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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