Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Kayak
Date: 20/3/11
Location: Crooked River
Activity: Kayaking
Grade: 4/5
The plan was to walk in and do the grade 3 section on the crooked river. After walking for 30 mins we decided we had passed the get in and a new plan was formed. Rata would go back to the grade 3 get in and wait for me, Phil and James who would walk up 10mins and run a couple of grade 4 drops before paddling out with rata. 40mins later we were getting further and further away from the river and hadn't found any good spots to get down. We were fairly certain that the gorge was grade 4 and not too intense so we carried on up. When the track started to drop back down to the river we were stoked and getting excited. Half way down we decided that we would scramble down through the bush to the river in an attempt to save time and get back to Rata. We were wrong. It took nearly 40mins to reach the river and we soon realised that it was going to be a long day when we saw that the first drop was a big chute with a tree in the top. We portaged that and carried on down some amazing class 3/4 drops scouting for each other. James scouted the next drop which turned out to be quite intense. I was first up and ran it reasonably cleanly. Next up phill came down, ran the top fine but then got pushed under a big undercut at the bottom. it was all happening now, we could see him trying to roll and then disappearing again. After what seemed like minutes but was about 25-30sec he popped out the bottom and swam to the other bank. Now we had the task of getting the boat, it was still pinned up against the rock and the paddle was stuck somewhere under there too. I tryed to set up a paddle hook to get a line on it but by the time i had it set the boat flushed out and floated off downstream. things were getting a little dodge and not looking good for Phil and his gear. James jumped in his boat and took off around the corner after it, Phil climbed up the bank and headed downstream too. I was left to pack up the rescue kit and then took off in search of James. on my way i made contact with Phil who was up in the bush. A couple of class 3+ drops, some serous boat scouting and about 200m I found James with Phil's boat. When Phil arrived we put the split together and paddled out through some awesome class 3+ with out any trouble, picked up Rata and headed out to the farm then all the way down to the bridge. off the water at 6pm. what a day! Stand by for some more Crooked pics next week. 
The lower grade 3 section 
The last 3+
The last 3+
The final decent to the river 
Tired and hungry
Tired and hungry Kayak
Date: 19/3/11
Location: Styx River walk in
Activity: Kayaking
Grade: 3
Saturday morning had us all geared up and on our way to the styx river walk in. on the way we were stopped buy a ralley race till 1:30pm so it was a late start. we walked up and paddled out without any carnage. 
The team at the put in
Me on he crux rapid 
Rata on the crux 
Phil boofing 
And again... 
Safty first! 
Cheers for a sweet day! Climbing
Tuesday morning 15th of march: The forecast was for heavy rain so we decided to have a day learning new skills in the indoor climbing gym. 
Wednesday we went out to Charleston and spent the day building more anchors in the wet, we all got pretty cold and wet so went home early.
On Thursday it was starting to clear so we went for a two hour drive out to castle hill to learn a bit about bouldering and spotting. The rock there was still too wet to climb on so we had some fun climbing trees and some small dry climbs that we found.
Finally the weather cleared up on Friday and we were able to do some real climbing. the morning was spent doing top rope rescues at punakaiki and then building and climbing on natural pro anchors at Charleston in the afternoon. A very wet week!
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Wake boarding!
Check out the new sport of Skurfing! getting towed behind a car on either a wake board, surfboard or a kayak......
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Wild foods
On saturday we headed down to hoki for the wild foods festival, even though we couldnt affordto get in to the acctual festivalwe still had a good time at the market buying fire staves other fire twirling toys. that night we had a few drinks on the beach and then went to town for some partying!
SDL (self directed learning)
Last Friday we had our first Self directed learning day. that means we had the day off to go out and practice our skills. we went and had a flat water session on Dilll Mans Dam.
check out the pics...
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Navigation
Monday, March 7, 2011
Bullerfest
Date:4-3-11
Location: Buller River, O'sullivans rapid
Flow: high
Weather: mostly fine
Friday night was spent getting packed and making the 2 hour drive to Murchison, we had just enough time to see the last of the videos and drink some beer then we went to bed. Saturday morning was a slightly later start, we all headed to the local raft company to pump up rafts and then down to the river to race them. All the TPP crews made it to the semi finals but got knocked out before the finals. Sunday morning we were up with hangovers and out to run the middle matakitaki. The run went well with no carnage and some good waves surfed. All up it was a sweet weekend, cheers!
will get some photos up soon
Location: Buller River, O'sullivans rapid
Flow: high
Weather: mostly fine
Friday night was spent getting packed and making the 2 hour drive to Murchison, we had just enough time to see the last of the videos and drink some beer then we went to bed. Saturday morning was a slightly later start, we all headed to the local raft company to pump up rafts and then down to the river to race them. All the TPP crews made it to the semi finals but got knocked out before the finals. Sunday morning we were up with hangovers and out to run the middle matakitaki. The run went well with no carnage and some good waves surfed. All up it was a sweet weekend, cheers!
will get some photos up soon
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Climbing at charlston
Last week we had our first week of climbing. the weather wasnt great but we still got two days climbing at charlston. its an amasing place to climb with the huge waves crashing over us at times.
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