Day 1 in the National Park and it was a reasonably early start. The plan was to walk along the Narrows which is a gorge, with walls a thousand feet tall and the river sometimes just twenty to thirty feet wide. The exciting thing is that the river is so shallow that you can walk along the river bed.

We picked up from the 'local outfitters' our water proof footwear and walking sticks. When in the queue for the bus to the top of the mountain we were warned by one of the park rangers that there was a two in four chance of a flash flood and the recommendation was not to go to the Narrows. I wanted to point out that two in four was a silly way to describe a situation (surely it's 50%), that the chances of rain at all seemed remote as there was a deep blue sky and lastly, that having paid $100 for river shoes that would not look out of place in a circus, I was going to take the 'two in four chance'.

The Narrows are an extraordinary sight. We literally were walking in the river. It was rocky, uneven and scary at times but great fun. We stopped for lunch in a quite beautiful spot. Ella had just fallen in up to her shoulders as the walking stick failed dismally to fully test the ground in front of her. Lunch gave her the chance to dry out. After around two hours of walking, the park warden must have been smiling quietly to herself when the skies darkened and the rain started to fall. Our girls made the executive decision to turn around and hot foot it back. Jo and I wandered on for a little while and then decided we'd quite like to see the girls again.

Obviously we made it back but not before Ella admitted that she thought the end was nigh and concluded that she'd had quite a good life if it was to end early. The seriousness of the situation dawned on me when we got back and noted the Narrows had been closed to new visitors because water levels were too high.

Rest of the day was spent by the pool (36 degrees and no sign of rain) and we had rather a good dinner. I had probably my best meal of the trip so far. Tuna - thanks for asking!

Top Tip - 10%, actually slightly less, for the waitress this evening that forgot to deliver our starter! Being British we didn't complain, we just gave the tip (which was still too high imho) and scarpered.