Upper Taipo River, March 2005

0530 hrs — gathered at Caltex Hornby. Eight kayakers and two catarafters. Off to the Coast in the dark.

0830 hrs — Bruce Dando, personal helipilot to the WWCC, arrives and loads up for the first of five runs from the clearing at the Taipo bridge on SH73. A windless morning, except for the draft caused by sandflies. The river is "normal".

Album: Canterbury/Upper Taipo

A great day out for eight paddlers and a cataraft.

(22 images)

1030 hrs — Catarafters and Ethan dropped off on an island in the middle of the river with a good-sized bouldery drop immediately downstream. The others were dropped off at Julia hut to run the 6 km of Grade 4-5 of steep drops down to the bottom of "Showcase", the last of the big rapids. We were to meet the kayakers at the bottom of Showcase. Yeah, right.

Below Showcase, the river enters a long straight section of continuous class III with the occasional steeper tighter stretch pushing III+. This falls away in front of you for 3km to the mid Taipo hut. From here the gradient is less but there are still plenty of rocks, and three quite punchy class III+ rapids to negotiate.

1400 hrs — The cataraft has now got pinned about 25 times as there are few passages greater than the 2 metre width, and almost every attempt to ferry ends in the full 4.6 m length getting broached on one or more boulders. The oars cover almost 6 metres and it's hard to find clean water to get a decent purchase. After four and half hours of continuous heaving and shoving and not much help from the river, I am getting rather stuffed, and so is Ritz my trusty passenger. The kayakers are on my case, however, jumping out of their kayaks to haul us off yet another bloody rock. The kayakers are now measuring the distance to travel, counting off the hours of available daylight, dividing by the slow progress, taking away the number they first thought of, and reaching the conclusion that the Jacksons pub will be closed before they get off the river.

A decision is reached to dismantle the cataraft and carry it down to the mid Taipo hut (where it should have been dropped off in the first place), and re-assemble it there at the end of the boulder gardens. Many hands make light work, except for Kerry who carried the solid metal seats and frames on his own. Without these guys I would still be up there waiting for rain. Big thanks, guys.

1530 hrs — Off we go again and the pinnings are fewer and less stressful as the river eases off and more water enters via tributaries. There are still a couple of quite sharp drops here and there and some steep waves and occasional holes. Higher flow would increase the difficulty for kayaks, but make life a whole lot easier for rafts and cats.

Ritz took over the rowing duties and for a while I could sit back and appreciate my surroundings a bit more. The frustrations of the boulder gardens became a distant memory. I wish. Would we get out before dark? Some of the party took off to get cars over the hill to the top of the last gorge and we paddled on into the gathering gloom. The wee Taipo gorge we have all paddled many time seems like an anti-climax but we haven't the time or energy to appreciate its charms in the twilight.

1910 hrs — The bridge! The sun is peeking over the ridges to the west and the sandflies have clocked off for the night. The Jackson's pub is open and a most welcome sight. The big screen has the Crusaders comprehensively thumping the Blues and all is well with the world.

The Reflective Part of the Story

Ron and Edgar, Upper Taipo, Easter 1985

In Easter 1985 — 20 long years ago, Ron Beardsley. Edgar Reese and I flew into the upper Taipo for what was the first descent of this section of the river. The river was low and we got the chopper to drop us off when we didn't like the look of what we might have to paddle. This was during the Dancer years and Ron was a mere 59 years old and I was a chicken at 42. Edgar was about 19 or so. We started at about the mid Taipo hut. Having now seen a bit of the upper river, we would have been in a lot of strife with our skill levels and the long pointy boats if we had tried to go higher. We ran the Arahura the next day (but that's another story).

The Taipo is a stunning river as it has long straight stretches so you can see where you are instead of being buried in some dark gorge somewhere. The track is easy and handy if things turn custardly. The rapids below Showcase (at Dry Creek confluence) are, as Robin, our fearless leader described, like a long version of the lower Matakitaki, although I think the Taipo is harder and the rapid from Showcase down to the hut is continuous for over three kilometres. The gradient is 40m/km, so it would start to be quite challenging if the river was high.

The ideal trip for paddlers who want a fly-in of some length and class III would be to fly to the mid Taipo hut. This would be a 14 km trip on its own. If all was OK some could walk up the track and run the rapids above the hut. Also remember that the Taipo is a shorter drive from Christchurch than the Hokitika catchment.

Various people from the Dark Side have promulgated evil plans to dam this river for power generation, and there have been ongoing hassles over access to the lower gorge which the club paddles from time to time. I think I would actually rather freeze to death in the dark than see this river dammed. 33 MW - produce it or save it. 8250 heat pumps can save that amount.

I waited 20 years to return to this river. I am not sure if those reading this will have this river in another 20 years unless all of us realise the threat and that, yes, individuals can and do make a difference.

Party
Kayakers: Robin Rutter (Leader), John Rice , Barry Boyd, Kerry Hoglund, Ethan Harris, Sam Fey, Al Wood, Jonathan Hunt.
Catarafters: Hugh Canard, Ritz Wood

PS: I did it again two weeks later in a kayak… with Bob Morton, Yan Wong, Shio, Murray Watson, and Colin Hogg, trip leader, but that's another story. I didn't walk too many rapids.

The river was lower this time making it harder and easier depending on the feature. The bigger drops were harder as there were more visible rocks, but the flow being lower gave one more time to slow down and catch eddies.

If you are confident on Maori Gully and the Lower Matakitaki and have completed a river rescue course, then put the Taipo on your trip list. The fly in to the bottom of Showcase (Dry Creek) costs $100 if you organise a group. To Julia Hut for some class IV-IV4+ action is $120.