Two Days on the Perth

Curt - Some Rapid on the Perth

Photo: Rachel Curtis

I have heard and read a lot about the Perth River, and now I have finally had a chance to experience the raw beauty and power of the Perth for myself. No where have I been where the evidence of the tremendous forces that shaped a landscape were more obvious than making a trip down the Perth River.

The boats arriving

We had our overnight gear dropped off at the Scone Hut, while the 7 of us and our boats were dropped off about 2kms up the Upper Perth from the hut. Here the Perth is steep, tight and technical creek boating. Most all of the drops require scouting for a clean line and the ever present sieves and other nasty spots. We had a great flow for this upper section. Rachel and I scouted upstream while waiting for the next loads of people and gear to arrive. The evidence of the glacial activity that shaped the riverbed is everywhere. Huge granite boulders stacked precariously upon one another make up the majority of the streambed and river banks. The evidence of recent high-water events was also very obvious in the debris deposited amongst the boulders.

Dany - 1st drop on Upper Perth

Ken - Upper Perth

Rachel - Upper Perth

The action starts right away chasing the ever disappear horizon-line. We broke into a group of 3 and a group of 4 to make things easier, but we were quickly jumbled again as the drops required good scouting by all. We had a nice afternoon making our way down to the hut and enjoying a relaxed pace knowing all we had to do was get downstream to our gear, make some food, drink some wine, relax and repeat.

Charles - Scone Creek

The upper section went well and we had great flows. The Wharoaha gauge was reading about 110 cumecs, (using the guidebook correlation puts the Perth at about 44 cumecs - which might have changed from recent floods - b/c there was plenty of water in the section above the Hut and from the Hut down was pretty juicy the next day!) There was even enough water to run Scone Creek. I scouted the drops and wasn't seeing the lines or feeling the motivation to get back in and out of the boat to scout every drop. This section is good though and the drops are bigger and steeper than the upper section of the Perth.

The evening in the hut was enjoyable. We had a good mixed bag of folks - Me, Ken from CO and Charles from NC, two Germans, a Canadian and Rachel- the only kiwi in the crew. Michell- one of zee Germans provided endless knowledge on chocolate and chocolate producing companies, and just about anything else really. We ate hunks of cheese and drank wine from our dinner bowls and followed our noses trying to find hot pools but only discovering a few warm springs.

The hut life - drinking box wine from bowls

Morning was great. No loading boats on cars, calling helicopters, making plans- none of it, just eating some food and going kayaking.

 

Put-in Day Two

We loaded up our boats and shoved off around 10am. There is 1-2kms of warming up when putting in at the hut. This was nice for getting used to the loaded boat. This is also when it dawned on me that I haven't actually ever paddled with overnight gear in my boat. I guess the Perth was pretty much as close to a trial by fire as you can get. Just as I thought I was feeling pretty good, the bottom dropped out and the river just kept getting steeper and steeper. My boat was feeling sluggish and heavy in the stern. Ferrying and carving maneuvers that are usually effortless were starting to wear me out. The water was cold, big, pushy, and drinkably crystal clear. Rach and one of the Germans had run the Perth before, but at much lower flows, so it we were treating it as a first descent. Some rapids were boat-scoutable, but there was a lot of in and out of the boat climbing as much as 100-200 meters downstream to see what all laid ahead and where the next big eddy might be. The scouting in and of itself also started getting tiring - getting in and out, running up and down - mentally as well as physically. Trying to put together all the pieces of these long complicated rapids and keep these pieces together in time to get in your boat and connect the dots. The horizon lines feel like they never end. There are no waterfalls on the Perth. The gradient comes in the form of long, steep, pushy boulder gardens that lead into more of the same with very high quality 4-8' boofs everywhere.

Ken gettin' the goods

Photo: Rachel Curtis

Dany - Knuckle Grinder

The Perth is real kayaking. Most of the paddling I have done in the last year was spectacular, but was generally on something familiar to me or someone in the crew. Going out on the Perth with only a small amount of prior knowledge was a real adventure. The very soul of kayaking. Immersing oneself in an environment so remote and demanding - yet equipped with the tools necessary to come out the other end. We didn't see anyone else the second day, no hikers, paddlers, fisherman, or helicopters.

Scouting...

Curt Boofing...

Photo: Dany

The action stays steep for about 3kms and the eases of for a bit. The final gorge has 4 or 5 fun grade 4 rapids in a supper scenic schist gorge. I was so drained i didnt even think to get out the camera.  The Perth is an awesome run.  Maybe not the best place for learning to paddle with a boat full of gear, but definitely awesome!  I look forward to heading back, maybe for a day trip with a light boat next time!

Looking back at the final gorge...

New Zealand summer paddling and a slice of life...

Curt Joyce - Curtain Call - Arahura

photo by: Rachel Curtis

The rain continued to fall my first week in Hokitika, so we got on a few more of the runs around here that need rain.  These were all either hike-ins or drive in runs, so costs have been low, which is nice.

Hiking into the Styx

First rapid on the Styx

We hiked into to the Styx and put on around trap #36 ( about 4km hike).  The rain from the last couple of days insured good medium-high flows.  This provided some excellent continuous grade 4+ action where scouting was difficult because it was essentially one big rapid, and swimming was not an option.  Sam, Marlow and Aja decided to put on a bit lower, so I ran the upper 300 meters twice while they were scouting/getting geared up.  The top section could be described as a combination of the East Fork of the Hood and the NF of the Payette – steeper and bigger than the Hood, but not as big and fast as the North Fork.  But the action all too quickly mellows in the hike in section to fun class 3 boogie allowing for the chance to take in the scenery and beautiful day.  You can fly in much further up adding some more continuous grade 4+ action and one steep grade 5 gorge.

The following day saw more clear weather so we rested from the hiking the day before and did an afternoon trip to the Kakapotahi, this time hoping to get on the Upper section.  Upon arriving we received positive beta from another crew that it was a good medium-high flow and the standard epic portage around a double sieve was now runnable!  Game on! 

Then, the rains came again, and it came hard.  While sheltering from the storm in the Hokitika Holiday Park kitchen we were trying to get a crew and make some plans.  Barney showed up with a crew ready to paddle.  With this much rain, the only semi-sensible option would be a high-water run on the Totara.  Finding the road flooded by the overflow channel of the river set us back about 45 mins b/c we couldn’t get to the put-in road.  After the police let traffic cross the still flooded main rain, there were a few sketchy stream, crossings and then we got on.  It was a fun, fast and brown river with one nice gorge that made for some big waves and holes and fun moves.

Always a good thing to see on the way to the put-in.

Still trying to get to the put-in...

Good flows on the Totara

With yet another front moving into Hokitika, the weather on the West Coast was not cooperating well with our paddling plans so after getting in a few more good hike or drive-in runs we high-tailed it out of town for a few days to dry out and go to her folks place in the Marlborough Sounds.  We spent one day catching Cod (plus 2 sharks and 2 Parrotfish) and another morning getting scallops and eating them for lunch, yum!

The Marlborough Sounds

Measuring scallops for the keepers

A few days later found us back in the Hokitika Holiday park making more plans for paddling.  I got in a few more laps of the super fun and classic Upper Kakapotahi.  The guidebook description is right-on for this one: "The beautiful upper Kakapotahi is a fantastic kayak run, one of those places kayaks were just made for. It has seven drops, all of which are difficult to scout and have some consequences for blowing the line."  It is a great run to follow someone who knows the lines so you don't have to scout and can just bomb through the beautiful granite gorge. 

Warren at Postmans - Upper Kakapotahi

  Curt Joyce - Air Mail - Upper Kakapotahi

photo by: Warren

The weather has been awesome for the last week almost, opening up options for the Heli runs.  Heli-kayaking is all about a fine balance of prior planning and flexibility.  The more people flying to the same put in the cheaper the flight is going to be.  And the further away and smaller the crew or any odd numbers makes the flights much more expensive.  We fortunately had a solid crew of 4 (including one German, which is always good to have along) and found a popular day for trips up the West Coast classic: the Arahura.  The guidebook description says it all: “One of the most sought after and enjoyed runs in New Zealand. The Arahura rates as one of the great kayaking runs in the world.“  15 kms of fun basically.  Its all good to go except for one mandatory portage - Dent Falls, used to be a classic, but the shifting of boulders just made it a huge sieve.  The Arahura offers steep continuous boulder gardens, crystal clear drinkable waters, and the best ending to any kayak run ever:  The Cesspit and Cesspit gorge.  Formerly rated a Grade VI rapid, there is a line and some big air and a fine line around a nasty pocket.  Then an eddy to catch your breath and 200 meter gorge  with big holes and sweet boofs.  Amazing!  I’ll let the pictures tell the rest.

Heli-Kayaking - a dangerous and expensive addiction!

Once the Heli leaves you're in there - crazy feeling

Standard Arahura

Rach styling a fun drop

Ken in the pushy and sieved out rapid Billards

BOOFing the exit

Danny - Zee tokin' German

Cool head-cam boof shot Curt Joyce

Cesspit - Scouting the entry drop into the gorge

Cesspit Gorge

Pohutukawa

Nice sunsets on the beach - Kiwi style

All pictures from this update

New Zealand, First Impressions

Farewell 2009 - Last sunset of the year!

Well, I knew it was too good to be true that it was sooo easy to get my boat checked in and it didn't cost anything.  My one gear bag was the first on the carousel in Christchurch, so I waited patiently for my boat until all the bags were gone.  No dice.  I waited impatiently for a few days and got the call that it was in Sydney a few days after I arrived.  I borrowed a friend of Rachel's boat for the first couple of days, we got in two laps on the Matakitaki, a fun grade 3 boulder garden in a beautiful valley.

Matakitaki Valley

Mauria Falls - I didnt have my boat yet - check back for pics of me on this one

Rachel was more jet lag from Africa than I was so New Years was pretty mellow staying at her folks place, a beautiful house overlooking the Tasman Sea, in Nelson.  We went down to the beach New Years day and got in a nice swim.  Nelson is kinda like the Florida of NZ, but with snow-capped mounatins in the distance.

White bait that Rachel's dad caught - a New Zealand delicacy

The airline had my boat flown up to Nelson and I picked it up on the 2nd, in time to head to the West Coast for the up coming rain.  Hokitiki is the main hub of the West Coast.  The rained poured down for a good day and a half, so we looked for the few runs that you can do under such conditions only to find them too high once we got to the river.  So we spent most of yesterday driving around and doing no paddling, oh well thats how it goes sometimes.  It finally stopped last night and we were able to get on the Lower Kakapotahi today, as the Upper was too high to run.  It was a great grade 4 run with some fun pushy boulder gardens, an exciting canyoneering adventure to get to the river and a great granite gorge with ferns and moss everywhere.  So far things have been good.  Pretty limited on the runs we can do with all the rain we are getting - its supposed to start up again soon.  It hasnt really been clear enough to see the big mountains yet, but I guess they are up there somewhere.  We have some good options for paddling tomorrow, so I am optimistic. 

We've done plenty of this

And some of this

The entrance to the gorge on the Lower Kakatopahi

Alright thats about it so far.  Looks like a nice day or two then more rain.  Better than no water though right?!  Check back for more updates soon.

Cheers,

Curt

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