Date:    25/01/15
River:    Clarence River, North Canterbury, NZ
River Conditions:   2.5 Cumecs at Jollies (NIWA). Grade 2+(3), water clear.
Weather Conditions:  Sunny & warm, with gusty NE winds.
Number on Trip:    4 rafts, 4 guides & 10 clients.
Time on River:  9 hours.
Distance covered: 39km (110km travelled in total)
Altitude dropped: 177m (403m dropped in total)
Comments:   We were on the river by 8:30 with Sam as captain, for another day of beautiful weather and impressive scenery, with the highlights being the frequent basaltic flows & dykes and the chalky mountains. We had a nice cool swim at morning tea and Jenny swapped with Maire for a place in our raft.

Another gorge beckons.

There were lots of good wave trains & boulder gardens and we ended up chasing a group of cormorants downstream through a series of gorges as they insisted on flying ahead of us instead of just watching us float past.

Heading down a rapid.

The paddle raft runs a rapid.

More geology, rafts & rapids.

The Inland Kaikoura Range in the distance.

Noticed a cloudy flow out of Fidget Stream as it joined the larger Clarence River. A strong head wind picked up in the afternoon, making paddling harder and the going slower and we were glad when we reached Pink camp (so named as the defoliant sprayed on the gorse etc had a pink dye added which turned the sprayers, who had camped here, a pink colour hence Pink camp) above Sawtooth Gorge.

Pre-dinner snacks with our wine, included crayfish and we had roast chicken, cooked in large cast iron Dutch ovens, for dinner. Another swim in the evening and then as the weather looked good, I decided not to use the fly sheet and camped under the stars. It was another beautiful clear night and the stargazing at 2am was superb.