Date:    26/01/15
River:    Clarence River, North Canterbury, NZ
River Conditions:   2.5 Cumecs at Jollies (NIWA). Grade 2+(3), water clear.
Weather Conditions:  Sunny & warm, with light NE winds, winds strengthening in the afternoon.
Number on Trip:    4 rafts, 4 guides & 10 clients.
Time on River:  7.5 hours.
Distance covered: 37km (147km travelled in total)
Altitude dropped: 126m (529m dropped in total)
Comments:   Lay in bed watching the sky lighten through the trees and were off to slower start than the previous days. Bacon, sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms and scrambled eggs made for a welcome breakfast. Another beautiful day on the Clarence and on the river by 9:15 with Clint captaining our raft today.

Sam rows the gear raft while Sam captains the paddle raft.

Plenty of interesting geology today with dykes, intrusions and granite boulders on the beaches. Sawtooth Gorge is one of the highlights for the trip and features a number of the the named, grade 3 rapids. Jaw-Breaker was first and the drop was long, straight and bouncy. Nose-Basher was next and featured a big rock in the middle. Handkerchief was a long, bony boulder.

Sam cools off with a swim.

We had lunch at a beautiful grassy meadow hidden from the river by the surrounding stand of manuka trees, it was sunny and the soft grasses beckoned invitingly as the warm air and ample food made us dozy.

The highest point of the Inland Kaikoura Range, Tapuae-O-uenuku in the distance is 2885m high.

We camped that night at Dope Patch (apparently some enterprising locals were cultivating an “investment”, thinking it was far enough upstream to be found, not realising the number of people coming down the river) in a nice manuka grove with a beautiful view of the river. We spent some time before dinner swimming and playing in the rapid opposite the camp, much to the amusement of the guides who were speculating on how long it would be before one of us was bitten by the aggressive eels that frequent the river.

Pre-dinner drinks & snacks, sometimes outdoor pursuits can mean roughing it, but not today.

Dinner was roast pork, again cooked in the Dutch ovens and quite delicious, something we’d come to expect from the food on this trip. Another fine night so I once again slept under the stars.

Roast pork cooked on a camp fire in a Dutch oven.