the upper kakapotahi is farking weird....

Above: Robin dropping in to "Airmail" on the upper Kakapotahi

Since the last post we've paddled a couple of things. The weather crapped out today so we didnt get to fly in to the Kokatahi - should be able to do that tomorrow hopefully.

A couple of days ago we paddled the Wanganui - i paddled this last time i was in NZ but appart from two drops i have absoultely no recollection of the run.

Below: Sammy on the wanganui. Pete W may remember this drop - last time we went down I scouted this and sent pete in to it....The flow was a lot higher and pete got nailed, swam and lost his paddle...























Below: Matty J on a fun rampy rapidy thingi on the Wanganui.














Below: Robin on another rapid on the wanganui


















Overnight (a couple of nights ago) it rained a bit so we thought we should head a bit south the next day and do the kakapotahi. The level was a bit low but it was still fun! It was fun in a weird kind of way though....Kind of a weird and occasionally hillarious mix of kayaking, canyoning and stupidly sketchy (dangerous) portaging. The (sketch) highlight was definitely the portage just after airmail. It involved a dodgy ferry in to a micro eddy, hold on to the bit of wood, get out, delicately scramble around the boulder with boat and paddle and not fall in to the next rapid (which would have been certain death - most of the river goes under a big boulder at this point hence the portage). It was a nice day and it was fun!

Below: This is the reason you need to do the sketch portage. Robins boat is sitting on a rock....

Robin on the bottom part of airmail