Who
would have thought on the 12th
of January the nevis river would be flowing! Well it was and
we got it! Draining
the Garvie and Hector mountain range the Nevis River drops steeply
through amazing Otago countryside on its 16 km journey to meet the
Kawarau river. If
you like your creekin' on the steep side of very then this is the
river for you. Make sure you pack your elbow pads!! It is the best in
the region and offers some of the sickest, consistent hard boating in
the country. There are so many drops and rapids on this wee gem.
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| Good racks go a long way |
The
Run starts off with mellow start. You get about 2.5 km or so of
boogie water to warm up on and get the blood flowing before a manky
rapid just above the obvious Slot Gorge which is a “mandatory”
portage. (But in saying that Nick fired it up) Some people say to
throw you boats and go others say take the hit on a flat landing as
there are some shallow rock below as one of the american boys found
out the day before. He decided to take the advice of one of the boys
who doesn't have the best track record of jumping off stuff and ended
up smashing his ankle is three places. So that ended in the team
walking out, choppers getting called and ending Peacher New Zealand
trip.
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| Boat Brake, Ankle Brake! Sam doing his best to avoid both |
After
this, this is where things really start to kick off with everything
from ledge drops to long combination rapids and tight technical
drops. Heading in with a crew that new the run was a huge bonus as we
bomb our way down.
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| Jared getting down in double drop |
After
getting to a BIG horizon you see the river literally drop away from
underneath you, this is lunch rapid. This is where we meet the other
crew who had to walk in to get there boats from the day before. Lunch
Rapid defiantly has line and it has been fired up before, I think
last by Dlyan Thompson but this bad boy definitely rates high on the
stout scale.
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| The boys heading off into the beautiful Nevis Vally after lunch |
Below
here you have 700m or so of continued steep before a quiet wee
stretch for 200m which leads into the last STEEP section. The river
drops like a staircase through the “Brothers” section Little and
Big Bro. Theres are the last two rapids of the steep section. And
what better way to end with sweet 15 footer.
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| Sam and Jared getting the job done on little Bro |
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| What better way to end a run! Nick Murphy Celebrates by going big on Big Bro |
