Date:   6/04/2025
River:    Hurunui River, North Canterbury, NZ
River Conditions:  40 Cumecs at Mandamus. Grade 2 – 3, water swift & clear.
Weather Conditions: Sunny & warm, with light nor-easterly winds. Slightly overcast later in the day.
Number on Trip: 15 kayakers (11 kayakers doing Maori Gully).
Time on River:  3.5 hours
Comments:  With rain during the week, the Hurunui River came up from a very low 11 cumecs to almost 50 cumecs and a trip from Jollie Brook was floated for Sunday. With good weather forecast, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and loaded up the car. With daylight savings ending, it was easy to make it to The Peg before 8:30am as the cats didn’t change their clocks and were expecting breakfast at the normal time or 6am as it was now known. There was a little fluffing around waiting for Marco, who had some issues with vehicles, keys and front doors, and broke his own record of never being late.

After Marco arrived, we were soon on the road, and it was nice to see the familiar sights that I hadn’t see for quite some time. It had been over 4 years since I had paddled the Hurunui and I was quite excited to see what had changed. The tar seal turned to gravel as we crossed the Waitohi River and began winding through the hills. With the start of the Roar, there was quite a bit of traffic on the road and it was definitely worth driving carefully and being prepared to meet oncoming vehicles on blind corners.

We got changed at Seawards and then headed up to the put in at Jollie Brook after a quick safety briefing. It was a little disappointing to see that someone had decided to use the new Check, Clean & Dry sign for target practice, along with nearly every other road sign on the way. That kind of behaviour creates a negative image of firearms user in the eyes of the general public, so if you’re considering doing this kind of thing, have a little think and do the right thing.

We had a good warm up at Jollie Brook and it was nice to have a play about on the familiar water. Having had our first whitewater experiences on the beginners course back in 2000 here, it is alway good to return here, breaking out of the unchanged eddies to ferry glide across the Hurunui’s flow.

It has also been good to see newer paddlers pulling tricks and paddling boats not dissimilar to those we paddled in the 2000’s, rather than just bombing everything in a large creek boat.

From Jollie Brook, we headed downstream through the boulder garden, catching eddies and surfing the small waves, while realising that my fitness could do with some work.

Most of the rapids were recognisable, but it was interesting to see how different groups interact with each feature over the year. We only had a short play at the big rock play wave at the end of the boulder garden section.

With an extended play at one of the rocky drops, where there is a nice eddy on the river left that allows you to catch some good surfing waves, while the large eddy on the river right provides a good spot for spectators to watch or catch their breath between surfs.

John R showed us that he still has the skill to make some impressive moves, and I managed not to fall out of my boat while taking photos and catching the odd wave.

Young Ben made some good moves and I felt fortunate to be able to catch some of them with my camera.

There is a nice rapid in one of the early gorges, with opportunities for paddlers to showcase their skills, catching eddies on the left and then ferry gliding across to the large rock to the right of the main flow, breaking out with a flourish of spray.

On down though more rapids, while remembering why this is probably my favourite section of the Hurunui, with its’ gorges and an assortment of rapids.

There is plenty for everyone and most of the rapids have changed little over the years since I had last paddled them.

Not far upstream from the confluence with the south branch is another familiar play spot, this one featuring a small eddy, the mezzanine, on the face of a bluff which the flow pushes directly against.

The trick here is to catch the eddy and then exit without anything untoward happening, which depending on the flow can be a bit tricky. I gave it a miss this time, as being upside down whilst being pushed up against a bluff don’t rank highly on my list of fun things to do. However a number of people gave it a go, with young Ben making his first time look easy. Pam was feeling apprehensive about giving it a try, but with a bit of encouragement and coaching, she achieved it on her first try and was very pleased with that.

After a swim, one kayaker ended up downstream with his boat circling an eddy above a bluff. It was a little tricky to rescue it from the eddy, but Ben soon had it in tow and the kayaker back in their boat.

Having heard that Devil’s Fang Falls had disappeared after a flood in 2021, I was interested to see what the rapid was like now and was quite excited as I lined up at the top of the rapid. As the photo below shows, I wasn’t too worried as I had the camera out, taking photos, and not paddling. It didn’t look exactly like nothing, so the camera soon went away and I got both hands back on the paddle. The rapid itself was still pretty bouncy, with a number of waves and features, but the teeth were gone (covered up to re-emerge at a later date).

There was a nice surf spot with a good eddy where we used to pull in below the rapids and definitely no sign of the teeth that had previously frightened the unwary paddler.

After a play and photo session, I carried on down, eddying out on the river left at the spot where the two channels converge, while the rest of the group carried on around the corner. As the last boat disappeared from view, I casually began to ferry glide across the flow above the bluff, which when I was still a beginner had caused a few swims. Normally this hadn’t been an issue for sometime, but today the current was stronger than expected and I found myself pushed towards the bluff and then stuck in a notch in the face of the bluff. Embarrassing, still there was no one to see or rescue me if things got awkward. Fortunately, I stayed upright and managed to work my way out of the notch and round the bluff, before following the rest of the group.

The picture above shows the “old play wave” just down from the Dozy Stream put in, not much to look at currently, but in the past it was pretty exciting and made for some great photos like the one on this article. Was a little disappointed, but change is the nature of rivers and features should never be taken for granted and just enjoyed in the moment.

While speaking of change, it looks like floods have moved some of the sediment that was blocking off the entrance to the Eddy of Doom. It’s not the same as when I started paddling the Hurunui, but there is once again a large eddy on the river left, with the current pushing into the bluff. To exit the eddy, you have to cross above the bluff, so there is potential for excitement to happen. Of course, there is still a chicken run down the right, if this is a level of excitement you’d prefer to avoid. So while the river may take with one hand, it gives with the other.

After the Eddy of Doom, there are a few more rapids as the river widens and we headed towards Seawards, so there is still plenty of fun. By this stage, I was feeling a little tired with my lack of paddle fitness showing.

At Seawards, four of us got out to run the shuttle. I chose not to run Maori Gully, as I’d rather end the trip on a high note, with dry feet and hair, rather than cold and wet after a beat down on Cheese Grater. Also I wouldn’t mind if I never had to carry my boat up the stairs at the Maori Gully take out again, that just kills me. We didn’t have quite enough people to move all the vehicles and on the way back I spotted a 4×4 with a single kayak on the roof. I didn’t think much of it, but it was a nice surprise to see Phil Abraham, who taught me how to kayak properly and who I now work with, appear at the take out after a solo run down Maori Gully. He cycled back up to Dozy Stream to pick up his vehicle, while we headed back to town feeling satisfied to be reacquainted with the Hurunui.