Friday 01/01/2010 - Cascade Abseil

Today we'd booked in to do an Abseil down the Cascades. Emma and Alex came with us, it was wonderful. hubby picked this activity but I'm sure I got at least as much enjoyment out of it as he did.
We walked up to the top of the falls, which was a long walk and quite hot

We did some practice abseils and sat through some safety instructions before we were unleashed on the falls.











The abseil was two 25 meter drops straight down the front of the waterfall, it was refreshing to be in the water again on such a hot day (having said it was a hot day it was at Vanuatu's maximum temperature of 28 degrees Celsius - the most perfect weather I think). On the last section of the abseil I noticed that when I looked up to the top of the falls, water splashed down into my face, a major distraction. Hubby was the first down the falls followed by me.









The abseil terminated in a pool of cool, clear water, for the last 2 meters I took the largest leap I could and let go of the rope to plunge myself into the cool water. Once at the bottom, watching the other tourists descend I noticed the reason that the water was splashing in my face. One of the guides would wait until you looked up and when you did he placed his hand in the flowing water directing it towards our faces. The looks on the other tourists faces were priceless. After I had taken the 'final leap' into the water it became the done thing. Ironically though it was only the females that seemed to get it right, the men didn't seem to jump far enough or let go readily enough to make a splash.
Once we were down in the water the guides took some photos of us together, a nice touch and good memories. I've recently discovered that hubby and I don't have many photos of us together due to the fact that we like to travel alone and one of us is usually holding the camera. Having these photos of us together at the Cascades has encouraged me to be less critical of my appearance and take more 'lets hold the camera up and cuddle' shots. Our 'underwater' camera crapped out yet again even thought this morning I'd lubricated the seal, in an attempt to prevent it leaking further. So it was just as well that the guides took photos and we could buy a CD with them on at the end of the tour.






I've also attached some of the photos the abseil company gave us as extras, they may give you a better idea of just how beautiful the Cascades are: