Date:    2/11/2019
River:    Avon River, Christchurch, NZ
River Conditions:   1.885 cumecs at Gloucester Street bridge. Water mostly clear. Grade 1.
Weather Conditions:   Sunny and warm, nor-westerly breezes.
Number on Trip:    2 people.
Time on River:  2.5 hours.
Comments:  It was another beautiful day with not too much wind, so we decided to have a round of disc golf on our “private” course. Shortly after we started, Greta the Shelduck flew over from our place and down towards the river. We cut the game short at only one round of the five holes and returned home to get the kayaks.

When we finally got to the spot she normally hangs out in, she wasn’t there but we did get to meet another of Greta’s “guardians”, who she regularly visits for food and friendship. He filled us in on some more of Greta’s backstory, including that Flame & Molly, were apparently her parents and quite regularly hound (duck) her for hanging around with humans or not getting a new mate & producing more ducklings. It has been quite interesting to hear the various stories about her form the many people who have interacted with her before she turned up outside our place. She has certainly got around and seems very good at making friends where ever she goes.

We paddled downstream enjoying the sun, warmth and beautiful scenery, not too far, just down to the riverside retreat corner. Turning around, we paddling back up to the Swanns Road bridge and found Greta, dabbling in the water and preening herself. Soon after we arrived, Flame & Molly arrived and began scolding Greta, with Flame & Molly on the island and Greta on the water. Lauri had positioned her paddle between the two parties and Greta ended up standing on the back of Lauri’s Prijon Fly to continue the “discussion” and to cadge duck food from Lauri.

The discussion continued back and forth for some time, dinner time came and went, with the sun slowly sinking. I headed home to feed the cat and put my kayak away, before putting on some warm clothes, grabbing some food and heading back to the river to rescue Lauri from the Shelduck family dispute.

When I returned, things had calmed down and the strategy of feeding both sides seem to have brought about a fragile peace. I got Lauri to paddle down to the jetty and helped her out of her kayak, which wasn’t easy as she had been sitting in it for a couple of hours. She decided to walk back to the duck off while I carried her kayak home. When I got back, the peace was still holding so I coaxed Lauri home and we had pizza for dinner at about 9:20pm, having been on the river since a little after 4:15pm.