Paddling is fun!

I'd returned to Wanaka to attend my second annual packrafting meetup. This is the silver lining of being a COVID refugee in NZ. Instead of windsurfing in WA and skiing in Japan, I'm catching up with new and old friends for a few days of paddling around Wanaka.

I missed the first packrafting session of the meetup, because I'd booked in for a 90 minute full body massage, and well.... I needed that more than I needed a lake session and a float down the Clutha River to Alberttown. I could have made the paddling session, just I get a wee bit lethargic after a massage...

We had a communal dinner out at Hawea and a few speakers presented. One was Stu, who talked about the trip he'd just completed, though he painted a slightly different picture to what I remember, not that he neglected to talk about how pretty unpleasant some bits had been. I had thankfully joined him after the bit when Bill and him ran out of food for a few days....

The next morning we ran the Hawea River from below the dam to the Alberttown swing bridge. In the middle is the Hawea Wave, which we got to play on with a little instruction from Huw of Packrafting Queenstown. I didn't manage to get into the wave, but I had a fun play anyway.

The Hawea River was a pretty easy paddle, and in the afternoon we headed out in convoy to Cameron Flat in the Matukituki Valley, getting a tractor ride over the river to stay at Tititea Lodge for a couple of nights. I was on cooking duties that evening, spending a couple of hours boiling a lot of potatoes for a salad!

Day 3 we waded back across the river to our cars and drove up to Raspberry Flat, then walked up the valley to Aspiring Hut. We had lunch and then headed down to the river and launched our boats. It was a fun Grade 2 paddle down to just above the Rob Roy Glacier swing bridge, our takeout for the day. Experienced paddlers chose to run the Grade 3 rapid, which was fun to watch, outside my pay scale I'm afraid. 

I'm super happy with my attitude on the river this year. I'm confident, my skills are definitely better, and I'm no longer anxious every time I see an approaching rapid. No longer do I feel like a liability. That's a welcome improvement, and I'm really enjoying myself. People like Jude and Stu have also noticed how much more relaxed I now am. Yay!!

Day 4 was a walk up the East Matukituki River to Junction Flat. There were three options for put ins. I decided I wasn't going to attempt the Grade 3 rapids so just three of us walked to the lowest put in. I joined Graeme (who is super experienced but had to drive back to Christchurch that day) and Kristy who has a gammy hip and knee and can't walk very far. I didn't really have an excuse for just doing the lower section, but do I need one??

We had a lovely cruisy paddle down, with lots of time to play a little, eddy catching, ferry gliding and surfing. There wasn't much in the way of exciting rapids, but it was still fun.

We dried our gear in the sun and had lunch, then Kristy and I drove back to Wanaka. We noticed a small fire at West Wanaka, probably quite soon after it had started, and by the time we got back to town it had become a major wildfire and the road was closed to all traffic whilst the fire crews fought to get it under control. All the other paddlers got caught waiting for the road to reopen, so my decision to do the lower put in paid off!

Here's some video from the event. It has footage of the gnarly section under the Rob Roy swing bridge which most of us didn't run, but it's still cool. David, one of the organisers put this together. Hope you enjoy.

Wanaka PRANZ Meet 2022 from David Stephenson on Vimeo.

The Wanaka meetup was really well organised. The number of attendees was a bit down on last year, around 60 people rather than close to 100 at St Arnaud. That was a better number, with more opportunity to actually get to chat with most people. I didn't end up doing any trips after the meetup, or rather, no-one invited me on any of theirs! But no matter, I had signed up to go tramping with the local tramping club instead.

That's next...

(Thanks to Shayne, David and Sheralee for extra photos and video)

We can go tramping again! 3 days up the Matukituki.

The biggest nuisance for me with lockdown was not being able to go tramping. The weather through March and April was warm and sunny, perfect weather for exploring the alpine tops before the winter snows began. But it wasn't to be, since tramping was considered high risk due to the possibility of needing to be rescued by others, thus breaking bubbles.

At Level 2 we were once again able to head out into the Kiwi bush, although distancing was still important, and hut occupancy was set at half usual. I'm unsure how many trampers adhered to the guidelines, but for my first mission I was camping anyway. There weren't any huts!

I drove up the Matukituki Valley and parked at Cameron Flat. On went the Crocs, because the first mission was to cross the river. It was only shin deep at most, but icy cold, so on the far bank I took my time drying my feet and putting my socks and boots on. Then, through farmland for a few kms before hitting the national park boundary at Glacier Burn.

The track then follows the east branch of the Matukituki River all the way to it's source at Rabbit Pass. I was only going as far as Junction Flat, although my initial plan had been to head up to Albert Burn Pass and climb Dragonfly Peak. But the terrain got the better of me.

I hadn't exactly been all that active over lockdown, and the track was a lot more technical than I had expected, with a number of boulder climbs and slightly gnarly creek crossings to negotiate. Nothing I couldn't handle, but it took me much longer than expected to get to Junction Flat, and I was a bit tired when I got there. I looked up at where I had planned to tramp to, and decided to pitch my tent in the trees at Junction Flat instead. I had a late lunch and enjoyed a lazy few hours reading before the sun left the valley and the cold kicked in. I snuggled up in my sleeping bag, enjoying the comfort of my new sleeping mat (my old one began to delaminate on the GOW), and enjoyed a cosy night.

Quite a few people had passed by whilst I was at Junction Flat, and the next morning I met them all again as they began their walk back out. They had all walked in to Aspiring Flat, either camping on the Kitchener Valley floor and waking to a thick frost, or staying at the Rock of Ages shelter. I, however, didn't have a frost encrusted tent, and got to walk the track in to Aspiring Flat and have the entire valley to myself.

The Kitchener Glacier adorns the eastern face of Mount Aspiring, and is a glorious thing to behold. Yes, the water was bracingly cold and the river had to be crossed multiple times to make one's way up the valley, but that's part of the adventure. This time the boots stayed on.

Again I had lunch in the sun and then made my home at the rock shelter for the night. The sun left the valley pretty early, so I collected firewood and made myself comfy up at the shelter for another long cold night. I was toasty warm, but the resident mouse climbing over me in the night didn't make for undisturbed sleep.

Next morning I headed back down the valley to Junction Flat, and then followed the Matukituki down to the car. The boots came off for the final river crossing because my feet really needed that cold icy soak after all those hours of plodding.

It was nice to be out tramping again. No, it was bloody brilliant!!!