Date:    18/02/2023
River:    Avon River, Christchurch, NZ
River Conditions:   1.676 cumecs at Gloucester Street bridge. Water clear. Grade 1.
Weather Conditions:   Sunny and warm, strong NE winds.
Number on Trip:    1 person.
Time on River:  1.5 hours.
Comments:  It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, ideal for a nice paddle on the Avon. I carried the Blitz down to the river with my new split paddle that I’d bought on Trade Me to make sure it worked. The paddle, a Ruk Sport Moray 4 piece split paddle with an alloy shaft was relatively cheap at around $100, but seemed pretty robust with much nicer blades than my previous split paddle, which tended to flex during strokes. The other advantage of the new paddle was that being in four pieces, it will actually fit in back of my Blitz, a real bonus if you are planning to carry it in case of emergency.

One of the first things I came across was a drowned supermarket trolley, it’s weed entangled wheels poking forlornly out of the waters surface. It’s always sad to see this type of things, as it doesn’t enhance the beauty of the area and they can be hard to remove. I generally try to Snap, Send, Solve abandoned trolleys, dumped garbage and other eyesores in the neighbourhood before they end up in the river. The app is really easy to use and can be used to report a range of issues in the community, and some issues can be solve promptly (though some supermarket chains can be a bit slack about picking up their trolleys).

Down under the Medway Bridge and on past the Dudley Creek confluence.

There was plenty of bird life on the river, but the only other river user I encountered before Kerrs Reach was a low race boater doing a training run up the Avon.

A pair of black swans were looking magnificent, so I stopped to take their photo, while trying not to disturb them too much.

Although we were still in summer, the temperatures were still warm, the colours of autumn were starting to show in places. One of the nice things about the Red Zone is getting to see the cycles of the seasons in nature.

The skies were clear and the water was smooth, but pushing into the strong north-easterly winds was a little hard at times.

Beyond the Gayhurst Road bridge, I encountered an odd black swan that seemed to have an injured leg, as it stuck straight out behind it and didn’t seem to move. I watched it swim along, wondering if it was a birth defect or if it had been attacked by a dog, when another larger swan came up behind it and pecked at it. The first swan lowered it’s leg and paddled on normally, and this left me thinking that the larger swan might have been the first swans’ mother and she had just told it to stop fooling about and swim properly.

Things were busy down at Kerrs Reach, with plenty of rowers on the river, so I turned around and head back up stream.

Paddling upstream is always a little harder, depending on the tide, but it was nice to have the wind behind me.

As I approached the Snells Place footbridge, I noticed someone climbing up the bridge arch.

Apparently they wanted to take a photo from a novel angle. I can understand that and this is probably the best of the new footbridges design-wise.

From here, it was more paddling against the current and enjoying being out in nature, feeling the warmth of the sun and the cool splash of the water. Then home for a nice shower and a rest.