This weekend the CyberLogic team and their partners did some team building, in the form of a white water rafting trip down the Breede river with the Wild Thing adventure company. The day started off at 09h00 at the Nekkies holiday resort near Rawsonville, with a delicious breakfast supplied by the Wild Thing team: Kat the leader of the pack, Francois (better known as Fran) and Tim, their friendly German assistant.

After our safety briefing we were informed, to our surprise, that we had to carry the inflatable two man “crocks” down to the river. They were heavier than they looked! After starting our trip down the river, we were met with our first white water rapid, aptly named the “rapid of death”. The team watched nervously as Edge and Leslie led the way, disappearing down the rapid and eventually emerging unscathed on the other side. One by one we all made it through, with only a few of our team dismounting from their boats mid-stream. Feeling a bit braver we attempted to ‘surf’ the waves of the rapid and, as Edge found out, it is not always that easy to surf a croc - or to stay in it!

After a few hours of paddling and a series of fun rapids we stopped for lunch. Who knew that an upside down crock could be turned into a full-on buffet table? While Kat and her team prepared the feast we visited the “Jacuzzi”, a small cauldron of turbulent water next to a weir on the river. It was quite a struggle to get over the moss covered rocks and in the process a shoe was lost. Luckily it was saved by Alicetine’s hero, Tim. When we finally got to the ‘Jacuzzi’ we found out that the water was a lot colder than it looked. The look of shock on the newcomers’ faces were comical!

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After the lunch break we continued down river through a series of smaller rapids. We were lucky enough to see a huge Fish eagle flying overhead for a few minutes – it was a treat for all the “stadsjaapies” to see some real wildlife! On the last rapid Giancarlo discovered who his real friends were, when Richard decided to ‘abandon ship’ at the first sight of an oncoming tree. Once Richard has been rescued we were told we only had a “short” stretch of flat paddling to the end. Short, it turns out, is a relative term and that last stretch turned out to be physically, mentally and emotionally challenging.

When we finally arrived at the finish line there was a huge sigh of relief from the tired paddlers! After relaxing for a while and re-hydrating with some cold beers, 17 of us crammed into a single minivan (South African style) and headed back to the camp at Nekkies.

Thanks to Wild Thing for an exciting adventure, we hope to do this again in the near future! For more pics and info about the day, visit our Facebook page.