Family Activities and Dipping a Toe in the Water
the Guns Paddle (and Jiggling it Around)

[This is Mark's account of his New Year trip with Timon, Bernie and Paul. The "Family Activities" refers to the fact that Timon (much to Paul's frustration) wanted some non-paddling days. By the sounds of things, they got plenty of paddling done though - Ed]

28th December - Day 1

We set off on the 6:30am ferry to Picton from Wellington. We headed straight over to French Pass to check out the huge rip, whirlpools and waves hopefully.

It is a long windy road to French Pass but there is a cute little camp ground right next to sea when you get there. We set up camp and had lunch then Timon and I went for an explore along the rocky sea-shore to French pass proper.

French Pass is an 800m gap between D'urville Island and the mainland. When the tides get going there is a massive current flowing through the pass. The associated whirlpools have upset launches and even tossed ships. Tides vary from over 4m to somewhat less. It was just over 3m when we got there. It looked just like a giant river. The current was fast and the whirlpools didn't look too friendly but they were much further down and looked easy to avoid.

We paddled around from our campsite into the gap. We found some fun whoopiing and cartwheeling in the eddy created by a lighthouse in the middle of the Pass - but overall the pickings weren't as good as expected. It was interesting.

29th December - Day 2

We took a look at the Pass again as we headed southwards. It looked more grunty but not enough to unpack and get into wet gear. We drove through Nelson on our way to the Pearse River. Nelson was humming with all the Gathering' gathering gathering before the Gathering. The Pearse was low (as in why not just hit yourself on the head with a hammer and take to your boat with a chisel and save time) so we went and played on a small hole called Blue Gums on the Motueka.

30th December - Day 3

We had some fun diving into the freezing Pearse - and then seeing if we could get out before our balls turned to marbles. Timon and I took some pictures of Bernie underwater looking like a naked white eel under the clear green water. I hope to make these available on the VUCC website if anybody wants a cheap laugh.

The weather was brightening so we climbed Mount Arthur then drove to Quinny's Bush.

31st December - Day 4

New Year fever had been building slowly and increased as we drove to the Buller. We paddled Granity with some Swiss guys and others but it was relatively uncrowded. There were a few of us at the get out and somehow some people picked up a couple of our paddles and nicked off with them. We gave chase not really knowing who it was or where they had gone. We first checked out the Rodeo which was good to see. Aaron "Hutt Valley Boy" Walsh won the Mens Division.

We eventually found our paddles at the Murchison campsite where pretty much everybody was anyway.

Changing the usual venue for the New Year party didn't diminish the atmosphere and it went off again.

1st January - Day 5

After a lengthy discussion we set off to do the Earthquake section on the Buller then drove to Karamea for a heli of an adventure.

2nd January - Day 6

The drive to Karamea took fucking ages. I was a little surprised to see Duncan at the Karamea rugby ground and campsite in the morning - having just about given up on him the night before.

We were all present and accounted for, bar Phil Clarke who had let the side down a bit, so we choppered in above the Roaring Lion Rapid. Roaring Lion is a long rapid and there were some tricky bits some people portaged. The final drop looked unpaddleable until Timon called Paul down a tight chicken shute. Bernie followed, did an endo and fell out of his borrowed Savage Gravity. Amazingly everything was recovered. We had a lovely time down to the next harder rapid near the end called "Holy Shit". I had just gone down OK and was setting up for a photo shoot when Duncan cut out of his eddy straight into a sticky hole. I saw his head bobbing up and down as he side surfed then carnage as he rolled out the hole only to have his deck pop and his Overflow get sucked off him. Meanwhile, nearly at the bottom, Bernie also got looped and parted from his boat.

I scrambled down to my boat only to find everybody rescued at the bottom.

Duncan and co. headed back to Murchison while we stayed on to sample the Karamea night life. There wasn't much, though The Last Resort is a nice place.

3rd January - Day 7

We were lucky enough to meet the same people who had guided Timon and friends through the Xanadu caves the year before. We sunk maybe 20-30m though tight chimneys into a labyrinthine cave system. It was great singing while contorting through rabbit holes, chimneys, squeezes. We got down to Lake Mahinapua that night and set up camp. We checked out the Mahinapua pub and the Kiwi Experience bus. Both were in good form.

4th January - Day 8

Paul took off to do the Arahura and Timon and I and some other mainly Nth Island paddlers went off to do the Tauhoroa. The river was low. Paul had a great time.

5th January - Day 9

Heavy rain meant a lot of rivers were too much of a handful but some smaller ones were at good flows. We set off to paddle the Totara. It was pretty grunty with some great play waves. The nearly 50 paddlers on the river meant playing time had been reduced however. The gorge reminded me a lot of the Hutt gorge at about 2m which is as much as I'd ever want to do it at in a small boat. I was relieved to get down without a beating. An Auckland paddler took one that day on the lower Kakapotahi. Made the news apparently.

Three jugs and meeting a new busload of Kiwi Experience people later and it was z time.

6th January - Day 10

The rain had stopped and so we drove into the Kakapotahi upper gorge. I borrowed an Overflow and prepared for the hardest paddling I had done to date. I got down OK. Not well. I got stuck upside down in a tiny narrow and boily eddy for a minute then somehow managed to roll off the back of a paddle blade at 10 degrees to my boat. Paul followed and instead of staying on the surface - his Whippet sunk. He swam out and disappeared for an ungodly time before resurfacing with time to swim into an eddy. We both felt lucky before lucky left.

It was all over shortly after that. We missed out the lower gorge so we could paddle the Styx.

We got there at 6pm which isn't the ideal time to start a 2hr walk in followed by a grunty paddle. By the time we had rescued Richard Sage, Kenny Mutton and Fleming from the deep mud their car was stuck in it was later but they recommended we try to get as far as we could. I dipped out, giving a hand where I could. We walked for an hour and Timon and Paul paddled out in 45 minutes including a 15 minute scout of the first hard rapid.

7th January - Day 11

We flew in to the Taipo along with every other man and his dog. The chopper pilots had a good day. I got dropped off at Tumbledown creek to a patiently waiting Paul and Timon who had come down from Julia Hut in 15 minutes while I waited an hour for my turn on the chopper. The Taipo is a long cold river. It takes a lot out of you. I portaged the last of the grade four gorge rapids (Tit or Tat) and most of the Staircase, which most people portaged.

8th January - Day 12

We packed up leisurely and drove to Maruia springs via the Blue Grey river which looked too low. Timon and I fancied some exercise, though the weather at Lewis pass was winterish. We carried our boats for a half hour down to the Maruia Cannibal Gorge. It was too low but there were some tight steepish drops to keep you from going to sleep. We hopped out of our boats and into the springs which was what the plan called for. We drove to Murchison and set up camp.

9th January - Day 13

Up to Picton to find the Lynx cancelled and 37 cars in the standby queue. Plan B was to take the Straitsman from Nelson to Wellington. It worked. We got on at 8:30pm after watching the latest Bond film and arrived at 1pm next day. Thank god for sea sick pills is nearly all I can say. I actually really enjoyed the trip especially standing on the bridge looking at the 4m swells race by as our smallish ship tossed like a big cork. It was an interesting way to end another great holiday down on the beautiful West Coast.

Mark Duckworth




Last update: Wed Aug 26 23:21:34 NZST 1998

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