Rangitaiki/Access 10 Trip
2nd/3rd October 1999
Paddlers: Stephen Dean, Janine Barnett, Dave Alderton, Andreas Kubisch, Nicki Edwards, Pete Mitchell and Paul Tapper (scribe).
From the start, things went well. I was told to meet at Dave’s place at 6:30
on Friday. I got there at 6:15 and Steve was already there, so we were able to
hit the road at 6:35. The journey up was uneventful although I couldn’t really
join in with the conversation from the back of Steve’s van. This was no problem
as I just sat quietly and read, then when the light went out I went to sleep. We
made the, now regular, stops at the Hungry Bull in Bulls for a Chinese meal and
the Caltex in Waiouru for a coffee fill-up. On arrival at Taupo, I was wondering
who’s pillow I’d been using as I’d managed to dribble over it in my sleep,
turned out that it was Dave’s!
We met up with Andreas in the hostel. He’d made his own way up, stopping at
Down Under in Fielding to pick up a Dagger Freefall demo boat. Amazingly for us,
we went to bed without consuming large quantities of alcohol first.
On the Saturday, we were up at 8:30. This was very early by our standards. We
made good use of the spare time by eating plenty of breakfast and changing the
wipers on Steve’s van before heading off to the Rangitaiki. On our trip out, we
were joined by Nicki and Pete who were going to be paddling the section from the
lake down. It takes well over an hour to get to the river and this gave me
plenty of time to reflect on the last time that I tried this river, when I
probably swam and walked more of it than I had paddled!
The shuttle arrangements looked to be fairly simple. Pete and Nicki would
take Steve’s van to the get-out and drive their car to their get-in to wait for
us. This meant that we could get going fairly quickly. I kept convincing myself
that I was a far better paddler than I was a year ago but that didn’t stop my
sphincter muscles from twitching as we approached the rock garden at the top.
There was no need to worry as I coped with it fairly well. In fact it was nice
to be able to see the section, as I last time I went down it I was underwater
most of the time. To his credit, Andreas did amazingly well, considering that it
was his first attempt at a river of this difficulty. The fun stopped too soon as
Dave got Janine, Andreas and myself to get out before Jeff’s Joy as we would be
walking around it. We got to the bottom of Jeff’s Joy in plenty of time and were
there ready with cameras (if it went OK) and throwbags (if it went wrong). Dave
and Steve both made it look easy although Steve confessed to an unplanned endo
just before reaching the main drop. Steve then walked back up the track to
paddle Janine’s boat down and have a second go. Jeff’s Joy looked like great fun
but you certainly wouldn’t want to get it wrong as there’s a large unforgiving
rock right at the bottom.
After Jeff’s Joy, the river is steep and rocky which was great practise for
eddy-hopping. There were also a few good play holes. Both Andreas and myself had
some minor deviations from the recommended line but nothing serious enough to
result in any drama. In the middle of the run, there is the lake section, which
is a long flat paddle. This is where we met up with Nicki and Pete, who had
found a good spot for seal-launching into the river. The final section is also
steep and rocky, with a few really good play holes. My attempt at side-surfing
caused some amusement when I turned around and said "This is good fun but how do
I get out of it?" although escaping turned out to be quite easy. A lapse of
concentration near the end resulted in me getting pinned between two rocks with
clear air between the boat and the water. I was tempted to get out and walk
along the back deck but Steve managed to drag the back of my boat back into the
water where the current did the rest of the work. Andreas and me got tangled up
near the end when I came around a rock, locking for an eddy, as I didn’t want to
go down the right hand side of the river. There were two obvious eddies, Dave
was in one and Janine was in the other, so I back paddled to give myself a bit
of time to find another one. I came to rest on rock that was just below the
surface. This was perfect, except for the fact that Andreas was right behind me.
The resulting collision, almost caused him to capsize but some good support
strokes prevented that, however he ended up going down the right hand side of
the river, where there wasn’t much water and having to do a bit of grovelling to
get back into the main flow. After this, it wasn’t far to the get out so that
was the end of this run. The rain arrived just in time to make getting changed
more of a challenge than it needed to be.
After the drive back to Taupo, we stayed in the hostel for a while for a cup
of tea. Then we headed for the spa pools. These were to be the only swims of the
day! As if the excitement of the river wasn’t enough, Andreas and me decided to
have a go on the hydroslide, getting more and more air on each run! After this,
we had an "interesting" meal at the RSA, as it was the only place still serving
food. This was followed by a visit to the Cosmopolitan club for a few beers and
a game of snooker. We also managed a game of darts. This was to give Dave the
chance to try his new flights out before Labour Weekend. We decided to have an
early night again, so that we could get up and watch the All Blacks/England
rugby. It was a tense game, one of the best in the competition, and at the time
it looked like it might be the game to decide the final winner. As we know now,
it wasn’t to be.
On the following morning, we packed all our gear and headed for the
Tongariro. Janine didn’t feel like paddling, so that was the shuttle sorted out.
Nicki and Pete decided to go mountain biking instead, so that left four of us to
do the run. It was a relatively uneventful trip. There is four hours of paddling
involved, so there’s plenty of scope for carnage but all that happened were two
undramatic swims and an amusing incident with some willows. The first swim was
recorded by Andreas, who capsized after hitting a rock sideways. There was a
pool immediately after the rapid, so the rescue was easy. I managed the second
swim. This was also the consequence of hitting a rock sideways followed by a
collision with another rock while I was upside down which caused me to let go of
my paddle. I managed to get hold of my paddle again and tried to roll but the
blade just sliced under the water. The sound and feel of rocks hitting my helmet
convinced me that getting out might be a good option. I popped the deck and came
out just as my boat entered the pool at the bottom of the rapid. So, this was my
fourth (unnecessary) swim of the year and guaranteed me the swimmer of the year
award!
When we got to the prison overbridge, Dave said that there wasn’t much of any
interest left. However, there were still some good bouncy rapids left. Andreas
managed to get pinned on a rock and Steve came to the rescue, pushing him off
the rock and into some overhanging willows. Andreas dropped his paddle and was
left hanging onto the willows while Steve was still hanging onto the front of
his boat. Andreas didn’t know what to do and the only advice that Steve could
come up with was "You’ll have to let go sometime"! Andreas somehow scrambled
through the willows, staying upright and then negotiating a bouncy rapid without
a paddle before Steve gave him his paddle back. I was someway downstream and
just caught a glimpse of Andreas’s arms flailing around before I paddled off
after Dave, to advise him that we might have to wait a bit and to look out, just
in case a paddle came floating past.
There was no other drama on the river than this but that’s not to say that it
wasn’t fun. It’s one of my favourite runs especially when the sun and blue skies
are out.
After that, we headed home as it was a bit late in the day to go and play at
Poutu Falls. There was one final drama left though. On the way back, I was half
asleep in the back of the van when I felt a sensation of falling. I put my hand
out and realised that we were braking hard. It was dark and a (mostly) black cow
had wandered into the road. Janine managed to see it and stop in time, saving us
from would have been a nasty accident. Dave and Steve managed to get the cow and
one of it’s friend off the main road and we managed to inform someone who knew
the owner of what had happened before safely continuing our journey to
Wellington.
There’s nothing else really left to say, other then to thank Steve and Janine
for organising a great trip and for doing most of the driving.
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