West Coast

I finally got to go on a kayaking trip to the famous west coast of New Zealand. This is known around the world for steep, clean rivers, plenty of rain, and helicopter shuttles. Fortunately, I got to enjoy all of these. I cut out of work a bit early a Tues and met up with a couple others. We headed out on the 7 hours jaunt and got to the Hokitika campground just after midnight. One thing kayakers rarely complain about is rain, I did that night as I set up my tent while it was pouring.

Wednesday I got up and we made a food run. Baked beans, toast and eggs for brekkie, a kiwi staple. I hadn't had it before and it wasn't too bad although I don't think it will become a Craig staple. We started the day on the Totara river. It was low, even with the rain, but a fun little warm up as I hadn't been in whitewater for a couple months. This run was a bit disappointing as the water was tannic and unlike all I had seen from this area. We had some trouble finding the farm house which doubled as the take out but made it no worries. It was interesting to walk out from the river on the farmers trail, unhook his electric fence and drive away. Another check in the box of things I hadn't done before. After that we split into two groups and each paddled parts of the Kākāpōtahi, don't ask me to pronounce it either. Anyway the top bit was steep and harder so I went that-away. The river went through a couple little box canyons with mossy wet cliffs rising 40-50 meters on either side. This made scouting hard and portaging harder. We had one guy who ran it before but didn't know all the lines. We had a crew of 5 strong paddlers and worked our way down. It was a long succession of waterfalls and slides with the coolest part being a waterfall and runout where you had to drop over another waterfall into a cave and then drop another waterfall out of the cave. It was sweet and a little nerve racking. Everyone made it down all good.


Upper Section


Fun Rapid

The bottom section was much easier and a fun grade III-IV river. We enjoyed more narrow gorge walls in several areas with more open dense rainforest when they flattened out a bit. It felt like paddling through the amazon. The walkout again was a farmer's field to a dirt road which likely doesn't see much traffic.


Typical Lower

Thursday we decided on the NZ famous shuttle, a helicopter flight into the river and paddle out. We ran the Aruhura which is touted as the west coast classic river. The water was glacial blue and chilly. There was little time for rest as the river just drops continuously for about 6 hours worth of paddling. It was an awesome experience and super fun. The major concern for me was the water leaking into my boat. Apparently I had cracked the kayak the day before on the rocky Totara. A little duct tape later and I was good to go, kinda.


Pimp Ride


Top of Arahura


Classic Arahura

Friday most people were in chill mode. I was keen to paddle more because I won't be living or paddling in NZ again and they can whenever they like. Most rivers were a bit low so we headed back to the lower Kākāpōtahi which was lower than before but fun anyway.


Lower Section at Low Water

Saturday I decided to run the Whitcombe River with a couple of guys from Australia who were on a paddling holiday. A quick lift to the top and proceeded down a bigger river than the others earlier in the week. Unfortunately, I had flipped into a rock and took a short swim. My boat on the other hand took a much longer one. It finally got corralled in an eddy downstream on the opposite side of the river to me. The Aussies were quick and helpful in the recovery and the boat was returned to me with some more "cosmetic" damage. Another crack and a nice dent. I resorted myself out and finished the run all good.


Whitcombe

The next day was a long boring haul home and unpacking to get ready for the last few days of work.