Date:   19/09/2021
River:    Ashley River, Canterbury, NZ
River Conditions:   13.8 cumecs at Ashley Gorge. Water discoloured and cool. Grade 2/3.
Weather Conditions:   Overcast, clearing in the afternoon, cool. Northerly winds.
Number on Trip:  6, with 2 doing top section only.
Time on River:  4 hours.
Comments:  This was scheduled to be a Hurunui trip, but with the Hurunui running at over 100 cumecs on Saturday a trip down the Ashley was looking more promising. By Sunday, the Hurunui had dropped to around 80 cumecs so as we stood in the Belfast carpark and debated possible options, a Hurunui trip was once more on the cards. Two paddlers we keen on the Hurunui but the rest, considering the likelihood of high NW winds and that the flow gauge was reading low, preferred the Ashley. In the end, we split up with 6 of us piling into two cars and heading off to run the Ashley form the Lees Valley.

We got changed at the middle bridge and then all six of us squeezed into Hugh’s car, with all the boats & paddles strapped to the roof and drove up to the put in. It was a tight fit with four of us across the back seat, fortunately kayakers tend to be relatively slim & athletic, and are used to being crammed into tight spaces for long periods of time, so it was too bad.

We worked our way down the first stretch, warming up, and then spent a bit of time playing on the first play spot we came to.

Everyone had a bit of fun here and so I ended up with a number of photos on this rapid. Bill had his Eskimo Salto out again, resplendent with the names of the many sponsors of his film Rivering. Check out the movie if you want to remember why we paddle & maybe see some familiar faces.

Jacko demonstrated his skills and had a few good surfs, and Hugh got to try out his new packraft, which was a bit more streamlined and narrower, meaning it performed a little bit more like a kayak. It was impressive to see him carving out in to the whitewater, just shy of his 79th birthday.

We made our way down the river at a good pace, well aware that doing both sections with a total distance of almost 23km, would make for a long day if we decided to play on everything. Hugh seemed to take the bit between his teeth at times, so I had to chase him down at one stage when got a bit too far ahead of the rest of the group.

When the hills receded and the river opened up, we had to take care not to get grounded in the shallows, there were also a few trees jutting into the flow, that we had to avoid. It took us about 2 hours to reach the middle bridge and here, Hugh & Ian left us to run the shuttle, where they would leave a vehicle at the highway bridge before heading back into town. This would mean we didn’t need to do any further shuttling once we got of the river.

I was still a little nervous about doing the grade 3 section and so preceded fairly carefully, not exactly knowing what the changes I’d heard about would mean.

Most of the rapids were fairly similar and it was great to get reacquainted with them, though there were the odd surprises where drops, holes or rocks appeared unexpectedly and then there was the odd “correction” stroke (read madly slapping at the trolls to stay upright).

The boulder garden above the forever eddy was a lot of fun and I think the route I took provided a few surprises but no real dramas. There were some changes in the gorge proper and I think I picked some unexpectedly exciting lines, possibly due to being able to read the murky water and failing to spot hidden rocks. We were keeping a good pace and my hands had got quite numb due to the cold, so not so many photos were taken.

The main drop is not so pronounced, though the line, moving right to left, is very similar, sliding down the tongue was almost anticlimactic (but still a thrill). A few more rapids and then the rapid that had been making me feel a bit nervous came into view. Above 3 Trick, the rockfall scar that had caused the changes, dumping tons of rock into the rivers, was clearly visible. I watched the others run the rapid one by one, along the left hand side, while I held back to get some photos of the approach.

Once I’d documented the approach, I broke out and headed towards the rapid. I was a little surprised to see Jacko out of his boat, working his way up the back with a throw rope and I was a little worried someone had come out. Turned out they were just worried I had appeared and were coming to see where I’d got to. Jacko signaled a route down the rapid and I bounced along as best as I could understand. I tipped when I broke into the eddy at the bottom, but was able to roll up quickly so there was no drama.

I broke out and ferry glided across to the eddy at the bottom of the rapid on river right, so I could get a good view up the rapid, to see where we’d come down and what the various lines looked like. Unfortunately I had a water smear on the camera lens and no matter what I tried I couldn’t clear it, hence the blurry picture above. Since my numb fingers were almost incapable of operating the camera and the rest of the group were rapidly disappearing down the river, I put the camera away for the rest of the trip.

The approach to the next big grade 3 rapid had changed a bit, there seemed to be a few more holes to avoid around the approach and I had some bouncy excitement as I failed to avoid a few of the features. Once we were past this rapid, there are still more grade 2 rapids, but the tension is definitely off and we paddled swiftly towards the get out, both to keep up the pace and to stay warm.

Passing the flow gauge tower marked the get out was approaching. As the campground was closed, we paddled past the usual get out and hauled out our kayaks just before highway bridge and then climbed up to the road. Our vehicle was waiting and it was very nice to get into warm, dry cloths and head directly back into town. Hugh & Ian were still at the Belfast carpark when we got back, and we all headed home feeling a little sore & tired but very pleased with after a big day out on the river.

Date:   12/09/2021
River:    Ashley River, Canterbury, NZ
River Conditions:   18.9 cumecs at Ashley Gorge. Water very discoloured and cool. Grade 2.
Weather Conditions:   Sunny & warm, with brief cooler, overcast periods. Very strong NW winds.
Number on Trip:  10 doing top section, 3 doing both sections and 4 doing only the bottom section.
Time on River:  4.5 hours.
Comments:  Kerry announced on Facebook that the road in to the Lees Valley had been repaired after sections were washed out during a period of very heavy rain around the end of May. With the road reopened to the public, an Ashley Trip was once again a possibility, river levels & Covid-19 permitting. Fortunately with the river flowing at 24 cumecs & everywhere except Auckland having moved to level 2 (whitewater kayaking permitted), Keri gathered a group to go paddling on the Saturday, while I held off for the club trip on Sunday.

We received Kerry’s notes from his trip on Facebook before heading out the next day…
“Most of the rapids have changed to some degree or more, most are a lot easier now with obstacles removed or shifted making the lines more straight forward. However there are some significant changes you should probably be aware of. There’s a branch in the crux rapid entrance line so be aware when choosing your lines, this would be a hazard at lower flows. John Hunter’s most disliked rapid no longer has a tongue entry but is a river-wide ledge which you can punch river right. The main drop in the centre of the gorge no longer exists and is a nice chicane rapid. Three trick rapid (second to last hard rapid and one exiting the gorge) is bordering on GIV now. Rockfall on river right has filled in the eddie at bottom that people used to play at catching. The rapid consists of two drops into two holes, if you don’t have a bit of speed you could have a little play time with a lot of rocks. There’s a diagonal line river right to left however this may be more challenging at lower flow.”

It was nice to know there hadn’t been too many significant changes, but as this was going to be my first whitewater trip since February, I was feeling a little bit nervous when driving to The Peg for the meet up. There was quite a group assembled when I arrive, many keen for a first paddle of the season. We decided to split into multiple groups, with one running the upper, grade 2 section and one running the lower, grade 3 section, while Bill was keen to lead a group doing both sections. I decided to do the upper section with the possibility of doing the lower section if I felt up to it, however by the time I reached the put in at the Lees Valley, I’d managed to talk myself out of doing the grade 3 part.

Once in my paddling gear and on the river, it felt good to be back in my Blitz but I felt tired & unfit, the result of not having done much in the way of exercises with the lockdowns & various Covid-19 related restriction.

I’d told Bill that I didn’t plan to do the lower section and his small group disappeared into the distance fairly quickly, as the rest of us made the most of our time on the river.

The flow seemed higher than I would have expected for around 18 cumecs and the water was very discoloured, making it hard to spot rocks or judge the water depth.

It was fun to catch eddies and surf the various small waves along the way, feeling my confidence returning as I remembered that I could actually paddle and wasn’t quite as unfit as I thought I was. The main grade 2 rapid was pretty much as remembered and didn’t cause any issues. We were also pleased to note that although the river banks were scoured by the May / June flood waters to a height of several meters above the current river level, there didn’t appear to be any wood forming major impediments in any of the rapids.

We had a good bunch of people with us and it was great to see everyone trying out new things or helping out when someone’s roll didn’t quite work and they ended up swimming. There were a few times when we had to chase boats for a wee way before getting them to shore and reuniting them with their paddlers. At one stage, I recovered a drifting paddle and then set off after the boat (the kayaker having made it to the river bank). After a bit of a trial, I managed to clip the water filled boat to my towline and then struggled to get it to the bank whilst juggling the two paddles. Blair kindly lent his boat to the boatless kayaker and then swam down the river to where we were waiting, which was pretty keen since the water was very cold.

It was a amazing day to be out on the river and the Ashley graced us with plenty of beautiful scenery to enjoy and some fun whitewater to keep us entertained.

The were a few places where the river split or was a little shallow (hard to tell with the cloudy water), so you had to keep an eye out for the best routes, just in case you got beached. Some of the side channels offered additional features like the small chute pictured above with Blair.

There were also some nice play spots and it was great to see many of the paddlers giving them a go. There was always some fun to be had and we took our time getting the most out of our paddle.

Near the end of the section, the river opened up and became more braided, some of the channels got a bit shallow and you had to be one your toes to avoid getting stuck. There were a few trees in the river, so care was required to avoid the hazards they posed. Near one tree, a paddler took a swim and their paddle got stuck in the submerged branches. Blair kindly rescued the paddle after employing himself as a human torpedo, swimming out and grabbing it from the downstream side. We had to chase the boat for some distance but eventually managed to bulldozer it ashore.

Eventually the bridge appeared and it was nice to get out and into some dry clothes, as I was a bit cold & wet. The vehicles were shuttled and we drove out to the highway bridge (the campground & domain were closed to the public) to drop one of our group back at his car and were quite surprised to find Bill’s group had been waiting there for about 3 hours in their paddling gear. They had run both sections in a little over 2 hours while we had taken over 4 hours just to paddle the top section, needless to say they were glad to get changed and head home. As we were fairly late getting back to town, I ordered Hell Pizza from the Belfast carpark and arrived home just before it arrive. A great reward for a fun day out.