Hey Everybody,
I've been in New Zealand again since December 14 or so, but haven't been able to communicate back much due to a general lack of convenient internet facilities as well as being a bit more interested in going out and having fun than locking myself down at a computer and writing about what I could at that moment be doing.
Regardless, I have a couple minutes here at a computer, and it's dark outside so there's not much else to be doing, so I thought I'd fill you all in.
It took about a week from my arrival to get going on everything. Johanna flew into Auckland instead of Christchurch, so I had to wait for her to travel overland (and sea) to get to Christchurch before dealing with the acquisition of a car, which we are renting together. That was Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday night we managed to get hold of kayaks through the Christchurch Whitewater Canoe Club, and Thursday saw us finishing off a few details in Christchurch (our last paper due for Seminar) then heading north a ways to go paddle the Hurunui River on Friday. The top section of the Hurunui is grade 2 and was a good way to get our feet wet, but proved a bit too stressful for Johanna. We had arranged to be back in Christchurch Saturday for a social paddle down the Avon, which runs through the middle of the city, so we took off from the Hurunui after one short run.
Saturday was a good opportunity to meet people in the club, and was an enjoyable afternoon with a bit of a barbecue feed at the end. Johanna decided she wasn't too keen on kayaking right away, so we returned her hired boat to the club and I gave her a lift into Arthur's Pass, where I said goodbye to her for several days as she traipsed off into the back country.
Having left Johanna in the high country, I went and tried (and failed) to meet up with a friend near Oxford, a bit inland from Christchurch. That plan falling through, I instead went out and stayed on farm in Scargill with Donald, a good ol' bloke I met at the paddling social. I had to be back in Christchurch Wednesday night to make a boat swap, so I hung out with Don until Wednesday morning then headed back to Christchurch.
In the city again, I swapped out the LiquidLogic Remix I was paddling for a pretty ancient looking Thunderbird with some of the hardest rails I've seen on a boat. They're so sharp it makes the RPM look like a sea kayak... but that's not important. What is important is that I arranged to go paddle the Hurunui again that Friday with Bill, Linda, and Becs. Bill and Linda run the gear shed, and Becs is the trip coordinator for the club. It was nice to go out with some people who knew the river because they took me down the gulley section, which is class 3 (whitewater classes in NZ go from 1-very easy to 6-you'd better be f***ing awesome). In the meantime, namely Christmas Eve day, I went surfing in the Thunderbird at Sumner, which is on the edge of Christchurch.
After the paddle with Bill, Linda, and Becs, I managed to score the club's new boat, a Riot Thunder, off of Linda, since she didn't plan on using it again. The only rule - give it to Debbie on the 6th of January, or I will hunt you down and hurt you... I took the boat and headed up to Murchison the same day, which brings me to the best part of my trip so far.
Murchison is the class 2-3 kayaking capitol of New Zealand. There's heaps of rivers up there, heaps of paddlers (especially around Christmas/New Year), and heaps of fun. From Christmas day until January 6 I paddled 2-3 times daily and progressed from a so-so class 2 paddler to a semi-competent class 3 paddler. Sweet as. I met up with some ol' boys from the club, basically all the guys in charge, and they taught me heaps in the 4 or 5 days I was paddling with them. After they left for Hokitika (the class 4-5 capitol of New Zealand), I hooked up with some freelance paddlers who were rocking it as well. I took a brief break from river-shredding to get some safety under my belt, attending a pretty full-on river rescue course at the NZ kayak school on the 2nd and 3rd of January. Learned heaps, but need to invest in some gear now...
Anyway, left Murch on the 6th to bring Debbie's boat to Christchurch, picked up a new boat on the 7th, and am hanging out with Dan English, a cool guy I met in Murchison who is also in the club. We've been surfing this weekend out at New Brighton, and tomorrow I'm planning on heading back up to Murchison for another week or so. There's some cool club trips going out next weekend and the weekend after, so I might try to come back this way to get on those, but we'll see what happens. The paddlers are starting to empty out of Murch, so I might try to head down Wanaka / Queenstown way in the coming weeks to see if I can find some paddlers around there.
Ah, I should also mention that Johanna came safely out of Arthur's pass and met me in Murch, did a couple day trip up to Nelson with some Israeli gal she met, then I dropped her off in Nelson Lakes Nat'l Park for a tramp, and met up with her again here in Christchurch this weekend. She's traipsing off to Queenstown this week, but I'll probably catch up with her again in 2 weeks or so. She's decided she isn't kayaking, so I'm just freelancing it right now with club members and anyone else I can find who has a whitewater kayak on the roof of their car.
I hope everybody had a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all that jazz. Now that 2010 is underway, don't forget to check the use by dates on the dairy in your fridge. :-)
Alex
