Date:    27/09/14
River:    Ashley River, Canterbury, NZ
River Conditions:   6.2 cumecs at Ashley Gorge. Water clear, swift and cold. Grade 2.
Weather Conditions:   Cool and overcast.
Number on Trip:    3 people.
Time on River:  2.5 hours.
Comments:  With the club heading to the West Coast and a first aid course on Sunday, we needed to do something on the Saturday to get a trip in. Graeme was keen, so he, Brent and I met up at the The Peg at 8am with the basic plan to run the Hurunui from Jollie Brook down to Seaward. We’d checked out the weather forecast, which didn’t look good and also noted the sharp upward kick of the flow gauge at Mandamus, which was show 55 cumecs at midnight and rising. The upper section of the Ashley was suggested and we all agreed that this looked like a better plan for our small group, with the shorter drive meaning we would be off the river before the weather turned as well. So after getting my boat on Graeme’s car, it was off to the middle bridge, before getting changed and driving to the Lees Valley put in.

The first part was a little bumpy, but once the Townsend River joined the flow, the going got better. With the low flow, I adopted a slightly more relaxed style, removed my nose clip and loosened my technique somewhat and as a result found myself upside-down with a head full of water in a rather shallow spot, after a little casual play went awry. As I was almost touching the bottom or some rocks, I tried to lift myself up using them instead of rolling properly, when this didn’t work and I’d gotten my hands, poggees and paddle a little tangled up, I pulled my deck, stood up and towed my boat to the bank and emptied it out. Not exactly an auspicious or inspiring start to the trip.

Graeme makes a splash

Back in my boat and we were soon on our way again. There was plenty of eddies to catch, rocks to dodge and holes to play on and we all had fun. Brent tipped over briefly on one rapid and rolled up immediately, putting my earlier lame efforts to shame. There was apparently still traces of the wire fence around one of the larger, early rapids but we avoided it without any difficulty. This was a fun work out and a good low key warm up to the season. This section is definitely worth paddling at this flow, for a nice easy and fun paddle, that still offers challenges to newer paddlers, relatively close to town too.

Brent breaks out

We reached the middle bridge around lunch time and by the clouds of sandflies that descended upon us, they definitely thought that it was time for lunch and we were the main course. After a quick change, Brent and Graeme ran the shuttle while I watched the gear and fended off the marauding hoards of biting insects, before we all headed back to Christchurch just as the rain started. Thanks Graeme and Brent for a good day out.