Da Lat Camping Trip

On the 20th of April, at 12 o-clock, Isaac and I were in the middle of a water fall, climbing down with only a harness, rope, helmet, gloves and life jacket protecting us (so we were pretty safe!).To give you a better idea of being there, here is a cut of what I wrote in my diary after cutting back, exhausted but jubilant.

Just come back from canyoning! TIME OF MY LIFE!!!! After a practise on a hillside (the instructor said I was the best!), we went down an ordinary cliff; just smooth, vertical rock that was close to a water fall and ended in a river. Addi didn't like it.When I got to the bottom I couldn't help but notice that Da Lat looks and feels just like NZ. It made me kind of home sick. After the first rappelling we walked through some amazing bush, that looked like jungle! One plant looked like palm tree crossed with a cactus with an attitude problem! We then went down a natural water slide. It was fun! Then we walked some more to this stunningly beautiful water fall. As I was going down all I could do was grin! When I reached the bottom I smiled and smiled.; I felt amazing! We then let the life jackets float us down the river for a while to reach our final abseiling spot, along the way we jumped off a 7 metre high cliff into a lake. We saw a pair of ducks with their feet tied together, probably someone's lunch in waiting. The last cliff was my favourite. For the first few metres it was normal, then it sloped inwards, leaving you hanging by just the rope. You then had to lower yourself into a raging water fall, let go of the rope, and let the water push you under, along, then up. When I first felt the power of the water fall on my legs, for the first time in my life I felt fear of the water (which is weird because I have happily swum at beaches with waves twice my height and regular shark spottings). As soon as I was pushed under I felt fine. I have always liked water and the fear only lasted for a few seconds. Caleb, the guy who went after me, hated the whole thing. While I waited for the others to come down I used a piece of grass to make people think there was a bug on their neck. Now we had to walk. We had to tramp all the way up again and it was all stairs! For half the mountain we were climbing up stairs! At the top we had a war with our wet team ribbons. Then pizza, games, bible study, and bed.

I wish you could all have done it with me!

These photos are from the internet, not our group, but this is the waterfall and THAT is what I'm talking about!!!