kayak ( sdl )

11 September went for another run down the styks.
When walking up we thought the river was lower but once we got to the put in we could see that it was slightly higher. Also a lot colder as snow had fallen the night before and was now melting in the sun.
We had 10 of us all up. 6 of us up on at the grade four and the others put on were they felt comfortable.
the day went mostly well it was a bit hard with so many people on a small river but it was managed well.
we had a few mishaps, I was first, I tried to eddy out because the guys in front had eddied out earlier than planed and i didn't want to solo down the next bit. Ended up rolling on a shallow bit trying to get an eddy that wasn't really there. I got scraped along for a bit, found a rock to push off and while i did that Phil was there pulling me over. The next was Dan, he got his line right but the water didn't do what he thought it would and he got pushed ot a bad spot. it was hard to see from where i was but he got kind of pined but was able to get out of his boat easily. Rata had Phil on tethered swimmer and he jumped across to help and Greg was able to jump across rocks and swim to assist also. Grace had a swim, cleaned up quick. Astraea rolled right beside me. from when she went over it only took me 3 to 4 seconds to grab here for a barrel roll but she had swam already. she said she got caught on a rock and freaked. she was fine for the next rapid or too but then caught a rock going in to a eddy and it over whelmed her and she walked the last 300 m.
For me it was another good as day kayaking, bit scary rolling in the shallow but I'm getting more comfortable under the water. I might have some footage on here at a latter date.

kayak ( sdl )

6th and 7th of September did two of by far the most technical ( styks) and the biggest ( high toaroha).
on the 6th did the styks with greg dan and phil went up to the grade 4. phill greg and martijn did on rapid further 4+ - 5. astro and sara got in at the grade 3.
the styks medium and it was cloudy with bit of rain here and there. including the walk in it took us all day. about 4 hours on the river with alot of scouting. dan went over when going off a boof but roled back up in time to make the next one. i rolled playing on a wave on the grade 3. ( haven't had a combat roll for a wile )
it was the best run i had done so far, technical and pushy.
for the toaroha it was greg, sara, phill, harvy and me.Deffently high, weather was the same, bit more rain. We walked up around the coner from the normal put in ( just out of the bush ). sara got in one rapid below us. we ran the first rapid, Greg and me then Phill and Harvy. me and greg didnt realy know the line. and we showed the line to the others when at the bottum... Phil didnt quite go right enough ( see video below ). Sara ran two rapids but got out below the rapid by the track and she walked out. We then ran the next rapid truck and trailer ( big waves and hols here and there ). Harvy got a working almost swam but got washed and rolled up, then went over again and back up again. He was prity shaken and decided to walk out as well.
Greg, Phil and i carried on and had a mad run here is the video made by me...

This is the video of the styks river made by Martijn Van Den Broeke...

kayak ( sdl)

on the 23 of the august martijn, ben and I decided it was time to step up and run cesspit gorge on the Arahura river.
We left grey at around 9 and were up scouting the rapid at 11 30.
the river was real low and we thought we might miss out on cave drop and the  buffer. but once we were at the top of the rapid it looked like the buffer was good to go. so we doped in and the video will show what went down. i didn't find the run too scary apart from bens mishap. I think this was because it wasn't pushy like it normally is. we plan on going back as soon as the rain drops again here in Greymouth.

video made by Martijn Van Den Broeke.

kayak ( sdl )

toaroha on the 9/9
it was mid flow
weather was cold rain with some hail.
another mad run. really good at this flow. the main drop was the best that i have run it at. the curler was powerful. no problems just good times.

rock climbing ( sdl instruction )

on the 15th to the 19th of August i had the opportunity to help out with my old high school CSC on their year 13 rock camp in Dunedin.
so i took the week of tech and went down to Dunedin. the camp went from Wednesday till Saturday. the class was made up of 15 year 13 students and 7 exchange students. they had done some indoor climbing through school before the camp but no real rock.
the first day was raining so we went to some of the local schools who have indoor climbing walls. as good made is easy to sharpen up their belay skills.
the next three days were spent down at long beach. the head instructor Dave set up all of the climbs on sunny side but got me to lead and set up top rope on some of the climbs and the caves.
my role was just to help out so i didn't do any instruction in front of the whole group but did alot of teaching in smaller groups of 3 or 4. We slowly progress the student to climb grade 14 with good technique. this ment they got an Achieved. 3 students were able to get a Merit witch was grade 18 or 19. One student tried real hard to do a grade 20 to get an excellence but was unable.
though i didn't do much group instructing i do think i improved on working with clients and i was working on being an instructor more than a mate going climbing, as i feel with kids i'm sometimes too easy on them and loose there respect. i think i did good with this particular group.
in the end it was good experience and i even got in some cool as climbs.

raft kayak ( sdl )

rafting and kayaking in Murch for three days.

day one drizzled all day. we did a warm up river for Astraea. middle Mataks. i biked the shuttle. no problems apart from Astraea had a freak-out but we got through it.

day two rafted down O sullies and milked it. everyone had a guide and all improved allot. I guided whale creek and jet boat. was supper stoked with my line on jet boat. In the afternoon had a look at Maruia but didn't run it.

day three did double run on Granite. first run we all had a go apart from Granite rapid. Harvey ran first and did all good. then we worked the raft back up and I had a go guiding. I had a sweet line. Then on the second run we kayaked it. Just Harvey Dan and I went Astraea ran shuttle. We went down truck and trailer. Harvey then me then Dan. Harvey misted his line a little and got worked at the bottom of the buffer and the again in the next hole, came out fine. I got my line perfect soooo stoked with it. Dan got his line but nose dived in to the eddy behind the buffer rock and got spat back out, got a bit of a working then rolled and got in to the eddy. We were all peeking. perfect level for us. great trip. Then the boys were feeling brave so we went to do Maruia ( not me though) got there and Dan did it. Harvey said he was going to but bailed. still what a day. 

not over yet. I'm off to go climbing at the local climbing gym in Greymouth. 

life is good!

kayak (sdl)

On the 16 June i was in Wanaka with Jess bailey champion slalom paddler. i went out training with her last time I was down too but this time her dad came out and ran the training. it was just a flat water training with gates but it was still a great importunity to train with New Zealands best and get so helpful pointers on my paddling. Jess has her own bog as well check it out at jessicabaileykayakslalomathlete.blogspot.com

rock climbing (sdl)

Monday the 11th to the 13th of June Rob, Kieran, Arie, Jake and I went up to Paynes Ford for rock climbing. the first day we got 8 climbs in and it was a real good day starting at sea cliffs  then after lunch we went to paynes. On the Tuesday we didn't get as many climbs in because we went kayaking down the  grade 3 section below the power station on the Takaka river in the morning. Wednesday was cool I showed the guys the sweet overhang I found last time I was there. its a grade 19, 3 bolts and a chain, nice sequence of moves and rather pumpy if you don't do many overhangs. it was great because all the boys were at that level and struggled but made it up. And if that wasn't cool enough since i had been climbing real clean and good I went and had a good go at a 22 i was struggling with last time and got it. fell of once after climing the first bolt but came down and started again and got it clean. Before the 22 we also did a 25m 20 wicth was a real good climb plenty of 20 moves with small rests in between. Another wicked trip to paynes!!! couple fotos to end :) 

kayak (sdl)

on the 10th I went up to murch with Ari, Rob and Jake. we paddled O sullies run. and the mangles.

first O sullies. it was at high flow wale creek rapid was flat and we were able to paddle the falls. on the first rapid of the run Rob had a swim at the botum and got washed into the boily eddy on the right. i went in behind him to help. after alot of pushing and bumping around in the eddy we mannaged to get him to the bank and my flip line attached to the kayak and him holding the line. i then got out of my kayak and gave him a hand. this odeal was shit for Rob but was good for my rescue skills and i thanked him for that. i even had a roll in the eddy( it was a poor roll but got me up just ) i need to work on getting my paddle right out of the water. i seem to have trubble with this when in the boiles. further down at jet boat rapit we decided to portage it was running a bit above our level today.

The mangles was quite mallow as the flow was less than we expected. but up the top we found a wee creek that had some cool as we drops so we scouted and ran them here is the raw footage.

kayak (sdl)

on the 9th of June I walked up the totarha with Martijn Watson Dan. We went up another two rapids further after you exit the bush line. it was at medium flow i had only done it at low flow so it looked high to me. the whole day went sweet. real good solid grade 3. don't have any photos of this one but it was wicked fun run.

rock ( sdl )

On the 23 Ekies, Kirsten, Rebecca and I drove up to Nelson. The next day we got up early and drove over to Takaka and went climbing at paynes ford. We went in to the hangdog campground and brought a guide book (only 10 bux)
It was a beautiful sunny day and we got some good climbs in. Ekies and I started on a climb that Ekies said was a 18. I went first and was really struggling. I asked Ekies if he was sure it was a 18 and he said he was, so I assumed I just wasn't used to the rock their as this was my first time there. Once i got down we checked the book again and it turned out to be a 21. So i didn't feel so bad. the rest of the day went well. I set up a lot of top rope climbs for the others as i felt the first bolt always seemed real exposed. This is also why i didn't push myself too much.
That night we stayed at hangdog and climbed the next day till lunch with the girls. At lunch the girls went home and Ekies and I kept climbing. There was a wicked over hang ( rawhide ) I wanted to try but the first bolt at the end of the over hang and the ground was uneven and would be hard to spot. but luckily one other climber ( Pablo ) did the climb later in the day and asked if we wanted to give it a go on top rope. I was so stoked, and gave it a go. It was such a cool start, got some sweet heel hooks. And getting over the end to the up right is another sweet move. I was the end of the day so i didn't get much further.
On Thursday I wanted to do another over hang. We looked around for good 40 min and found a 19 that had a first bolt wasn't too exposed. It was soo mean lead it the first time and set up top rope for Ekies. He gave it a good go but didnt have the strength. We will deffintly give it another go next time. While it was still on top rope i had another go choosing a different line, and i found a no hands rest on the over hang and we got a photo too.We were going to do some more climbs that morning but we got yarning to some NMIT tutors then got a little lost for 20min when we got out of the bush we were back at the van so called it a day as we had to drive home that day too. We found it didn't have many easy climbs for bignners but if you getting into the 18s and up its a great place. Cant wait to go back again.

no hands rest

Kirsten on sweet 18

Ekies going for it

Rebecca getting the feet right

Ekies ready to go

checking out the new route 

kayak (sdl)

25 th paddled the crooked and on the 26th paddled the Arnold
both trips were cool was real low but found some sweet waves to have a jam in. i pulled some new wee tricks.
a had a dam swim on the Arnold! i freaked out on the buffer wave again.
it was real weird paddling white water kayaks after sea kayaking for 8 days. i tell you if you need to improve sweep stroke do some sea kayaking because those things dont turn if you dont put some efort in.the little redline was spinning on a pin. one of the coolest crooked and Arnold trips.

kayak (sdl)

22 of June after tec went out to the Arnold with Ben, Grace and Sara. It was real low,below the log at the bridge put in. this made the first rapid rather bony. I thought the features were going to be lame but there was about 5 wicked waves.
i got my favorite kayak back, it just felt right. This was the coolest Arnold trip I've had so fare I was really geting the hang of riding waves.
I cant think of what els to say i was just amped. After i got off a wave, Sara said that I was just buzzing. And i was. When we got out I just wanted to go back to the top and do it again.

kayak (sdl)

on Thursday Harvy and i went down the crooked. we intended on walking in 15 min to do the grade three but it had been raining all morning and the river was most defiantly in flood. we had never did it this high before (i could almost reach up and touch the yellow string across the river at lower put in) we decided we would run the lower part and scouting anywhere we were unsure about. all went well it did have some mallow bits were there used to be rapids but the bolder garden about half way was a bunch of holes and was supper cool booming down them. defiantly recommend it.

rock climbing (sdl)

On Tuesday the 21st i went climbing at the sea cliffs by paynes ford with Kristy Kelly Harvey and Chris.
i hadn't climbed all summer so i got saw fingers quickly but it was good to get back in to it.
i also went climbing on Thursday in the gym at greymouth as apart of the alpine club, i'm keen as to go more this year.

kayak (sdl)

On the 5th of February  a big group of ten second years from TPP went to the Toharoa.
We did the grade 3 walk in section.(40 min walk)
The river was low.
It was a cloudy day but was still hot.
We got out and scouted 3 rapids and Greg, Rata and Phil also gave us alot of advice on witch line to take and if anyone should portage the rapid.
this was my first grade 3 river and the most fun I've had on a river. It was great having Greg ,Phil and Rata to give me pointers on how i went and the line to take.This was also the first time i had used my new boat and paddle. I was a bit nervous at the start but then i banged out couple solid rolls on both sides then i was ready to go. cant wait to do my next grade 3.

kayak (sdl)

11 of June went down the crooked with Rhymie, Grace and Adrien.
The flow was higher than normal. i nervously paddled the first grade 3 rapid.
I borrowed a friends rpm max, was a bit big and felt weird after my normal boat.but got the hang of it.
no problems, was different paddling with the second years they did more  technical moves witch was good for me to follow. Rhymie and I ran the shuttle, only took us 35 min to get back to the girls.

kayak (sdl)

Saturday the 4 of June went down the Crooked river.it was just high enough to do the grade three rapid at the put in so few of us gave it a go.was cool.
weather was good.river was cold as usual.
had a bit of trouble finding the farmer for the key to his gate. the farmers brother was there, i asked him and he went out to the truck but froze up because he had parkinsons and hadn't taken his pills yet.i helped him to the door but he couldn't get any further. Chris had found the key and came to get me.Chris got the guys pills then we carried him inside and sat him on his chair,the pills kicked in prity quick.He was quite great full.
i took my camera and got some cool footage..

        This is me doing a whoopy and a role

This is me doing the seal launch.

kayak (sdl)

Monday 6th of June. got 7 of the orecers together and went down the Miltown gorge.
It was low to normal flow, the features were a bit smaler than when we went with tec ,but still fun to play around in.

Robbie Williams.

started of a nice sunny day but ended up drisiling the last half of the river.
We had a bit of a upset doing the shutle, two of the boys ran back to get the vans but they had never done it befor.We ended up waiting 3 hours befor they came back.in this time we had caled a Dan to pick us up and do the shutle,hoping the boys wernt injured or realy lost.the boys came back as Dan came to pick up up for the shutle.Dan brang towls and warm raro for us to warm up. every think worked out fine in the end but could have been alot worse.
I did get some cool fotos of the crew too...

Grace Slee

Martiln Vandenbroeke

Robbie Wiliams

Chris harvey

rock (sdl)

Sunday 24th went up to wanaka,met Mikey had 3 lead climbers,was a bit windy but not too bad.met astro that night.stayed the night in my van.then spent all Monday climbing.was a beautifully sunny day.all climbers were lead, astro did real well, since she hadn't done much. we tout her to absail down after a lead all went well. since it was a public holiday there was allot of climbers out.though this was fine since there was so many climbers out there. got some cool photos too...