Date: 8/03/20
River: Arnold River, West Coast, NZ
River Conditions: 68.3 cumecs at Moana, water clear. Grade 2, water clear and dark.
Weather Conditions: Overcast with occasional light drizzle.
Number on Trip: 20
Time on River: 2 hours.
Comments: It was hard to pull myself away from lying in bed reading, but eventually I managed to get dressed, packed up before wandering down to the kitchen to make my breakfast of muesli, fruit and coffee. It was a little after eight (our agreed meeting time) when I made it outside and Graeme’s briefing was already in progress. He got me to assist Heidi leading one of the groups on the river, which would only be a minor extension on my normal keeping an eye on things. I finished loading the vehicle and has last to head out. I stopped at the Challenge Service Station to fill up, as I’d rather not get caught short in the middle of nowhere (pretty easy in rural New Zealand). The price for 91 was a stunning $2.41 making it some of the more expensive petrol around. Still it’s better to be safe, that to be sorry.

The drive from Reefton to the Arnold Valley, passed through a number of small, rustic West Coast towns, with the single lane bridge over the Ahaura River being particularly rustic, though it does look like there is a replacement bridge under construction. Turning up Arnold Valley Road at Stillwater, I drove up the valley until I spotted the rest of the group lined up along the roadside and pulled in behind them. Graeme wandered down the line of vehicles and stopped at mine to get me to lead part of the group down to the put in, while he waited for the rest of the vehicles to arrive. I hadn’t realised that we were parked just before the turn off and so drove off, looking for the turn off to the dam. Fortunately Graeme phone up before I’d gone too far and I turned around and drove back to the turn off down Stratford Road, the sign for the Arnold Dam Walkway being much more obvious from the opposite direction.

At the put, we met up with Sylvie who had managed to get hold of the key for the Crooked River access track, so Graeme was able to breathe a sigh of relief as he had been having difficulty getting hold of the farmer. We got changed and then ran the shuttle, with just a few spots of rain appearing on the windscreen. We split into our two groups with just a few changes, as I would be assisting Heidi, who was leading our group.

I’d forgotten how big the Arnold was, as I remembered it as being relatively small, but possibly that was due to lower flows on previous runs. When we got to the point where the outflow from the power station joined the main flow, I was surprised as there was very little water coming down that channel and so crossing the convergence was scarcely noticeable, when on previous trips, this was a source of drama for newer paddlers.

Most of the rapids were formed by in stream boulders or were long, bouncy wave trains. Plenty of fun was had bouncing down these or surfing the waves behind rocks, but you had to be quick to catch them, because if you weren’t, the current swept you off down stream.

There were also quite spots where you could enjoy the scenery, the right bank is covered in native bush that gradually gives way to farmland, whereas the left bank is predominantly just farmland.

Some of the bigger rapids provided some challenges for the less experienced paddlers, but there was plenty of experience on hand, with Heidi in particular, giving advice, guidance and showing the best lines. I advised people not to follow me, as my lines tend to be more interesting (either for maximum fun or finding a good position for photo / rescue) and aren’t necessarily beginner friendly.

Eventually the river calms down and farmland dominates the river banks, the bridge at the get out comes in to view. At this point we looked for a suitable spot to extract ourselves on the right bank and then walked up to the cars, got changed and then loaded up for the next part of the adventure, the Crooked River.