Arahura
Background
New Zealand is a country of rivers. Abundant rainfall and high mountains ensure that we are blessed with a wide variety of natural waterways. In one small country we have swampy, meandering creeks, the broad purposeful rivers of the plains, and the alpine rivers of the central North Island and the Southern Alps. Of all this multitude of rivers there are few which hold a special place in our history like the Arahura -this is the river that is the symbolic source of 'pounamu', greenstone.
Most modern-day New Zealanders' awareness of greenstone is limited to the items provided by the tourist jewellery trade combined with a sly knowledge of its monetary value. From time to time front page stories appear in the newspapers relating to herculean efforts made by somebody trying to extract a ten tonne greenstone boulder from some remote creek. Figures of $100,000 are quoted and in the ensuing glare of publicity it seems that all the poachers in the country try to usurp the discoverer of his prize. This fabulous stone no doubt eventually suffers the ignominy of being sliced up into thousands of tiny kiwis and tikis to adorn, briefly, the ears, necks and wrists of tourists before being consigned to dark corners in drawers of dressing tables of Japan and America.
To the pre-European Maori, however, pounamu was highly valued -the name actually is synonymous with treasure [Lake Rotopounamu is so named not because greenstone is to be found there, but because it is highly valued and beautiful lake-editor's note] not only for its hardness and durability, but also because it has spiritual qualities.
There are a number of accounts of the origin of pounamu but the one which appeals to a latter-day traveller like myself is the story of the god Ngahue. Ngahue originally lived in Hawaiki, fled across the ocean with his green fish Poutini, a quarrelsome creature from all accounts, and, depending upon the source of the story, he hid his fish in the bed of the Arahura River. Another account has the fish pursuing Ngahue and, struggling up the river, finally died and its body turned to stone. Whichever version you hear, the result is the same for the green fish Poutini gave his name to not only the West Coast of the South Island -the Poutini coast, but also to the South Island itself -Te Wai Pounamu -the place of greenstone.
Captain Cook was repeatedly told, when asking about greenstone, that it was a 'fish'. If you are as skeptical as Cook you might prefer to believe that greenstone, or nephrite, was formed along the shear plane of the alpine fault by immense pressure and heat over a 135 million year period. The crystals in semi-nephrites realign in a process called felting and thus producing the toughness that gives greenstone its principle practical value. I personally prefer the Maori myth as it links with other creation myths of the first settlers in this land.
The discovery of pounamu by the early Maori was a quantum leap in technology, as here was a material which held an edge better than any other material, enabling canoes to be hewn faster, pa to be constructed and to make weapons of great durability and strength. This valuable material thus became the principle medium of exchange, and treasured artefacts were fashioned by the artisans and artists of these early communities. Journeys involving incredible hardship were undertaken, and ultimately inter-tribal wars were fought in the quest for this lustrous green stone, pounamu. At the centre of much of this activity, over a period of almost 1000 years, was the Arahura River.
Today you can buy a licence to prospect for greenstone at the pub at Arahura for a few dollars. "If you can carry it out, it's yours", we were told. The bed of the Arahura River was ceded by the Crown a few years ago to the Poutini Nga Tahu people, tangata whenua of the Arahura River.
I needed to relate this tale concerning the Arahura River to try to explain why it was that I became fascinated by the notion of canoeing the upper reaches of the valley. The fascination was slow in maturing as the Arahura was just another river to cross on my way to a job in South Westland twenty-three years ago, before the Haast Pass road was built. The bridge is only one lane and is shared by the railway, and while forced to pause by the railcar, I looked up the gentle clear river to its source somewhere in the distant brooding mountains. Being cursed with an inquisitive nature I resolved at that moment to wander up this valley someday and see where this river came from. A few years later I tramped over the Three Pass route and was turned back at the top of the Browning's Pass, near the source of the Arahura, by a rapidly gathering westerly. For a few seconds there was a glimpse of a long valley leading north then west, and then all hell broke loose as we scampered for our lives back into the Wilberforce. This pass was one of the trails, or 'ara' of the Maori on their trading trips, or invasions to obtain pounamu. Many parties were never heard of again, due to either the notorious weather, for the pass is 1416m above sea level, or to the ferocity with which the pounamu was defended.
The early European settlers had an amazingly racist presumption when it came to place names in New Zealand. Most Maori placenames have a simple purity and are often descriptive, as befits a culture with a purely oral language and tradition. Modern travellers would be far better equipped with the ancient names of the rivers than those of assorted British civil servants and colonial administrators. The Wilberforce was known as Rakaia wai tawhiri (swirling water) and the other tributary of the Rakaia, the Mathias, as Rakaia wai pakihi (dried up water). The very names form the guidebook. Travel on foot in these valleys today and you will readily appreciate which fork to take! Mountains and other physical features were sometimes named after the parts of a canoe or 'waka' in order that the traveller could remember the sequence of names and hence the sequence of features.
The Westland Canoeist's Guide gives a good description of the Arahura River and queries the neglect of this 56 kilometres of river by canoeists. So did I and could find little information about the actual nature of the water course in mountaineering journals or from other sources. I think it is significant that most recorded information was written over 100 years ago. Trampers avoid the Arahura, preferring the easier Styx River to the South. The Westland Canoe Club regularly paddle the lower, or First Gorge as a beginners trip, but the top section beyond the road was unknown from the canoeist's standpoint. There was only one thing for it - one weekend when my family were away I travelled over to Hokitika and then walked up the river from the end of the road. The track was abnormally wide thanks to the necessity to bring out greenstone, but I soon came to a huge wash-out and at least a kilometre of track was no more. Goodbye four wheel drives for carrying canoes! After looking at most of the river up to the junction of Jacks Creek I was on my way back when I thought I should have a look at the short Second Gorge which is not visible from the track. Just as well that I did because here the entire flow cascaded over a three metre fall into a foaming slot which formed a hairpin loop about two metres wide. The boulders were five metres high, sheer and smooth. The river tumbled on around the corner through curved overhanging rock walls. It was getting dark so I rushed back to civilisation without exploring the mysteries further down the gorge, resolving to have a better look when I returned.
Just before Easter 1985, Edgar Reese, having just finished his second season as a boatman in Queenstown (42 trips down the Kawarau in a fortnight!) had a week to spare before flying to Washington State for the northern summer. I phoned Ron Beardsley, a good companion on such expeditions, and suddenly it was a reality.
For a trial run, and because we like the river, we decided to run the uncanoed very upper Taipo River on the Sunday and the Arahura on Monday. The Taipo flows from a common mountain source, Kaniere, to the Arahura and was quite an appropriate choice for both the physical and mental attunement to the task ahead.
The Taipo trip went well and the next day we were at our helicopter rendezvous at 1pm on a grey cloudy day with the river clear and low. At the start to the track we met two men with a substantial trailer who eyed us with what seemed to be unreasonable suspicion. Illogical too, considering the brightly coloured kayaks, paddles, jackets, wet-suits, and other paraphernalia peculiar to canoeists. "You aren't up here for the greenstone are you?", the taller of the two enquired as he worked on the lock to the gate, which was made out of railway tracks welded into a monolithic rectangular frame straight out of 'Mad Max II'. "Where the ... do you think we could fit a ... rock in one of these?" retorted Ron, who displays a deep knowledge of the local dialect. Practical considerations are readily appreciated in such potential arenas of human conflict and the moment passed as quickly as it arose. These two explained that they had a claim high in the mountains and were on their way to bring out some of the fruits of their efforts.
Nephrite lenses appear in some locations in the original strata and can be 'mined'. The conventional search for greenstone is of the needle in a hay-stack variety, looking in a creek-bed of stones for one in a million which looks just like the others but which is vastly different on the inside. The deep green of the polished stone is obtained by cutting and polishing the natural stone. In the wild, greenstone is covered with a 'rind' of weathered stone which is a whitish to a rusty colour. It looks different when wet and the Maoris used to say that this is because Poutini is a fish. It makes perfect sense to me.
The presence of the greenstone men was of benefit to us as they had hired the same helicopter as us and we received the bonus of not having to pay for the positioning time. Loading kayaks with rocks to stop them swirling about on the sling under the chopper, we ascended slowly and moved up the valley at about 30kph... the irony of carrying rocks up this valley did not escape us. The gradient of the valley is more apparent from the air than from the ground and the view up the valley from the cockpit was of a steep valley with a ceiling of cloud giving the impression of flying into an ever diminishing tunnel. We had a good view of the river and the sight was not encouraging. The bed of the Arahura is littered with large boulders up to three metres across and everywhere there were white streaks indicating rapids. Our pilot, who did not actually come right out and say that we were crazy, had said that there was a gorge, longer than the Second Gorge before the Third Gorge. Why hadn't I walked up a bit further? A fourth gorge! The revenge of Poutini on those who would dare to violate his resting place.
The decision of how far up the river to take the chopper was made for us by the low river level and the fact of the late start due to the chopper not being available earlier. We landed near the bottom of this gorge which starts near Olderog Creek, the mountain source of Arahura greenstone. With the sound of the helicopter fading away down the valley we were left on a small area beside the river surrounded by native vegetation, less modified by the effect of introduced animals than its sister river the Taipo across the range to the north. We were mindful of the fate of other water-bound travellers in the past including Tane-tiki, the head chief who drowned in Lake Mahinapua when his canoe was overturned by a taniwha as a punishment for neglecting to say a karakia before setting out. Knowing neither if there was still a taniwha nor the correct form of karakia we nevertheless offered two green branches and a bunch of berries to the river and then busied ourselves squeezing into our kayaks
From a canoeing point of view, this was not one of those carefree trips down a familiar stretch of river where rapids have esoteric names and one paddles back up the eddies to repeat a certain piece of water. From the moment we launched into the current it was a matter of negotiating a continuous maze of large boulders falling away in front of you like a staircase. Often you could see a short flat section of water a hundred and fifty metres away with the intervening river disappearing into a jumble of rocks. The water was very cold and within a few metres I was pulled around by a hidden rock and tipped over. A slow eskimo roll was followed by excruciating pain as my head restored to its normal temperature -eat a big mouthful of icecream and experience this sensation in the comfort of your own home!
In the gorge below 0lderog Creek the river drops in a confined boulder-strewn bed at 100 feet in half a mile then eases to 100 feet in 1 1/4 miles. Just above Jills Creek on the right bank there is a large slow moving pool which ends as the river turns left and falls through a steep mass of boulders. Ron portaged this section when he ran out of water on the right. Edgar and I ran the left against a cliff and managed to thread our way down the multiplicity of small twisting drops between the boulders. It was impossible to plot a course because you could not see over the boulders.
Every quarter of an hour or so the helicopter would appear carrying a sling with bundle of rocks on the end. Each time it flew overhead I thought "another twenty thousand tikis" and then concentrated on the video game rapids ahead. The river still dropping at 100 feet per mile which was still a respectable gradient and causing us to break out into the surging eddies behind the boulders to try and scout the water ahead. Some rapids are concave -that is, steeper at the top so that once you are over the edge you can see all the water below. These rapids, however, were convex so that the steeper portion was at the end and hard to read from the kayak. We did not want to inspect everything so generally we took it as it came.
Eventually we arrayed at the forbidding entrance to the Second Gorge and dismounted to inspect the obstacles I had glimpsed on my earlier visit. Oh dear oh dear, the river was lower and the rapid was plainly showing its ribs. In canoeing terms this was a genuine grade V rapid, the crux was a three to four metre drop onto foaming water with maybe some rocks; maybe not. To get to this drop we had to negotiate two sharp drops of one metre without getting swept over the wrong spot or getting broached against the snaggle-toothed guardians at the top of the main fall Although we were fully equipped with climbing ropes, pitons, and descendeur, the rapid below was unportageable and disappeared over a huge chockstone into more noise and spray. Beyond this obstacle there is a further rapid where a boulder about a metre across divides the flow and creates a diagonal stopper of the 'taniwha' variety, to coin a phrase. Furiously justifying our actions to one another we carried our boats up the track over the spur to the bottom of this short but severe gorge, which drops 100 feet in less than one third of a mile.
The section below the Second Gorge is a sweeping right-hand bend about a kilometre long. At normal flow the river forms fast chutes with powerful stoppers, but the current is so fast that the canoe will be fired through without much effort on the paddlers part. This open stretch culminates in the 'Cesspool'. The Cesspool is a deep pool into which tumbles a whitewater rapid of grade IV difficulty with the piece de resistance (or coup de grace) a large hole formed behind a smoothly curved boulder on the right. With the low level we experienced, this boulder towered above our heads as we plunged down through now familiar rocks and foam. An hour of easier rapids followed until we arrived at our car, standing like a sentinel in the Westland landscape at the road end.
Thirty minutes later, just as the glow of satisfaction was starting to be accompanied by the glow of warm fingers we stopped for a quick beer at the little pub in the middle of nowhere at the Arahura river mouth. We parked at the back and wandered into the bar. Leaning on the bar were two customers and the barman. There was an awkward silence. "You must be the three jokers that canoed the Arahura then." It was not a question but a statement. In the gloomy interior we drank a single glass and headed back to Christchurch, contemplating the miraculous efficiency of communications on the Coast.
When some three hours later we were almost home I said that I had seen a large greenstone boulder in the middle of one of the rapids. I had crashed through a series of drops and spun into a thrashing eddy behind a rock over which the water surged, covering then exposing a deep smooth green boulder. The colour is unmistakable once you have seen it. Where the river covers the greenstone and where the surface covering would be ground away by the ceaseless transport of glacial silt down the river you would expect to see the true colour. While I had bobbed about trying to stay upright, more and more of this green monster was revealed. This was a truly massive piece of pounamu! Finally relenting to the insistence of the river to have me move on, I had cut back into the current and was whisked away over more falls and around a bend in the river, to gather my thoughts in a calmer spot.
This had been the driest summer in living memory and the Arahura would never have been so low. No one except a canoeist could have got to such a position in the river and we were presumably the first. After informing Ron and Edgar of this discovery, I was told by each in turn that they too had seen a really large piece of the deep green stone in a rough stretch of river. A piece that size could have remained undiscovered through the centuries, given its location in mid-stream in the extremely fast cold water. There was no more discussion on the subject for we knew that at least one part of Poutini, the fish, the gift of a god to the Maori, was safe.
Perhaps a future explorer with a better use for this gift and a heightened awareness of the spiritual significance of Pounamu will uncover this hidden treasure and truly add to our cultural wealth by using it to create articles of lasting value, to be handed down from generation to generation, not scattered to every country on earth in tiny forlorn pieces. The Maori do not value any work of art if it lacks 'wairua'. The wairua comes from the creator of the object and that is why the mass-produced greenstone articles cannot possibly have true value as they have no wairua. Pounamu is a gift and should only be received as a gift.
Arahura can literally be translated as 'path of discovery' but the name is said to have come from ancient Hawaiki and means 'pathway to the sun'. The lower river flows west and late in the day when the sun transforms the water into a golden pathway fringed with toi-toi and towering rimu and matai, it is easy to imagine other travellers on their 'mokihi' and 'waka' centuries before. We have a long way to go to develop this one-ness with our land but for me at least this journey provided a link, however tenuous, between the present and the past.
River guide for canoe and raft trips on the Arahura river
Access is by helicopter or if you wish by the wide easy track as shown on the topographical maps. Local Maori landowners should be asked permission before venturing upriver. Prior permission may be sought by contacting Mr Stephen O'Regan telephone Wellington (04) 847352.
THIRD GORGE: May be uncanoeable. Huge boulders jam the whole gorge and it is a gloomy place with trees overhanging most of the river.
UNKNOWN GORGE: Starts at Olderog Creek and lasts for about 1 km. The river bed narrows and the banks are solid rock of up to 20m in height. The river bed is completely covered in boulders creating at least grade III water at low flow rising to grade IV with higher flows.
BOTTOM OF UNKNOWN GORGE TO SECOND GORGE: Bouldery graveyard rapids of high gradient. Grade II at low flow -grade III at normal flow. Very powerful water at high flow.
SECOND GORGE: Only the first rapid can be inspected from the bank. There are two other known rapids in this gorge -reported to be severe. Once you have entered this gorge you will be unable to portage the rapids and as they follow in quick succession, the successful run of the first drop of the first rapid is critical, and most difficult
At normal flow levels the first drop can be run on the extreme left as the entire river forms a foaming slot with a 2-3m drop. This flow then goes into a narrow slot between two massive boulders and then pours over and through a 50m boulder-studded section. Right at the extreme limit of vision the river drops over a chockstone into 20m of bouldery cascades. A log-jam was reported here in the summer of 1985/6. A further 20m takes the river traveller into the final rapid which is created by an outcrop of rock on the right directing the flow into a mid-stream boulder. Two substantial stopper waves are created here as the flow increases. This if followed by a flat section of l00m before the river opens out again. Grade IV -V in high flow.
BELOW THE SECOND GORGE: Open bouldery rapids creating chutes and holes as the flow rises. This section, on a long right-hand bend leads to the 'Cesspool' where a wire- span bridge crosses the river. The Cesspool rapid occurs as the river kinks to the left creating backlash off the bluff and foaming whitewater for 50m culminating in large haystack waves where the river enters the pool itself. From the Cesspool the river turns to the right and flows over smaller boulders, gradually easing as you approach the road bridge.
The Arahura River was ceded to the Mawhera Incorporation in 1979 but they do not place any restraint on navigation, however river travellers should seek permission before going upriver. The river is a traditional source of pounamu and has a long history, being the subject of a number of creation myths and legends as well as later pakeha pioneering history. The river is considered to be the most important river in the country in terms of Maori values. This value should be respected by all river users.
As with all Westland alpine rivers, the flow can vary considerably and can make or break a canoe or raft trip. All parties must be well equipped. Polyethylene kayaks are to be preferred and even then, be prepared to walk out. This river, like others in the region, can rise a metre an hour with rain on the main divide.
