The Wet Side Of Life

Manuherikia Creek

2011-09-20T23:34:00.000-07:00

Well this is the first creek I have paddled since February 18^Th. the day I went under the knife. I am pretty happy sitting here writing this as the shoulder came through all good, its probably at about 80% so not rushing back into it to hard. Manuherikia creek is a cool wee class four run in Central Otago the landscape here isn't really suited for creeking so thats why it makes this wee gem a must do when the snow starts to melts. Here are some screen shoots and a cheeky we clip. Enjoy!

Bring On Summer

2011-08-28T15:05:00.000-07:00

Well there hasn't been much happing here on the paddling front as things have been a tad to cold and the motivation to get out on the flat water when there is a foot of snow around is very low. The shoulder is still on the mend, not 100% but that will be wile away yet fingers cross ill be up and running by summer. So with the kayak tucked away in the shed for the mean time it was time to don on the boots and head into the hills to look for some new runs. Of the five runs three of them looked “good to go” with a bit of rain and there are another four still in the bank waiting to get cheeked out ill keep you posted. Along with a bit of hiking there as also be a whole bunch of riding being done in and around the Southern Alps. I am now in Wanaka on teaching placement and making the most of the snow wile it last. The school is about 40 minutes from the school gate to the top of the mountain and thats were we will be found most afternoons. Being an outdoor ed teacher at this school is a dream job!

Here are some pictures from what I have been up to lately enjoy.

Lake Wanaka

The trails in Wanaka are not to bad

The day after a big snow fall.......

Trying to stay warm in the pisa range

Shitting with a sunset

Hard at work

Dayna checking out some lines in the back country

Its all good

The North Island of New Zealand

2011-07-24T02:35:00.000-07:00

I got the chance at the start of this year to check out what the north of New Zealand had to offer. Starting in Rotoura then up and around the East Cape, down to the bay then across to Raglan then onto the Coromandel. Here are some pictures to fill in the next few minutes of your life.

Chilling in the east cape

Some wee Maori boys play hut

Life is easy in the east

Coromandel Gold?

Wild horses kicking it on the beach in the east cape

An Okere Massive night sky

My drive south to catch the ferry

J-dog taking it all in on the way south

The view from jamies eys on the ferry south

Life is super hard !

The Kid With The Huge Heart

2011-06-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

My first North island trip started off In the summer of 08 when I pulled into the Wairor river parking lot upon getting changed this tall blond hair joker comes up to myself and Sam and says “ you fullers going for a run, mind if I join”.. “sure “ I am shocking at remembering people’s names so we jumped on and down we went at the take out I remember this “guy” being full of life and just so stoked and I was thinking to myself man this guy has energy. So as the summer rolled it was back to studying at cpit the first day involves the whole course getting together for a bit of a meet and great being the “cool” 3^rd years we strutted on in to a hall packed with 200 or so people and I hear this cry of “JARED BRO” I look up and see this “GUY” and I am thinking shit, shit, name, name come to me and it did for some reason I don’t know why but it did. Simon was that “GUYS” name so I sat down and we yarned the whole way through the instructions that we were given for the day. So when it was time to move we didn’t have a clue what to do or where to go so the words that I was just about to hear next out of Simons mouth just made day “should we just go for a beer bro” my eyes light up and my smile gets bigger and bigger “fucking ay” I say, I knew from this point I had just made a bloody good mate.

What followed was a year of fun, laughter, and good boating this was all because of the presents of Mr S Davidson whether we were talking about code, bitches( and only Simon know what I am on about here) or boating the kid had it all. I can sit here and list a million ways to describe what kind of person Simon is but I’ll be here for the next week! The people that new Simon have had their life enriched somewhat and that’s something special each and every one will hold close to their hearts for ever. I want to say rest in peace but I don’t think this term is appropriate for you Simon because I know where ever you are you won’t be resting you will be that same bright bubbly kid that’s just full of energy. So what I will say is keep going hard where ever you maybe just like you did down here.

Noho runga a-matou hoa

Thanks Macpac

2011-05-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

I would like to thank Macpac who have just come on board to help me out with my adventures. Macpac provide some of the best outdoor equipment around so check out the stock online by clicking on “Macpac” on the right hand side of page.

The Crippled Life

2011-04-18T16:51:00.000-07:00

Labrum anteroinferior inferior labral tear extending from 3 o'clock through to 7 o'clock. Rest of glenoid intact. Subscapularis intact. Anterior pulley intact. Rotator interval intact. Proceed to anteroinferior capsular labral repair. Three Pushlok 2.9 mm PEEK anchors used with Fibrewire loaded through the 60° spectrum. Three good passages of tissue through the mobilised labral structures. Anchors placed at 5:30, 4:30 and 3 o'clock. Good capsular labral reconstruction. Proceed to inspect posterior labrum. No significant tearing here requiring repair however superior labrum was mobile and frayed therefore a superior labral repair was undertaken with one anchor at 12 o'clock

No contact sports for six months!

If you don’t know what I am referring to well that was state of my shoulder after a West Coast summer then 3 months in California and then another West Coast summer. I first injured it back in 2009 at the end of the rugby session but there was no time for rest for the upcoming Nz and Cali summer. But hay on the bright side the the U S of A have some bloody good pain killers so I chewed on them for the whole time I was over there and also when I got back. So under the knife it was. The operation went well so they said and now two months after I am back on the flat water re building. The pain is still their but is slowly going away I hope to be back in a boat by August and ready for the southern hemisphere session.

Here are some old pictures and some not so old pictures that I have dug out of the archives.

The start of the Styx hardman race

Kakariki Canyon Hokitika river

Its getting cold so you will be seeing more of this

Yes josh that is how you grow a mo.

Nothing beats a the New Zealand back country

The beautiful Whitcomb valley

The Upper Upper 2 Day Perth

2011-01-27T01:36:00.000-08:00

The 2 day Perth is a must do for anyone coming to the coast. The scenery is stunning and to top it off the paddling is splendid. This trip didn’t get off to the best of starts. Eddie Murphy forgot his spray deck and the pilot turned up in the wrong helicopter (as you do). After an hour and a half of fluffing around we were airborne, looking down on the Perth Valley with a grin from ear to ear. The plan was to fly at 3 pm as this gave Trent Granham ample time to finish flying his own clients around Frany J and make the mad dash up the road to meet the awaiting chopper. Mid-air we passed Scone Hut and soon after we were due to identify our landing spot. But hmmmmm maybe the Christmas floods had washed away our once marked landing target?

We reached the put in at around 4.30 pm expecting a ‘leisurely’ two or three hour paddle back to Scone Hutt. Being the only person to have done the two day Perth, I knew most of the lines so the word was, “just read and run, there are two bigger rapids that you might want to look at.” As we paddle down I contemplate to myself, ‘shit a lot of stuff has changed in here.” I’m starting to get a few odd looks from the boys and clearly as courteously mentioned by Trent “This shits not f**King read and run.” CLICK! and whoops! It appears we had been kindly dropped a lot higher than the normal 2 day Perth run. This top section has only been done a handful of times and I have heard it had taken a generous six hours to Scone Hut. We did not have 6 hour to spear neither did the disappearing sun. Needless to say we got the skates on, and just like Tiger, we went for it.
Trent Granham classy as always

If you are flying in the morning this section would be a sick addition as there are copious amounts of long class five rapids that are all good to go. Arriving at the Hutt at around 8.30 pm to find five DOC workers in a six man hut wasn’t what we were hoping for. So under the stars it was. Day two is nothing but class right down to the confluence of the Whataroa. After an enthralling trip we were looking forward to cracking open an ale. Murphy then had the grim task of informing his severely dehydrated (beerdrated) crew that he had in fact given away his dozen to the American who had kindly lent him his spray deck.

Sean Manchester getting it done on day 2

Apologies about the shithouse pictures. All I had was my wee point and shoot. My SLR has craped itself.

Citroen Extreme Kayak New Zealand Championship

2011-01-20T01:38:00.000-08:00

Check this out and just remember .You are all Champions in your own way. That doesn't mean you have to be number 1 or be the best. Just do your best. If you aren't first, then make those people ahead of you break records by pushing them with your personal best. Consider for a moment what we achieve from athletics - the sheer fun of competing - the building of a healthy and alert mind and body - stamina, courage, perseverance, dedication, commitment, selflessness and most importantly, the will to excel.

www.citroenextremerace.blogspot.com

P.S stay tuned I have been on the hunt and have found some huge drops and good creeks !

The Last Call

2010-10-28T16:44:00.000-07:00

Today one of New Zealand’s most famous drops has gone and I can’t see it coming back any time soon. The Arahura has changed somewhat since the release of Graham Charles’ White Water Guide. The 2008 flood took out what is known as Dent Fall’s, causing the huge rock on the left hand side to fall into the main drop. Curtain Call was one of New Zealand’s most recognised drops.

I could almost guarantee that everyone who has been into the Arahura would have a picture tucked away somewhere of themselves running this wee gem. The huge rock on river right, that formed the drop, has fallen in and formed a funky wee curler thingy. There have also been other changes to another three or four rapids, most of which are for the better, like with dent falls.

I am not too sure if anyone has run it since the 2008 floods, but it now goes. However, you need a medium to high flow and it is still a stout drop with sieves on both sides of you. It starts off with a small boof on the centre left, after this you have a wee bit of time to gather your thoughts before entering the crux of the move.

A five foot boof pushes towards the perfectly situated sieve on river left. You need to run this hard right with a big boof, upon landing avoid the rock and head back to the centre right then off the main falls.I’m unsure whether the changes to the river are from the recent earthquake, the winter floods, or a combination of the both. However, because of the changes, you may want to pop your head around the corner before bombing into anything.

Here is a picture of Keith riley running air mail on the upper kakapotahi the day before

A Long Time Over Due

2010-09-15T18:29:00.000-07:00

So I am back in action after a 3 month stint in California, not having a laptop with me made it quite hard to update the old blog so I left that up to the other boys which was done very well, chur to that. California was an experience words cannot explain with warm weather cheap beers and good looking women o and the kayaking was world class to. I am not going to try and tell you how good it was it’s up to you to go there and experience it for yourself Ill chuck up some pictures of the good times that was California.

In my return I haven’t been up to much as people would know in Cali I had an addiction to “ candy” ( pain killers) for my should that was playing up from the pasted rugby session. At the time I thought it was just muscle injury so when I got back I decided to go get it cheeked out. After getting X amounts on injections to pump my shoulder full of roids I finally went for an x-ray and low and behold there it was a broken collar bone and also a small dislocation. Bugger! So after 6 months with it broken and 3 of those months paddling nonstop in Cali I thought what the hell what’s another week worth. So Trent Garnham Andy England and myself headed to the far south of the West Coast to check out what the Makawhio and the Moeraki had to offer.

The Makawhio is situated 30mins South of Fox and Moeraki about an hour from Fox . First on the list was the Moeraki with the boats strapped to our back you start walking through amazing beach forest, putting in off the side of the Haast-Paringa Cattle Track, directly underneath the swing bridge, 400m before you get to Blue River (Blowfly) Hut was the plan. But we ended up walking another 45min up the valley to find even more fantastic white water.From where we put on you could see even more white water upstream but as time was against us. From here it starts off with some read and run class four right down to the swing bridge, here on is where the action starts with some steep 4+ 5 white water some previous teams had described the run as followed …”

“We then had a few km's of steep, busy, grade 4, with 3 rapids that we had to portage, 2 of which will likely not be run, least defiantly not by me for sure on that one. They sieve out to hell and back, the third portage could be run, a 4m drop, if we had a bit more water through the river, the rest is beautiful boulder gardens, lots of tight lines and good fun boating, down to a flat water paddle past a river wide choke of trees for half a km, before one last rapid and the take out on the side of the State Highway 6, by Boulder Creek, a couple of km before the river hits Lake Moeraki”.

From this description the river seemed to have changed as all good rivers on the coast do, there were few trees but still lots of sieves and lots of gradient. I managed to run everything but one sieved out heap of crap rapid as some of the portages looked harder and the rapid as Andy and Trent shins found out. All and all the Moeraki river is a must do if you are coming up from down south or you’re a just keen to for a bit of a mish it is well worth the effort and u will not be let down. From here we head back to Fox for a well-deserved beer and some fish n chips.bro !.

The Makawhio is a river that has only seen to other team in there before us according to James Scott. We flew into just below the main gorge were after dropping the boats we few up to check it out from the air. It looked very steep and that’s saying something if it looks seep from the air. Most of it looked like it doesn’t go as yes u guessed it, it flows into sieves but there is a bit here and there that douse run and might be worth a look. The Makawhio river isn’t the hardest river in the world with it starting off with quite a bit of class four and then heaps of class three. There is enough to keep you entertained. But what makes this river so cool is that you can only get down this valley this by kayak, there is no tracks and no sign of people what so ever .This landscape will is mine blowing and it will keep you

Summer loving happend so fast.....

2010-02-11T17:55:00.000-08:00

Well the Coast has had it all this summer from the 3 biggest floods that its seen in awhile to it beeing as dry as a nuns c#%t. These flows have offered many different runs from big water Arahura and RGC to your stock standed coast runs.

For me January was a month of boating with no job to tie me down many styx trips and other walking were ticked off and off course the odd fly in. February has been a bit of a low as I have done my shoulder in "shagged the A.C" but nothing the odd roid injuction won"t fix. I have also have landed my self a job at Westland high school teaching year 12 and 13 kids to kayak so time is at at a loss but hay i am still kayaking and getting payed for it what more could you want.

check some shots out of whats been happing in this neck of the woods I think most of them are taken by Barny Young

Cheeking out R.G.C but she was a bit low to run

Barny Young climbing up the left hand side just shows

how steep this bad boy is.

Dlyan Thompson on postmans on the upper kakas

Keith Riley on the slide drop upper kakas

Myself getting it done

Keith Riley and Dylan Thopson fighting it

out on the upper kakas

Barny Young droping air mail

JJ shepherd doing what he does best

Cess pit at full tit

Don't swim on a BIG Arahura, Brandon gets it wrong

and yes that is a SLR and yes it is F$%ked.

This the only shot we got for the day shit was moving way to fast

Ben Bralow "nose up" was the call for the day

Myself on the Witcombe river

Eddie Murphy hitting a sweet boof

This was one of the 2 best boofs of the day. Come down

around the bend hit the kicker and set sail.

Zac shaw and Jordy Searle on the ever changing

landslide rapid.

B-rain showing how not to do it

I love this shot. Shannon Mast geting his boof on

Virgins all around

2009-11-11T17:15:00.000-08:00

As all good kayak trips are plan over a beer or ten the night before some off the boys were keen to get some coast action before heading home for the summer holidays. So with a plan in hand and a bunch of Arahura virgins what more could you ask for. So after a bloody good hungi and a big night we set sail for a Sunday/Monday trip. Sunday we trotted on into the styx to brush off the cob webs as a few of us hadn’t been in a boat for a while. The flow was a little on the low side but hey it’s the styx. The call was made to dando for a 9.30 am pick up nerves’ were flying high for some of the boys as this was their first major heli trip. Being last to the put in and flying above the boys I could see that they were keen to go and drop some shit so were proceeded on down for a great day out. Chur boys

Aaron droping the last drop of billiards

myself on billiards

Joshy hitting Billiards

myself on curtain call

Joshy on the first drop of the day, Aaron watching hows its done

Joshy fired this bad boy first and after making it look easy i gave it a go

The Crooked

2009-08-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

With the feel of spring in the air and the boys inching to do some paddling Jamie butters and my self headed to the coast for a couple of days first on the list was the crooked. The crooked in the passed hasn’t had the best rep with CPIT students but hey that’s a whole different story. The walk! Well if you haven’t been in there it probably one of the best walk-ins, (HA year rite) you should do it. Knee high mud and steep banks to craw up provided some of the days best entertainment. Water levels were a little low but all in all a grate day.

From here we headed to hoki and meet up with the 2^nd year boys to hit up the styx.

Sorry for lack of action shots but here are some pictures of the crooked

jamie chilln 10min into the walk

jamie getting it done

jamie and but but laping up the rays

oooooooooo year

yep thats a whole heap of mud

Mountain Days

2009-07-13T15:37:00.000-07:00

I think I may have had one of the best week snowboarding. First it started at mount Lyford where the days menu was powder with a dump of around 50cm the night before how could we resist. Getting up the mount with Scotty’s old lady’s truck with road tires on was a piece of piss and with the thought of staying the night in Hamner that night and a dip in the hot pools we just new she was going to be a ripper. As first thought the day did turn out to be one of the better ones I have had I think this was because of the hottest lifty i have ever seen. You know those chicks you see up the mount that look hot but you don’t know if they are hot, the boys know what i mean. Well she was hot, a great tan and oooo boy as for the body holey s%#t .Scotty summed her up in words of Alf Stewart “flaming crows, she’s a cracker”. The day was then topped off with a few ales or five and a cheeky dip in the hot pools.

Porters was the next steep on Friday and then again on Monday. Porters again offered some more grate riding i hadn’t been to porters for quite some time so a newish field and grate snow what more could you ask for, well I suppose a hot lifty would have topped it off but hey beggars can’t be choosers . On Friday it had been a skied out a bit but with a dump on Sunday night allowed for some good riding on the Monday.

The Wanganui

2009-06-21T21:22:00.000-07:00

The UCC had planned a trip into the lower Wanganui river with 16 or so beginner kayakers so with cheaper flights on offer how could I decline. A crew consisting of myself Jordan Chris and Simon went into the upper part. Water levels were low but still a good day out. Here are some pictures to check out there isn’t many as it was too cold

Any Given Sunday

2009-05-02T23:49:00.000-07:00

Sunday Hurunui trip usually consist of two or three really hangover people. The plan is usually made in the early stages the night before and then as the night goes on more and more people get on the bandwagon. But this wasn’t the case for trip which had me in too minds for some reason maybe it was because I got the shit knocked out of me the day before at rugby by a dirty cheep shot. But hey I can’t remember! With the gully at around 90 cubes it’s got some sweet waves so it was time to dust of the cobwebs off the odd play boat and throw it around.

The Last Heli for the Summer

2009-04-16T15:21:00.000-07:00

With one day up his sleeve Jamie was keen to hit the coast before heading back to welly so after a big weekend in chch we headed to the coast for a day mission into the Arahura. But we had one small problem getting there so after hunting around until 11pm that night we found a super keen Simon, this was to be his first coast mission and what a good introduction to coast boating.

Upper Waiau

2009-04-16T14:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a trip me and a few boys did a at the end of last year

Pre-expedition planning, or lack of it, showed as boats were packed and boat-carrying systems fitted for the two hour walk( cos we were so fast) to the put-in. After labouring up Maling Pass with a hail-beating norwesterly in our faces and nearly 30kg loads on our backs the sight of the river 6km away and 400m below us was surprisingly refreshing. Down in the valley, two hours of scraping down the humble beginnings of the Waiau saw us cold and tired as we pulled in to first gorge. From here class III+ boulder gardens provided plenty of entertainment up untill our camp for the night, which there just so happed to be a hut not to far up in the bush,
Day two: Still more bouncy wave-trains and boulder gardens brought us into the 'Narrows'. The guidebook offers the advice 'don't swim in the Narrows' and the reason became obvious as we scouted the first 500m of narrow bedrock gorge with some sizeable hydraulics and no opportunities for bank rescue. The crux move, called The Weir, was successfully run,. The next section was the narrowest on the river, the whole river moving through a slot less than 6m wide pushing off both sides for probably over 20m.
From here unique bush-clad gorges with fun rapids, it was with great reluctance that we paddled out of the mountains to the open valley and the Hope River confluence.

ABLE TASMAN

2009-03-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

Well, what can I say about this place if I was to describe it in one word I couldn’t so don’t ask all I can say is that it is a must do you can make it as hard or easy as you want.

tonga island

With a strong crew we were keen to go where no cpit crew had dared beforerite to the top (mutton cove). Day one was around 15km which in sea kayaking terms is quite along way around about four hours following the coastline. This part of the leg was a grate introduction to what Able Tasman had to offer from rugged coast lines to peaceful bays.

Day two was another big day up to Mutton cove rite at the top of the east coast of the south island. The day started with another amazing sunrise caped off with our first introduction to the seal colony on Tonga Island the day could not have got any better from here once again followed the stunning coastline rite to mutton cove just in time to get the tents up and enjoy the warm water before tucking into a feed.

Shag Harbor

a kick ass sting ray

Day Three bigger than the pervious day we started with a walk to separation point then back down to camp with 17km ahead of us and knowing that bad weather was approaching we had to bust a move down the coast line and then back into Tonga Island where the seals were really putting on a show. With the weather really giving it to us we paddled for shelter in mosquito bay.

Making Kava "nz style"

Day Four from mosquito bay apple tree bay was a day filled with everything the weather could offer from cloud swept sky’s to a mad mile. The day was long but yet one of the better with a trip into Cleopatra fall for a nice cool swim and crashing waves, high winds what more could you ask for, for a white water paddler. Arriving at apple tree bay where the famous wheeler cheese cake was severed with white wine. the top of the southDay five was the shortest of the days with a five o’clock wake up call and on the water by six we set sail for Marahau paddling in the dark and watching the sun rise over you shoulder was something to withhold. Arriving at Marahau at around seven just in time for the high tied.

heading for home

North Island Kayaking

2009-01-26T00:05:00.000-08:00

“Bro it was mean, we just did laps on the Kaituna all holidays”

These were that words that I heard all the time when the crew came back down to study after the holidays. So I decided to put my A into G and head up north for a week paddling to see what all the fuss was about. It all started back before exams when Ben Craddock and myself decided to head up but after new years bens funds become some what depleted and it didn’t help that his van got stolen again and sold to a scrap metal place so with Ben fighting off guard dogs to get his van back, I took off up north with a mate who just happened to be driving to Napier so with 7.30am start we finally arrived in Napier 14 hours later just in time to hit the piss in Havelock.

Me just after droping the falls

With a 4 hour trip in the morning to the Wairoa the night was some what cut short at 3.30am. We arrived at the Wairoa at around lunch time and managed to get 4 runs in before they shut the water off. After waiting at the hospital for Sam to get 9 stitches in his eyebrow from a wee slip up on the river, we rolled onto Papamoa for the night.

Kaituna hole

From Papamoa we went to hit the famous Kaituna up we were there for 2 days and managed to get 10 or so runs in over the 2 days. Big ups to Libby for letting us crash at her place
On the Wednesday we busted a move and headed south to the Rangitikei after 5 hours of driving we were glad to see some water. Levels were low but never or less it was still a mean day with 20 more cfs this run would be one of the best runs in the north.
Thanks for the sweet trip crew

Swiming in the dam .... so much fun

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO

2008-09-11T20:37:00.001-07:00

On rare occasions, being a student has its advantages. Sure sitting in the lounge breathing steam, (because heating costs money) and having to check your account just to get a coffee are not massively inspiring. However, on the upside for us as Rec students is the fact that here at CPIT there is a little known fund, to which every student at the polytech contributes. This fund exists solely to give money to students for extra currcular activities. Consequently, to access this fund all one has to do is apply to the friendly people at CPSA and providing they approve... has everyone figured out where this rambling explanation is going yet? Thats right. West coast on!!!We started off with some bad news, one car had issues with the brakes, and in our car Jamie found a big split in his boat. But we didn't let this stop us at all, Gus traded cars with Soph and Jamie had an attempt at fixing his boat at the trusty dairy factory in Hokitika.Once our problems were sorted we hiked into the Styx for a quicky at low water.This was the first trip down the Styx of many for Sanga as he discovered the joy of more rocks then water and sphincter tightening lines!On Sunday we gave Dando a call and flew into the Arahura for once again low water, this offered less push but tighter lines for the day. But with calm but overcast weather, we were in for a primo day.

West Coast shuttle

the put in

but but on the first drop of the day

the low dent falls

thats y its called dent falls jordy going center on billiards

mmmmmm

jamie rockn billiards

these next shots are me stokn billiards

jordy on cesspool
All in all it was a mean weekend with heaps of sweet lines and only a couple of minor mishaps. Thanks to the CPSA for hooking us up with some funding and Soph for lending the sentrizz for another choice coast trip!

Mystic Ridge

2008-08-20T01:28:00.000-07:00

With the weekend approaching but but, scotty and myself decided to head into the hill in search of what ever we can get our hands on armed with a 7mil 08, 223, and the most famous mystic ridge we new she was going to be a goodie . well on the mystic ridge front anyway , well here some pic enjoy setting off

scotty and me day one

myself day 2

camp day 1

WHEN THE RAIN COMES

2008-08-03T17:20:00.000-07:00

with storms smashing the country side, texts flying back and forth and some one pulling a sicky not naming names, the okuku was all go, on the thus the old girl got up over 200 cfs , with the normal flow being around 3 to 4 cfs we decided to put it off till Friday and it was well worth it. With the river flowing around the 55/60 mark we new we were in for a good day but we had one small problem a shuttle driver hmmm (Hannah " year ill do, year sure ") turns out she wasn't a big game player (wrap it up) any way my good old mate smithy pulled through as we only told him it was an hour shuttle, woops sorry smithy we may have lied lol,
upon arriving we found the okuku at a good flow , as i had dune it the week before so kind of new what to expect but the river was about 15 to 20 cfs at a gess higher . it starts off with some fun class 3 boating until u get to the 1st gorge where the first main rapid awaits. with gus optioning to walk myself Chee and Murphy hit the sucker up the river then continues with some class 3+ wave trains/big holes. things start picking up as you enter the 2nd gorge with some nice long class 4 rapids we enter the first crux raped. hey gus eddy out bro! with gus running it first with out an option and living on a paryer made it down. with some cool rapids to come before the big one ,fun was had .arriving at the hardest raped we jumped out for a look it fair to say shit was big, some massive holes and huge waves Murphy and my self ran that shit after this the river starts to flatten out and we arrive safe and sound.
big ups to smithy for driving thanks bro and thanks for a good day out boys .

ED MURPHY AT "WORK"

LETS PLAY FIND JARED

OOOO THERE HE IS

Rangitata Gorge

2008-07-22T23:40:00.000-07:00

Rangitata gorge

We had Sam, Jared, Ash, Chris, josh and Hayden .We arrived at the get out and explained to the crew the plan, loaded up the wizard six up and headed to the get in.

Here are some picts of the day...... and well done josh for stepping up and styling the pinch. (chur)
Getting on the water

Getting on the water

Josh running No.1 rapid

Hayden Running 'Roosters Tail & Pigs Troff'

Jared Running 'Roosters Tail & Pigs Troff'

Cheers to every one for a mint day on the water.

WEST COAST

2008-07-22T23:28:00.000-07:00

Well...It's that time of year again when it snows quite often, heavy frosts are not a rarity, and we decide to go kayaking! The plans were delayed a day because of the closure of Arther's pass but this didn't stop us from having our winter adventures in the mountain valleys behind Hokitika.It all started with Jarred bowling into jamies room Sunday morning, driving through snow and ice, losing a boat off the roof at 110, and some very to quality white water to be kayaked with not a moment to spare.

On Sunday we started walking at quite a fast pace into the Styx at 3 for an hour to get the trip started. With a good flow we continued to move just as fast down the river to get to the car with not a second of light to spare.With not much else running we decided to check out a new run, gave Dando a call, and before we knew it (or the sun knew it) we were waiting on a frosty morning for the humm of the helicopter.

For a not so cheap fare we were picked up by Dando, flown as high as we could get to the bottom of Toaroha canyon, dropped of with our kayaks going even higher to a small beach somewhere, in search of the biggest drop thus far in Jarred's kayaking career.After an hour of exploration we found what we were looking for. A sweet 25footer that flowed out of the bottom of the canyon. After a few descents of this and a swim we were off down the river in search of that illusive winter sunshine.

The river was awesome with some cool pool drop moves and a couple of fun boulder gardens to boot.The next day it was time for a sleep in to see if it would be any warmer if we let that sun have a crack at melting some of that frost... the only problem was the sun doesn't really penetrate very deep into the steep valleys of the west coast, especially not the Styx valley.After a later than usual start we hiked on in to the Styx, a little higher this time, unfortunately with less water. It really is true, the higher you go the steeper it gets. With this in mind we started as high as we could force ourselves to walk giving us awesome, continuous, steep, creeking which was just what we want! With Jarred giving me some inside local info we traveled down some of the most fun white water I have ever done back to the car just in time to catch the sunset. Choice!

BY JAMIE GARROD

2008-06-05T23:13:00.000-07:00

Queens birthday mission
After a bit of humming and haa-ing, Jarrod, Dave(our American friend), Ben and Butters decided there could be no better way to spend the Queens 'b' day than boating. We headed over to the coast with the intentions of running the styx on the Sunday and a fly in on the Monday. However we ended up doing two missions on the styx.....Dando's chopper got driven into by a house bus at full noise. Dam tourists!!!!

Butbut lining up the grind

Jared busting the grind

Anyway we managed to walk into the styx (with a large amount of moaning from Butters) to start with. Then on the second day it was Jared turn to moan due to the dent in the front of the magnum. Jug of hot water bro?...The water was low but the trip was still sweet.

Jared dreaming of Cali

ARGENTINA TRIP

2008-04-13T19:48:00.000-07:00

PART TIME
RUGBY CLUB POOLS

BUMS : )

THE WAY THE POOR GET AROUND

THE CAR PARK

THE VIEW FROM MY ROOM
FIRST NIGHT OUT
VIEW FROM MY ROOM AT NIGHT
LET THE GAMES BEGIN

Hey as some off yours, mite no I have just been to Argentina with high school boy's rugby club so here a bit run down
we arrive at chch airport at 8 am cheek in and so forth and jump on our connect flight to Auckland where we were meant to have an 3 hour stop over be we soon learn that
Argentina air lines aren't the best people to deal with so as it turned out we spent and extra 3 hours in Auckland airport as the plain pulls up you see all the boys looking at each other and thinking oooo F%^k the old girl need a paint ill tell yar that. The inside was not much better, after 11 hours on a cramped plane with no TV for some of us we final arrived in arge. Getting through customs was a piece of piss u just showed them your passport and that was it no m.a.f to deal with we did not even get our bags cheeked. As we steeped out the airport, the heat hit you straight away. driving from the airport to our hotel in B.A it was a real eye opener you drive passed really poor place witch look like a war zone, then into the city centre were its just full on motor bikes nipping past you cars all over the show. You could put hand out the window and touch the truck next to you, they do not tend to stick to there lanes very well.
our hotel just happened to be rite in the hart of it all, upon arriving we set out to cheek out the city centre out, holey shit is the first thing that comes into your mind there are so many people pushing passed each other, homeless people savaging in the bin for rubbish to recycle and the most pain in the ass people ever trying to give you leaflets to make you go into there shops. Errrrrrrrrrrr o and I cannot for get the people trying to sell you cocaine lol. As it being our first night in arge we went out for a few, the nightlife does not start till around 2/3 am and goes through until 9/10 so threes time for a wee kip before heading out. With a 9 hour, bus ride down to Bahia Blanca you made a night off it as you could sleep the whole way down and luckily enough the bus just happened to be kited out with lazy boy like seats.
we met our host bros, as they like to call them and started to settle in to that Argentinean way of life witch is kind of hard ill tell you that. so the week that that was to follower kind of went like this, Saturday played to games of rugby, Sunday play 2 games and then hit the piss, you can by a 900ml bottle for $4 no bucks so $20 nz bucks is not a bad nyt out on the town and thats the taxi home as well. the next 2 days are rest days before plying our next game on the wed then the flowing games on fri and sat then a big night out on sat and a bus ride back to B.A at 7am so you just pack your bags the night before hand and tell your host bro to meet you at the bus with your bags. We then travelled to b.a where we spent three big nights before flying home. Enjoy some pics

NEW YEAR

2008-01-08T21:43:00.000-08:00

Well 2008 rolled around and our place to be this new year was Akaroa, were we had to batches to choose from one in Duvcheles and the other in Akaroa, with two jet skis and a boat their was bound to trouble, on arriving on the 29th Baxter was real keen to get me on his new jet ski (that I mite add dose 116km). That evening was spent ripping it up it around on the biscuit and as all ways high speeds, witch resulted in this.............

Day 2 was spent bumming around on a sun-baked beach and 6 hours of biscuit, wake boarding, and water skiing. That night 8 of us sat down and had a few drinks a key in fact and that is pretty much what happened four the next five days. Boating the day and drinking by night. Well I cant be bugged writing an more they say pictures say a thousands words so hears some pictures 4 you to cheek out,

7 Hour Crusade

2007-12-11T19:27:00.001-08:00

With txts flying back and forth Gus and my self to head to the coast 4 the weekend, as we pulled into hokitika we were shocked to see people watering their lawns and the grass was starting to burn off, we later learn from the old man that it hadn't rained in the last 3 week witch is what we didn’t want to here. Arriving at around 3 we headed off to the Totara to lose some plastic off our boats, we could drive rite to the tree line in the Telstar so that knocked 10min off the walk, the Totara walk in usually cosiest of water and need deep mud BUT on this rear occasion there was simply no mud, this was the lowest I have ever run the toroha as we scraped and bashed our way down we glad to get our of there and head home 4 a feed and a sleep sleep.
Day 2, rumours were flying that there was a crew heading into the Arahura on Sunday we took it easy and headed into the Styx, with Jared given Gus a serious ass kicking in the walk in(that’s rite 15min I waited, and he started before me ; ) the day was set. The flow was low and made lines bit trickery but we managed

me on a very low styx

Ones arriving back to my crib Gus discovers a nice wee crack in his mystic right under his bum hole (note he has only paddled it 7 times mahah). No problem we get the gas torch onto the old girl and Maori her up and things were all G or so we thought. With those rumours still flying we finally pick our bulls up and decide to join the crew that is hitting the Arahura up. We meet the boys down the beach for a few beers and share the odd yarn over the campfire. The team consisted of two Poms 2 Yanks and four Kiwis. As the night life started to pick up we rolled down town 4 the odd beer or two as we had a 9am start the night had to be cut short.
The nerves started to pick up as Bruce landed but handing over the 90 bucks you just new it was going to be a sweet trip. After the 45min chopper shuttle we head on down things were action packed rite from the start and the nerves pumping but a soon as I hit my first boof move over a 2m drop the nerves stoped and the smiles started working our way down the steep gradient you had to keen your head up the hole time.
We come to our first major drop called dent falls after scouting the boys decided to run the 4m drop with only ben putting a nice wee dent in his new mamba. We then managed our way down to a drop called curtn call this drop in one of the most photographed drops around with every1 running it sweet you couldn’t resist going back 4 more. Rich the yank thought it would be a good idea to run it with no deck (I do not no why) after this boat did about a thundered cartwheels it was finally pulled out. After some more nice class, four we enter the next crux raped called billiards only Jordan Rich Andy and Alex run this bad boy. The next Mac daddy drop that Becton was the cesspit as the name suggest its not the nicest place to f$%k up so safety was set up and after the fab 4 finally made there mind up, they all aced it. The 7 hours was the best of my kayaking life so far, a grate trip all round.

Dent falls

cesspit

billiards

curtn call

just some of the meny drops

COAST MISSION, LABOR WEEKEND

2007-12-09T23:27:00.000-08:00

labour weekend came around this year with plans to do a two day trip into the upper Waiau. But... the farmer didn't like the idea of us walking through their farm so that plan turned out to be a big flop.
lucky for us we aren't dicouraged very easily and we had been given a grant for kayaking from the CPSA so we made the most of it and busted a move to the West Coast and bunked with the Mitchel's for 5 days.
With plenty of rain there was plenty to do and we got 6 runs in total with a heli trip into the lower Hokitika amongst them.

Marlow at the put in for Lower Kakapotahi

Jamie amoungst it on Lower Kakapotahi

Jarred checking out the rocks

Soph dominating

the landing pad for the lower Hokitika

Kakariki Canyon Another great trip all round courtesy of the CPSA! Churr