Date:    31/12/2023
River:    Avon River, Christchurch, NZ
River Conditions:   2.212 cumecs at Gloucester Street bridge. Water clear. Grade 1.
Weather Conditions:   Sunny and warm, still to increasingly strong NW winds.
Number on Trip:    1 person.
Time on River:  1.5 hours.
Comments:  It was a beautiful warm and still morning, with the promise of a weather change in the afternoon, so going for a paddle seemed a perfect way to close the year. I grabbed my kayak and gear, slapping on some sunscreen so that I wouldn’t get burnt like last time and headed over to our empty home (currently a build site due to earthquake repairs). I got changed and then realised I hadn’t picked up my bootees. Fortunately, there was an old pair of crocs (knock offs) in the garden shed, so I didn’t need to wander down to the river barefoot.

The river was glassy smooth, without a hint of wind when I put on, but the wind gradually picked up as I paddled upstream. The river was nice and cool, making a change from the scorching temperatures (around 30 degrees) we’d had the previous couple of days.

The water was relatively clear and I spotted a reasonable sized flounder near the Swanns Road bridge (slightly left of centre in the above photo). I think they head upstream when the tide is in, as the water must become a little brackish.

It was, as always, nice to be back on the river and I let being surrounded by nature refresh me, the greenery of the Red Zone and the sparkling reflections on the water surface.

It is always nice to see the variety of bird life on the river, though there is definitely an abundance of Canada geese.

Seeing paradise shelducks with their young is always good, though some pairs are definitely more successful than others and it can be a little sad to see families with only one or two ducklings left, out of a half dozen or more.

Up round the Avon Loop and past the Barbadoes Street cemetery is always very picturesque with it’s banks lined with trailing willows, native flaxes and cabbage trees.

I stopped at the outflow for St Mary’s stream, where it flows out of its historic barrel drain. The stream flows underground from its’ source spring in Merivale near Church Lane.

I paddled all the way up to our old neighbourhood, the “Fire Station rapids” halting my upstream progress, and then turned to allow the current to take me home.

More photos around the Barbadoes Street cemetery, as the swifter current flowing through the narrower channel carried me past the flowering flaxes on the river bank.

This really is a beautiful get away in the heart of the city, what could be better on a lovely, sunny day.

I had a play around at taking photos underwater, to capture the interplay of the rippling light and green river weed on the pebble covered river bed. As well as taking a novel self-portrait from the possible perspective of a fish.

The Bangor Street No. 3 Pumphouse was the city’s third pumping station. It was built in 1907 to assist in the further extension of the sewage system into the more populous suburban areas of Merivale, Addington, Sydenham, Linwood and Richmond. The pumphouse was designed to fit into its suburban residential environment and thus the circular holding tanks and much of the pump mechanism, which contained almost entirely underground, were screened by an ornamental pavilion, something quite different from many of the utilitarian structures of today..

On the other side of the river from the pump house, is one of our favourite houses in Christchurch, and certainly one of the few to survive the earthquakes.

Further down I spotted something odd in the water, not the usual collection of road cones, supermarket trolley or bicycle. On closer inspection, it turned out to be an open umbrella, already partially covered with bright green algae.

Pump House No. 4 on River Road is another architectural throwback from a bygone age when style mattered, even for sewerage pumping stations. Still working today, it provides a picturesque feature to the Red Zone and Avon River precinct.

Swanns Road bridge appears, signifying we are almost home.

The last stretch before climbing up the bank and heading back to our empty home. A quick change, crocs back in the shed, kayak back on the car and then back to our temporary accommodation for lunch.