Tomato, Tomato, and Tons of Water

Once again heavy rain warnings were up in force on the West Coast so without further-ado a contingent of Canterbury kayakers were in route with high hopes of floods, fun, and a wee bit of fear.

First stop was the Lower Kaka's, which after much deliberation was deemed to be too high. The very large blurry hole that you see did nothing to instill confidence in what may lay downstream.

Next stop was the Totara which was in the bushes and brown. But with no hole at the put-in too scare us away we put on.

A moment of calm. The run was high for sure and was over in a hurry. Somewhere between the start and the stop we found big waves, big holes, and big fun.

Typical ending to a West Coast mission.

Upon running shuttle we saw that the river was dropping quite fast and with ample daylight left we headed back to the Kaka's with hopes of less water and more courage. The put-in hole was much smaller and with some communal peer pressure we put on for what turned out to be a super classy high-side-of-good flood run.

Peering into the abyss. The run starts with a micro-gorge that did not look to micro at this flow. we all portaged and then the fun began!

Bigger waves, Bigger holes, and bigger fun. The run was awesome and we reached the take out with smiles that lasted the whole drive home.