The Taipo
Wow. Just run the Taipo river (making it the fourth heli-trip I've done). It was a brilliant trip and probably the most continuous whitewater I've ever paddled.
The river was 30/40kms long, so we split it into a multi-day trip, stopping in a 'tramp'-hut halfway down. This was a new experience for all; having to carry all our own food, clothes and sleeping equiptment was fun but meant very heavy boats ........ and thus plenty of stern-squirting!
It was an early start (9.20) but the action started right from the get-in - giving us quite the wakeup! The first 6kms was pretty much a continuous bouldergarden with only small eddies to rest in - fantastic! After this the river opened up and the gradient lessoned giving us a little space to breathe; a couple more larger rapids existed in this section, two of which were "solid grade 5", which i portaged.
Day 2 of the Taipo was much easier - grade 3 the whole way down. It was beautiful, just as one would picture Kiwi rivers; super clear water, smooth stone and snow capped mountains in the background.
It was a fantastic trip, one of the best Ive done here.
Thats the good news........ the bad news is that the car has died
We travelled some seriously rough ground on the way to the get-in of the Hokitika/Whitcombe... and i mean rough ground, u'd need some sort of monster truck to get through there safely. And unfortunatly, although the car battled hard and put in a heroic effort, it bottomed out and is now as good as written off (sniff sniff).
Thus ... we have a new car. A Nissan Bluebird, again costing $500. Its an old banger, but hey, its cheap - it only needs to last three months anyway (touch wood).
The river was 30/40kms long, so we split it into a multi-day trip, stopping in a 'tramp'-hut halfway down. This was a new experience for all; having to carry all our own food, clothes and sleeping equiptment was fun but meant very heavy boats ........ and thus plenty of stern-squirting!
It was an early start (9.20) but the action started right from the get-in - giving us quite the wakeup! The first 6kms was pretty much a continuous bouldergarden with only small eddies to rest in - fantastic! After this the river opened up and the gradient lessoned giving us a little space to breathe; a couple more larger rapids existed in this section, two of which were "solid grade 5", which i portaged.
Day 2 of the Taipo was much easier - grade 3 the whole way down. It was beautiful, just as one would picture Kiwi rivers; super clear water, smooth stone and snow capped mountains in the background.
It was a fantastic trip, one of the best Ive done here.
Thats the good news........ the bad news is that the car has died
We travelled some seriously rough ground on the way to the get-in of the Hokitika/Whitcombe... and i mean rough ground, u'd need some sort of monster truck to get through there safely. And unfortunatly, although the car battled hard and put in a heroic effort, it bottomed out and is now as good as written off (sniff sniff).
Thus ... we have a new car. A Nissan Bluebird, again costing $500. Its an old banger, but hey, its cheap - it only needs to last three months anyway (touch wood).
posted by ww andy at 5:17 PM
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