Date:    11/09/16
River:    Ashley River, Canterbury, NZ
River Conditions:   11 cumecs at Ashley Gorge. Water slightly discoloured, swift and cold. Grade 3.
Weather Conditions:   Sunny & warm, no wind.
Number on Trip:    9 people.
Time on River:  3.75 hours.
Comments:  This weeks club trip was to Murchison and as we had a big Anti-TPPA march on Saturday, this wasn’t an option. The weather looked great over the weekend and it was with some joy that I spied on the WWCC Facebook page that Ian F was planning on paddling the lower Ashley Gorge on Sunday meeting at the relaxing time of 9am in Belfast.

Paddling permission was sought and granted, gear was loaded and Sunday morning found me with a group of like-minded individuals at the Belfast Tavern car park. We sorted out vehicles and I opted to take mine as the shuttle vehicle and together with Em, I headed for the Ashley Gorge Domain, pausing briefly in Oxford to get some fuel.

Really an area of natural beauty only about 1 hour from Christchurch.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day and the mountains looked quite spectacular with their fresh dusting of snow from earlier in the week.  We got changed and squeezed into two vehicles to drive up to the put in. One of the guys had a longish chat to the camp ground manager about the condition of the road and succinctly summed up the conversation with “give it a try”. When we arrived at the gate to the Lees Valley Road, it was half closed with a sign announcing “Road Closed Ahead”. We pushed on and found the road was pretty good, just the odd snowy/wet patches in shaded areas. Beyond the middle bridge it looked a bit more snowy and difficult but another group of kayakers managed to get through.

Still snow on the hills as we leave the put in behind.

There were small patches of snow around the put in but the air was warm and the sun bright, and we were soon on the water and heading downstream at a relaxed pace. This was the lowest flow I had paddled this section at and I was interested to see what it was like, as previously no one generally paddled the Ashley below 15 cumecs, but it the last few years, groups have run it at as low as 5 cumecs.

Patches of snow on the bank as Em makes a move.

The sunlight sparkled off the water and we leisurely paddled between rapids, catching eddies and surfing holes. The flow was good, with good paddleable channels and lines through rapids. With more rocks exposed, some of the rapids became more interesting, but there were no real dramas and the low flow made the river a lot less pushy. The boulder garden above the Forever Eddy and the entrance to the gorge section, was particularly fun with the opportunity to pick your way through multiple different routes, making it as challenging as you desired.

Ian makes a splash.

Once in the gorge section the river tightens up and the rapids get bigger but at this flow they were quite nice and generally manageable by everyone in the group, which included some newer paddlers. The main drop was interesting as it seemed to get a lot messier at the lower flow. I watched most of the group go over without any drama and then I headed over myself. The line I usually take is from right to left, boofing into the eddy on the left, as I reached the top of the drop this time, it looked a lot narrower and distinctly messy, I blundered down something that looked sort of ok, hit the white water at the bottom and almost got through but found myself going over. Things went a little swirly for a short while and my first roll failed, fortunately my next attempt succeeded and I was upright and in the eddy, I reached for my camera to capture the next kayakers going over the drop but was too late and missed the shot. Photographed the drop whilst catching my breath but the angle and sunshine plus the complete lack of kayaks, didn’t really do it justice.

The rest of the gorge was fun without much in the way of dramas, it was just a great way to spend a beautiful spring day. Once out of the gorge section, our pace picked up and we didn’t spend too much time playing around, while still enjoying the frequent smaller rapids.

Ian runs one of the last major rapids in the Ashley Gorge section.

I was feeling a bit tired by the time we made it back to the camp ground but I really enjoyed myself and I think the rest of the group did too. We quickly changed into our dry clothes and then I drove the other drivers back to the get in, before returning to the camp ground to pick up Em and our gear. We headed back to the Belfast directly and then off home, feeling tired but happy.

Date:    4/09/16
River:    Hurunui River, North Canterbury, NZ
River Conditions:   43 Cumecs at Mandamus. Grade 2-3, water clear.
Weather Conditions:  Cool and overcast, with light winds and rare rainy spells.
Number on Trip:    13 kayakers with 7 paddling Maori Gully.
Time on River:  3.75 hours.
Comments:   This was the first WWCC trip of season and my first time in my kayak since May. I was a little worried that I might be a little rusty and a tad unfit. Kevin, who was joining us after 15 year break from kayaking was also a little nervous about being a little rusty. We put in at the Jollie Brook swing bridge, with a couple walking up to the top of the rapid for the “complete” experience and after a good long reorientation paddle around, headed off down stream.

Still plenty of snow on the mountains but not too cold for a great day on the river.

Johns H chose to swim early on in the Jollie Brook section so no one else had to feel nervous about taking the first swim of the season.

Watch out for the rock.

We played our way down the river, spending a bit of time at all the usual features. Despite the cool air temperature and the water that might have recently been snow, I was feeling pretty warm. It was nice to be on the Hurunui with little or no wind, as the frequent strong Nor-westers can really mess with your paddling enjoyment. A minor curse meant that due to the lack of wind and the overcast conditions, swarms of sandflies were everywhere, even on the river and it was a real relief when you lost then in a surge of white water.

Happiness is a goal achieved. In this case catching the small elevated eddy on the face of the bluff above the South Branch confluence.

Catching the bluff eddy just above the South Branch confluence was a bit of a challenge and certainly brought a smile to the faces of several successful paddlers. As we worked our way down to Devils Fang Falls, most of the group decided to paddle the rapid and using a variety of different lines along the right hand side, all managed to successfully navigate the drop. I tipped over in the run out at the bottom but managed to roll up on my second attempt. I then decided to have a bit of a play around in the foaming mass below the drop and found myself upside down again, this time, after three roll attempts I pulled the deck and had my first swim of the season. Clutching my drink bottle, paddle and kayak, I kicked my way back to shore. After emptying out my kayak, I wasn’t feeling quite so warm and the water was pretty frigid. Still I was dressed warmly, with plenty of layers so it wasn’t too bad, especially when we got moving again.

Breaking out and surfing the wave.

More play as we worked out way down to Seawards, where we paused for a time and part of our group got out to run the shuttle, while we ran Maori Gully. We were joined on the river by a group from UCCC before we our groups diverged again.

We had a bit of a play at the Magic Roundabout and then Matt dropped in to Simon’s Hole for a brief “play”, something I had never seen anyone do before. While it wasn’t particularly dramatic, it didn’t look like something I was interested in trying. The next couple of rapids were fun with no dramas but Cheese Grater had everyone feeling at least a little nervous. Fortunately at this flow it was pretty straight forward, with a big drop down then up a large wave, which looked quite daunting from the top.

Running Cheese Grater can be exciting, but no dramas today, just a wet slap in the face.

The next couple of rapids were all good but the corner rapid, the last grade 3 rapid in the Gully, seems to have got a lot more boisterous and the run out was a bit messy, though that might just have been the flow. From then on we kept moving, as cold and fatigue were starting to be felt. We had a brief play at the Pop Up Spot, as some of the newer kayakers tried some moves, and then on to the get out, where the rest of the team, the cars and our dry gear were waiting.

We headed back to town via the Copper Road Cafe for a beer and a “debrief”. It had been a good trip and a great way to start the season.