Adventure Paddling

Spent the whole weekend paddling - really great fun.
Had a bit of a heavy one on friday night, so we did a late afternoon run of the Rangitikei Gorge. This time i did it in a 'Scud' and had far fewer problems!
On sunday we did some 'park and huck' style paddling (a new experience). This involved a 3/4hour road trip, trecking through jungle, an absail and a few waterfalls - great fun

The Rangitikei Gorge

our first river trip. this was concidered "a pushy grade four", however levels were still reasonably high, meaning sections of grade 5.
we got a lift up with the River Valley Rafters* - then let them go ahead (we wanted to scout everything and take it slowly on our firs decent).
The trip started of comfortably with grade 3, then 3/4 - a nice warm up and a good way to get used to the Mystic and river dynamics. Although it soon became fairly intense - grade 4/5 some beautiful drops and nice lines. very exciting, bloody scary!
A few rapids from the end i had a bit of an epic - i swam.... major embaressment, although im told alot of people swim this river - which made me feel slightly better.

the get out is actually at River Valley (where im staying), which is perfect. this ment a chilled afternoon of exchanging stories and discussing rapids at the lodge bar. Things are going really well, this holiday is amazing and is only looking to get better - although i have to say kiwi paddling is really putting me in my place!

*amoungst the rafters was Dougy - the rafter on the Choru, Turkey!

The Begining, River Valley Lodge

what can i say?
'paradise' is the only way to describe it!
arriving there was what i would imagine going to heaven is like: sun was shining, stunning views, kayakers and rafters everywhere, camping is dirt cheap and there's an awsome playwave parallel with my tent!! (dad, ud be so jelous if you could see this place!)

met two guys also doing the ambassidor programme with bliss-stick- Donny from germany and Iain from liverpool area, both slightly older than me. really cool guys - we've decided that after our work at the kayak factory, we're going to buy a car together and do as many rivers around the country as we can... perfect ...!

too much rain has prevented us running the gorge outside the lodge - (the Rangitikei) - currently all raft trips are cancelled, and running it is concidered 'crazy' by most standards... to do it in spate as a first decent would be stupid, so we're waiting for levels to drop
.... this is frustrating, we spent three days straight doing very little. we're borrowing boats from Bliss-stick, iv got a 'Mystic' at the moment.

week 1

sorry for not being in touch - internet is expensive and hard to come by. got a bit of time this evening, so i can fill you in on my adventures so far.....

started in aukland, didnt like it - busy, no character, 'unfriendly'. (a bad start really!)

headed to rotorua the next day. stayed there 3 nights. really beautiful area and met some really cool people. went to a very commercialised Mauri village - which was very informative, if a little touristy. went on a long walk - got completely lost and hitched back to hostle with this awesome kiwi (absolutly crazy bloke)

then went to taupo with two guys from birmingham i met at rotorua hostle - even nicer place: weather was great (got sunburnt) went on a scenic hike, swam in lake taupo.

met 3 german girls in taupo. got on with one in particular, hannah, she was cool - drove to tauranga (bay of plenty) with her. This was amazing. best weather in all of NZ apparently ... id agree with that. went swimming in sea alot, climbed mt. monganui, did a sky-dive (cooooooool!!!). spent the whole time in a german youth hostle..... a weird experience imust say - but in- fact this was actually the best hostle so far! really friendly people, made loads of friends: however conversations tended to need alot of concentration and effort!

few days later headed to Taihape ('ti-happy') by myself - for blis-stick. a 6hr bus journey. i arrived there at 5pm to find that Bliss-stick and the lodge i was supposed to be staying at was a 40min drive into the mountainous countryside from the town...... hmmm, this was a difficult situation. the best i could do was arrange a lift for the next morning- i was forced to stay in a tiny room above a dodgy pub , but for $15 i wasnt complaining!

The Dummy Blog

saturday morning (4th November),

day before my flight: plans made, bags packed, goodbyes said and excitement reaching boiling point - that pretty much sums it up.

dad's recommended keeping a 'blog' on this website (pretty neat, huh?) , it seems a good idea so im giving it a go.