Up North Part 4 : The Wairoa

I had 1 date fixed in my mind for the north island. Sunday the 17th of December, it was the only Wairoa release while we were up North. I had organised for a crew of mates to make the mission over and was keen to get on the river I'd heard quite a lot about.

An early morning drive from Rotorua we made it to the Wairoa at about 11am. Early morning being an 0830 get up! haha
For the top section Shanan & Jimmy were our "guides" and Gordy and myself were new to the Wairoa. The action was short and quick through the entry rapids and we made our way downstream quite quickly.
Time flyed and before I realised we were at Roller Coaster (site of the Wairoa Extreme Race) I got out for a look & grabbed the camera, Jimmy & Shanan went down to show us the lines but Gordy & I were both amused as they both went through the bottom of the rapid upside down. Then Sam Sutton & Coyo came through showing us some sweeter lines & then we were up.
No carnage stories unfourtanetly and we continued down to the slalom course and met up with Megan & Tully who had walked up the track.
The last few rapids were short boulder gardens before the final 2m waterfall and paddle to the take out.

Everyone had nice lines off the falls & we had break for lunch. After driving back to the put in we geared up for a 2nd run. While getting ready we watched a nameless paddler (maybe Mark Robertson) run McLaren Falls. Then the 4 boys had another run down the river, we were joined at the bottom of Roller Coaster by Louise Urwin, who was making a solo mission down in her new rad 175. She ended up having a bit of fun in the back wash of the bottom waterfall. Good clean fun for the whole family.

That was it for the Wairoa & everyone went their seperate ways. Gordy & Tully the long drive back to Masteron, Shanan to Waitomo, Sheree & Jimmy to National Park (Jimmy had a couple of days left before his shoulder operation). Megan & I headed south and checked into a campground in Papamoa to finally do some much needed washing of clothes & selves....


Shanan Miles run the Chicken Chute while Jimmy & Gordy watch on.
Photo - Antz Longman


Is it Mark Robertson? Mc Laren Falls
Photo: Shanan Miles


Sam Sutton goes through the center (Roller Coaster Rapid)
Photo - Antz Longman
Antz

Up North Part 3 : The Kaituna

From National Park we made our way north to Rotorua, hoping that the NZ Kayak Buyers Guide & Cumec Magazine would be finished printing. After discovering that it was still at least 4 days away, we quickly made our way to do the 1st of many runs down the Kaituna River.

Megan had never paddled the Kaituna before so she followed me down. Tracing my lines through the 1st few rapids and then over Okere Falls (about a 2m drop). The river thens drops into a weir created by the old power station with the safest line being a boof hard right into the eddy.
Just down stream lies Tutea Falls 7m after briefing Megan on the line, I set off paddling left to right and boofed off the falls, landing on the pillow and being pushed out in to the pool. I turned to see Megan boof out from the drop land nicely and flip off the boil, she rolled up and had a big smile. Her 1st big waterfall. Although she had her eyes closed the whole time to keep her contacts in place.

The next few days were spent with multiple runs of the Kaituna, and as the weekend came around our crew of buddies started to roll in to town (Gordy, Tully, Jimmy, Sheree, Shanan)

We managed four runs on Saturday, including a couple of decent play sessions at bottom hole. Also tried out the new Bliss-Stick Mystic for 1 run down the river.

We were then ready to head to Taurangu for the Wairoa Release....

Antz


Antz about to run Tutea Falls
Photo - Megan Foster

Shanan Miles, Antz Longman & Gordy Bulford on Okere Falls & the Weir
Photo - Megan Foster


Local Rotorua boy Sam Sutton going big in his Mystic
Photo - Antz Longman

Up North Part 2 : Manganui a Te Au?

After staying a few days in Palmerston north we headed north to National Park, catching up on Sheree & Jimmy and hoping for some Central Plateau action. All the rivers were low so we headed to the Manganui which according to the guidebook was paddlable at any flow.

We managed to rock dodge our way down through a scenic gorge and watch a couple of Whio (Blue Ducks) negotiate the same rapids as us.

The run was interesting but with some more water would be a great trip. Short Class 2-3 rapids lead into large walls as the river turns sharp corners.

Thats it for the Manganui a Te Au

Antz


Megan at the put-in
Photo - Antz Longman

Up North Part 1 : Mangahao

Once again it has taken ages to get an update on here. Megan & I have been rolling around the north island for almost two weeks.

Part 1:

Mangahao Slalom Course & Whitewater Park.

First stop on the way north was Mangahao, NZ's 1st man made whitewater course based around 30 minutes south of Palmerston North near the town of Shannon. When we were there the course was running at 16 cumecs. Both Megan & I wished we had slalom boats but still enjoyed multiple runs down the course.
Megan spent the time adjusting to her new Prijon Creeker & I played around in a couple of the holes down the course.

A couple of local paddlers showed up while we there. Don't remember their names but they ended up sneaking their way into my photos.


Local paddler (who remains nameless) playing in a small hole mid course.
Photo - Antz Longman


Looking down the 2nd half of the slalom course.
Photo - Antz Longman

12 Mile Creek & big rain

After a week of driving for queenstown rafting my rat was starving. A huge low had just passed over the lower south island bringing the Shotover river upto 220cumecs & washing out parts of the road, the Kawarau rose to over 600 cumecs and Lake Wakitipu was edging closer to flood level.
Thursday morning Megan & I headed out to check out Nevis Bluff at high flow, we were stopped by road workers blasting rock from above the road. We caught a glimpse of some big brown crashing waves from over a km upstream. On the way back to town we stopped and check out the few of the DogLeg Rapid, quite washed out with the high flow.

After some lunch we loaded the creek boats and headed out to 12 Mile Delta, a 40 minute walk up a well looked after walking track you come to San Somers Hut.

The Walk In - Paddler: Megan Foster Photo: Antz Longman

Just behind the hut lies a sweet 6-7metre drop. After some humming & harring I decided that the drop was good to go, we planned some safety and set up some cameras.

Scouting - Paddler: Antz Longman Photo: Megan Foster

I ran the falls twice with varying levels of success, a large boil pushes you into a small cave on river right, which isn't too bad & you can paddle out of successfully.

About to hit the lip - Paddler: Antz Longman Photo: Megan Foster


A little bit of a crazy shot - Paddler: Antz Longman Photo: Megan Foster

I then climbed out just below the drop and walked downstream with Megan, as we didnt like the idea of paddling the tight wood filled canyon at this high flow. We put in halfway down & ran some small & tight rapids. With a few sizable portages around wood infested sections.

12 Mile was sick, and can't wait to have another opportunity to explore the rest of the river & possibly the section below the Glenorchy Road (Altough this section traps even more wood.

Antz

Upper Shotover (Megs 21st)

It's been a few random weeks so I'm finally getting some updates on here. I've been in queenstown since about the 16th of november, had Megan's 21st party on the 18th of November up at Ben Lomond Lodge then on the sunday headed into the Upper Shotty, I've attached a few photos from that trip, mixed with a few more from a trip in a few days later.


Paddlers: Megan, Jonny, Kim & Hamish Location: Upper Shotover Put In Photo:Antz


Paddler: Antz Longman Location: Bottom Hole, Upper Shotover Photo: Megan Foster


Paddler: Megan Foster Location: Bottom Hole, Upper Shotover Photo: Antz Longman


Paddler: Antz Longman Location: Bottom Hole, Upper Shotover Photo: Megan Foster


Paddler: Antz Longman Location: Bottom Hole, Upper Shotover Photo: Megan Foster


Paddler: Antz Longman Location: Bottom Hole, Upper Shotover Photo: Megan Foster

CUMEC MAGAZINE ISSUE 1

Here's what its going to look like! 1st cover star NZ's own Mike Dawson.
What's going to be inside? Well Mike has spun a little bit of a yarn about the Slalom World Cup, a look into Bliss-Fest 06 the lower South Island's 1st kayak festival & Anthony Yap from Melbourne gives an explanation on how to get out your dish cloth and make your blunts clean (Clean Blunting that is).

Yes it's small, but everything has to start somewhere! Stay tuned to the blog for some feedback & check out the CUMEC blog at www.cumecmagazine.blogspot.com

Cheers to everyone that has given me feedback, articles, photos & advice as the magazine has been progressing.
Also support all the people advertising in the NZ Kayak Buyers Guide, because they too are just trying to make a living out of a passion.

Happy Days

Antz

Big Wednesday - The Video

Here it is, a short edit of our big wednesday trip on the upper waikaia.

Antz

oh and the magazine is almost done...

Big Thursday - The Nevis River

What do you do after having a Big Wednesday? Our answer - Have a Big Thursday.

7:30am on thursday morning I was lying in bed wondering what to do with the day.
BEEP BEEP new text message received "Pack your gear we're heading to the Nevis see you in 30 minutes" Quite a late time I thought but hey what else am I going to do. A quick text back to Dylan "nuff said".

I rushed around collecting my gear from the back of the car, the basement, the washing line, in the wardrobe and several other locations. A small pile of gear, a paddle & a kayak sat on the footpath waiting for Dylan & Olly to arrive.

Amazingly they arrived to the minute & we were on our way to the Citreon take-out to meet Pete Simpson & Kent Huxford who were making the mission from Hawea.

We arrived at the Citreon take-out at about 11:40 about 40minutes later Pete & Kent arrived. He quickly loaded the kayaks on Pete's truck & headed off for diesel & the big shuttle to the Nevis Crossing.


Pete's truck loaded to go... Photo Antz Longman

Despite ominous looking weather & gusting Nor-westers we made it to the put-in & got on the water at 2:15. Quite a late start really. Luckily Pete, Dylan & Olly had all run the Nevis before. Wouldn't have been possible to start so late if you didn't know the river.


Dylan braves the wind for a photo op. Photo Antz Longman


At the Put In (Nevis Crossing). Photo Antz Longman

Central Otago schist walls started to grow in height as we progressed further down the river. After about 15 minutes of class 2 Dylan wave-wheeled his scud over a little wave only to land on a rock & snap his paddle in half. A few minutes trying to figure out which boat we could fit the larger of the two halves into. Finally we were moving again (Dylan now using our only split paddle).

The gradient picked up & we soon made it to the mandatory portage with a spectacular yet dodgy seal launch. Horizon lines everywhere we read & ran heaps of class 3-4 water. Occasionally having a short scout or jumping out for photo opportunities.

Freight Train was a sweet two stage drop which made for some awesome photos & video.


Olly Yeoman catches the Freight Train. Photo Antz Longman


Pete Simpson hitting the bottom drop of Freight Train. Photo Antz Longman

Time was still ticking so we kept moving finally breaking for tea at about 5pm midway through a big portage.


Dinner time. Photo Antz Longman

Finally we made it down to the big ones! Little Brother & Big Brother.
We all hit little brother, but I was feeling the effects of a long day & not enough food so opted out of Big Brother.


Kent & Pete running Little Brother. Photo Antz Longman


Dylan bottom drop of Big Brother. Photo Antz Longman


Olly boofing the bottom drop of Big Brother. Photo Antz Longman

After big brother the gradient stays consistent & you have fast moving grade 3 for about 4kms until a short flat water until the confluence with the Kawarau.

By this stage we were all well & truly tired. We just had the matter of dealing with a big water finish. Citreon flowing at about 300cm3. Pete went 1st as we opted for the "bomb it strategy" no scouting. Pete went left, hit the buffer really high and got launched skyward. We all quickly changed lines and hit the right of Citreon Rock.
I was 3rd through, came through to see pete still upside down on the left, infront Dylan was upside down amongst some huge crashing waves.
Had to keep focus for a few more minutes paddling through the crashing waves I made it to the bottom without flipping (so did Kent). Not so for the other boys, Pete was upside down for most of the rapid, Dylan contemplated pulling as he became disorientated from waves & having no indicator on the paddle shaft. Olly got back looped coming into the top of the right line.

Huge smiles & a massive stoke factor as we floated the final kilometre down to the takeout.

Was a massive day, absolutely stunning & will be hard to top. Although was an expensive day:
Snapped Paddle - Dylan
Cracked Boat - Olly
Possibly Cracked Boat - Antz
Lost Memory Card - Antz (it belonged to Pete)
plus petrol & food.

But really money can't buy the satisfaction that you get from having an awesome adventure with some good fella's.

Cheers boys still stoked on the good times.

Antz

Waipori Slalom

It had been over 4 years since I entered my last competitive slalom race. Back then I was in 6th form at Taieri High hanging out with mates and having a good laugh on the river. I had no knowledge of river dynamics, strokes (except a healthy power roll), or much more than the basics of slalom.

Today I headed out to Waipori for race 1 of the South Island series. The race had been organised by Dylan Thomson & OCKC. First of all I had no boat, and definetely hadn't paddled a long boat in ages. Caleb Woodside my old paddling partner from high school came along too he hadn't even been in a kayak for over 3 years.

Caleb's brother Josh lent me his slalom boat for the 2 race runs. My first run was a little shaky through the staggers & definetely well behind the regular slalom racers.

Race 2 started off well through the upstreams and first set of staggers, I thought I was going well! Then while going for gate 14(downstream)I caught a rail and flipped. Not sure if I even went through the gate... I rolled up in time to catch gate 15 & paddle down through the last couple of gates.

Overall I ended up 13th out of 21. Great fun being back in a competitive atmosphere & picking up more knowledge from the regular racing crew. Might even have to venture to the next race in the series at Hawea! All depends on my workloads though.

Cheers go out to Dylan & everyone who made it a good day out on the river.

Antz