Sawcut Gorge

Murchison
After New Years, Brad and took a trip to Murchison where I went kayaking and Brad went fly fishing. We had a great time- but didn't get any pictures. (Forgot the camera....) In any case, Brad managed to catch a couple fish when he was with the guide- however the guide made him put them back. Apparently there aren't that many trout...
Sawcut Gorge
This was the first trip I have lead for the tramping club. (I was supposed to do it last January- but ended up getting sick a few days before the trip). It was a beautiful hike- and being near Blenheim, the weather is notoriously sunnier and drier than elsewhere on the island. It certainly was last weekend. The gorge itself is as narrow as 2m and as deep as 150 m in some places. The Waima river which is followed en route has several beautiful little pools perfect for swimming.

Waikuku Beach

The weather has been great lately (and unfortunately it may start to become rainy when we go on our 2 day trip to Murchison on Sunday). But we made it to the beach- Waikuku beach- just 30 minutes from our house but outside of Christchurch. It's a very quiet beach- and very long. We also got wetsuits so the water feels warmer (it's about 14 C right now).

West Coast and Heaphy Track

Nikau Palm forest-the only palm species endemic to NZ

Feeding the eels

NZ Fur Seals

The eels sensed we were there- they showed up and started crawling out of the river!

view from holiday house

Endangered Giant Carniverous Land Snail (Powelliphanta)

This past week we took our Christmas vacation early to beat the rush. We went northwest to Golden Bay and rented a holiday home there for 2 nights and spent a day in the area seeing the sights. The highlights were kayaking and feeding the eels. Some of these eels are 100 years old. One of the first owners of this piece of land used to throw her kitchen scraps into the river (in the 1920's). She saw the eels ate it and she started feeding them on purpose and eventually a group of about 10 of them became quite tame. When New Zealand eels decide it is time for them to breed- their noses grow long and eyes get large and they swim out to sea as far as Tonga- then breed and die and their offspring finds their way back to the freshwater rivers of New Zealand. It is a process that is not understood very well- but it seems pretty amazing.
The purpose of the trip was a four day hike- the Heaphy track- New Zealand's longest Great Walk. The track starts in the beech forest and transitions briefly to an alpine environment, and then to a tropical nikau palm forest along the beach. It was beautiful!
On the way home we stopped to see the pancake rocks and a seal colony.

Nina Hut- & Rangitata

Saturday...
Nina Hut is a 3 hour walk each way to a cute little hut. The walk is through beech forest, and along a nice river. It would have been nice to spend more time along the river. One of tributaries- Boyle river- is great for fly fishing (which is- by the way- Brad's new hobby).
Sunday...
Rangitata river has some crazy sections (there is a rafting company out of there)- but I stuck to the grade 2 section of course. Very blue clour due to the rock flour.

Arnold & Crooked

These are rivers near the north west coast of the south island. This was a trip with the whitewater canoe club. The club is quite impressive- friendly, organized and a lot of support for novice paddlers. These rivers were beautiful and the trips down them were exhilarating. I still have a lot to learn- but so far I am really enjoying this sport. I've been amazed by what even beginners can do- and it is nice to see the scenery from the river (rather than the usual- from land).

Inland Pack Track

This limestone overhang was our campsite- dry even in the rain!

It was Show weekend (a long weekend) and I headed to the west coast with the tramping club. It was amazing! We had someone from the caving club with us- so we went to some amazing caves we would never have known about. One of them had millions of glowworms- far more than the commercial caves I've been to. We also saw wild goats, green eels, and cave wetas (wetas are huge insects endemic to New Zealand).

Hurunui- first attempt

I say first attempt cause it probably won't be the last time I paddle on that river. It was great fun! We did the same leg of river 3 times- first with utter fear, then just a little fear, then no fear at all. So it feels good to conquer your fears. The water wasn't as cold as I thought it would be either- though one of the instructors did give me her bright pink dishwashing gloves which helped a lot! The rapids were intense in some spots (or so they seemed to us beginners). I didn't take these pictures- I didn't even bring my camera- I was too focused on not tipping- but we all still did anyways- several times!