feel his feet and hands and lost the bet. Only then did Marc reveal that the record was set in August, considerably warmer waters flow in this month! Anyway, onwards we row! (Make sure that you are in the raft, Roberto!!)
	As we approached the lake, Marc was wise enough to tell us that if we all jumped and held onto the bridge before the lake, that we could stop the raft in the river. Yeah, right! I got a good hold but could not stop the raft. So I had to release and chase the raft up the river…… And another thing Marc did not tell us was about the 200m row across the busy lake. Someone move that ferry!! Ty does not escape here either. Something he did not reveal was his lack of rythmn, something you need when you are at the front!! Anyway people, click on the picture opposite and we shall surf onto the canyoning.