Date:    6/04/15
River:    Hurunui River, North Canterbury, NZ
River Conditions:   12 Cumecs at Mandamus. Grade 2, water clear.
Weather Conditions:  Cool and overcast with strong NW winds.
Number on Trip:    2 kayakers.
Time on River:  1 hours.
Comments:   Lauri and I had camped out by the swing bridge at Jollie Brook for the later part of Easter, as I had to work until Saturday. With a less than promising weather forecast for the week ahead, we decided to make the most of the “better” weather on the Monday, starting with a paddle around the Jollie Brook area.

Lauri paddles off down the Hurunui.

Lauri and I had a paddle around the swing bridge area, as I encouraged her to practice her ferry glides and breaking out of eddies, but she quickly tired of this and was keen to paddle down the river for a stretch, so off down stream we went. I followed along behind to shout “paddle” in the difficult bit and to make sure Lauri didn’t get in to any difficulty. The section was pretty bony, but apart from getting stuck on the odd rock, she didn’t have any problems, even in the more turbulent rapids. We got out before the river moved away from the road and after a brief stint of towing the boats, I left them and walked on to get the car.

While I drove back to camp with the boats, Lauri walked back to along the river bank so she could see where she had been and was quite surprised that she had paddled though some of the rapids. After some morning tea, I paddled upstream and then carried my boat up the bank and put in above the Jollie Brook rapid and then had a playful paddle down to our camp site.