Date:    25/10/2021
River:    Avon River, Christchurch, NZ
River Conditions:   1.355 cumecs at Gloucester Street bridge. Water clear. Grade 1.
Weather Conditions:   Sunny and warm, light winds.
Number on Trip:    1 person.
Time on River:  1.5 hours.
Comments:  Labour Day was a beautiful day and a great way to round off a long weekend largely spent doing housework and gardening, was going for a paddle through the Red Zone. So while Lauri was resting from our earlier outing to look at cameras, I got changed into my paddling gear, shouldered my Blitz and heading down to the river.

The tide was out and in my usual launch spot there wasn’t a lot of water so a seal launch was out of the question. I lower my boat into the barely covered mud and clambered in. Using the pelvic thrust method, I managed to move the boat into deeper water and then it was off downstream. I chose to head down the river as I was interested to see how the progress was going on the new footbridges that were being built to replace the bridges damaged in the quakes.

At Medway Street, the previous steel bridge was left badly twisted by the force of the ground movement and provided an interesting photo opportunity before it was removed. At this site, work seemed to be proceeding with a large crane on either bank and the start of foundations going it, but is does look like it will be a bit longer before we can walk a circuit down one side of the river and back up the other.

There were a number of other paddlers on the river enjoying a warm, sunny day, paddling everything from race boats to sit on tops. There were plenty of people enjoying the Red Zone, strolling beside the river, walking their dogs (some people even had their dogs on leads) or cycling on the tracks. The green spine is such an amazing resource and hopefully its amenity values will always be preserved so everyone can enjoy them in to the future.

Further down, I spotted a shag trying to shallow a smallish eel that definitely didn’t want to get eaten. There was a lot of head waving, ducking & squirming before the eel was swallowed whole. With just the zoom on the point & shoot camera, I was really able to get close enough to do the scene justice, but it was cool to see the this natural drama. I didn’t think I see something like this again anytime soon, so it was a bit of a surprise on the way back up stream, to witness possibly the same shag downing another eel, though this time with considerably less drama, one quick head flick & down it went.

At the Gayhurst Street bridge, I decided to carry one down to Kerrs Reach, to see if the was any new developments along this stretch. Construction has started on the Dallington Landing but nothing has been done on the river bank yet and work on the footbridge at Snell Place has yet to begin. It will be good to see the quake damaged facilities being replaced over time, to allow people more easily access the river. There were a few people white baiting on the river banks down this stretch, though I’m not sure I’d be keen to eat anything that came out of the Avon, even if I did actually eat fish.

There were still quite a few rowers at Kerrs Reach, even though it was early evening, and after a brief pause, I turned around and headed back upstream. It was a bit harder paddling home with the flow against me, but the evening light reflecting on the water made the paddling more relaxing. Well aware that time was getting on and dinner wasn’t going to cook itself, I kept the pace up and although the last leg was a bit of a grind, the landing appeared. I clambered out at the landing by the Riverlution Café site and hurried home across the community garden, ignoring the two Police cars & ambulance at the end of the street (no idea what was happening). Even though I was tired & sore, it was a nice way to end the weekend, I love having this asset on our doorstep.