Pyke - Hollyford Epic

After six weeks of school I had a most welcomed two week break which stated with a quick trip the West Coast. However, the big mission for the break was a 160km 8-10 day tramp deep in Fiordland. Myself and a fellow flat mate had been eyeing the trip for a long time. The trek stays very low in elevation and stood out because it was long and could be done in the winter. Myself and two mates left Lincoln and drove all night to the trail head, slept for a few hours then started at first light. Eight days later we reemerged. Here are some of the many shots from the trip.

The start. Me, John, and Matt.

Like with most New Zealand tramps it was not long before we were looking at something really amazing. Hidden Falls was not so hidden on this day.

We stayed in 7 different huts along the way. Here's the crew making dinner at dusk.

Matt and I getting into it. The days were long and travel was at times quite difficult.

The hard tramping had its perks. Some serious solitude and sweet scenery.

Matt and John soak it up early one morning.

All smiles from Matt and I. We stayed wet from the waist down for a majority of the trip.

Matt and I going deep...

After some hard days of tamping we made it to the coast.

We stayed at a hut right on the beach and were treated to a wonderful sunset.

Once at the ocean we spent a day walking down the coastline to where the next river came out so that we could continue our loop.

Matt hoping his way to the Hollyford.

Marten's Bay and the outlet of the Hollyford River.

One of the rock reefs near Marten's Bay was said to have a seal colony it. In the afternoon one day we went exploring and with the help of some good zooming I got this little guy in view.

Another night on the beach another great sunset.

The track up the Hollyford was like a highway compared to what we dealt with on the Pyke route. Here I put one of the many three-wire bridges to use.

We had much more free time on the Hollyford leg of our journey, time that Matt and I spent hitting rocks with sticks

The end, soon after this picture was taken we all went for swim/bath in the ice cold river.

All and all it was one hell of a trip and definitely one of my top non-kayaking memories from New Zealand so far. We went and eat some ice cream at Milford Sound and then drove all day and into the night to get back to Lincoln. I'm now in my last leg of school here in NZ which wraps up at the end of October, after which I will head north and explore the North Island...

Perth Video!

I did the Perth a long time ago and here is the video I very quickly put together, then lost, then found, so yeah here it is...




All the video was taken by Ben.

Coaster's

The weather forcast for this past weekend was a kayaker's dream. 300mm of rain was to hit the west coast and it landed on a weekend! We rallied over on Friday night got to Hoki, had some cheeky beers, then went to camp out by a river. it rain off and no all night and we awoke to more rain and wind. The Styx we low but hopefully on the rise. We drove around a bit looking at other rivers. in the end we hike up the Styx and found quite the adventure...

On the hike in. The rain seem to be on off on off all day. When it was on it was really on and came down hard. This pattern made it hard to pick what run would be in and be at a good level. we ended up maybe not making the choice and got to the top of the run to find it in a ranging flood...

The Styx with just a tad to much water in it

looking down into the unknown, we put on somewhere in this picture just below the steepest section. All went well with the occasional hole ride and moment of elevated excitement.

What good came out of the Styx being it flood was that it made it a good level to fly up to the upper put-in the next morning. The run was held to be a great day out we all were ecstatic when we woke up to clear blue skies Sunday morning...

What dreams are made of. We called Bruce first thing once in Hoki, went and got some food, and headed to the river.

Johno and Ben gearing up on a perfect west coast day

Looks good from up here. Bruce flying low so we could get a look at the days challenges

Ben and Johno getting ready to rock.

Johno getting into it right off the bat

Ben lining up the next move. The level was a tad low, all the rocks helped scrape the rust off our somewhat out of form paddling

Jonho taking a look see at the big one

The rare picture of me, thanks to Alex, somewhere along the way.

I'm on break now and leave tomorrow for an adventure down in Fiordland. should be a good time and I'll be back in two weeks time...

Sea Kayaking

Part of one of my papers (classes in Kiwi talk) is to take some high school students on an adventure. One component of our adventure is sea kayaking. In preparation for leading the trip we spent an afternoon in the sea learning knew skills and having a ton of fun.

Off we go!

The kayaks were HUGE, they call them Sea Bears

We paddled over an island where we came across some sweet caves

Into the abyss they go

The end of a good days paddle

Rangatata and General Good Times

This past weekend I headed out with the usual suspects for some boating and some low key ruckus. The itinerary was to paddle the Rangatata on Saturday then head to a mutual friends 21st birthday party up at Mt. Hutt for the night and then Sunday, well, we just left it at that.

The get in, we had a crew of seven

Alex and Dave progressing towards the gorge

Shaun taking a look see at a very cold rapid

A side from the air temperature hovering around 40 we all had good lines and good fun. We hiked up and ran the gorge again and then called it a day. Once at the get out we switched out of our boating gear and into our party shirts.

The party was held at a lodge owned by Canterbury Uni just down the hill from Mt. Hutt ski field. The party had the often humorous mix of boaters and civilians and proved to be quite entertaining.

On par with most Kiwi traditions is the "Yardy," a glass one yard tall and filled with way to much beer; all of which the lucky birthday boy gets to drink...

The lodge is in pretty poor shape and probably has seen a few to many party's held at it. Of note is the fact that the running water is no longer running. Luckily it rain over night and we filled up our kayaks with water. Here Ben takes his morning bath strait from the source.

After a slow morning and big push to get the lodge cleaned up we were in need of some adventure. A quick check of the river levels provided no motivation so we headed back to Christchurch where we were informed that the surf was in decent shape. We swapped creekers for playboats and headed to the beach.

Alex, Shaun, Nev, and I enjoyed a few hours of beating in the surf. After that we eat some ice cream and called it a weekend