|
| |
CoffeeWaffle
|
Sunday, 30 November 2003
|
|
The Pelorus River. The most beautiful river I have kayaked so far. This afternoon Devon and I decided to explore a 10km run from the point where the Tin-line River joins it, down to Totara Flat, which just after the Pelorus Bridge and the Rai River joins the flow. Its not the biggest river around; we bounced over a few rocks on the way down, but it is interesting and certainly picturesque. Losts of native forests on along the banks and an amazing rocky gorge section as you pass under the Pelorus Bridge. Deep green pools of cool clear water interspersed with tight rocky rapids made this a fun afternoon.
The start of the run. Click to enlarge (69k)
Where the Rai River meets the Pelorus River.
Devon beside an old bridge piling.
The Pelorus Bridge. I remember when I was younger this bridge represented a challenge to every local kid. If you could jump off this bridge you were made of the right stuff. Now there is a sign prohibiting anybody from leaping from the bridge. Probably a good thing...
9:35:15 PM 
|
|
|
|
Thursday, 27 November 2003
|
|
What do ya do, when you've just finished work, its blowing half a gale, theres a really cold wind thats seems 2 minutes from snow. Its just started raining that big-old fat rain, and whats left of the sun has all but dissappeared behind a big muddy-grey rain cloud. The wind is picking up and the temperatures dropping. What. do. you. do?
You go fly a kite, thats what. In fact, fly three of them, all strung together, while sitting on a flimsy three wheeled contraption with no brakes. Hurtle around a wet beach for about 20km or so, or until your arms are burning, your fingers are blue, and your face is numb. It does wonders for the soul...
ps. no prizes for spotting the lines from two different movies in this post ;P
7:46:52 PM
|
|
|
|
Monday, 24 November 2003
|
|
A friend got this shot of me in my kite buggy on Saturday afternoon using some new digital binoculars. Its the only decent shot I have of me doing this. Being a keen photographer means I don't have many photos of myself taken from more than an arms length away. This was at Wakapuaka in light winds. 
10:06:43 PM
|
|
Yesterday was an adventurous day. No kayaking (to windy) but Devon and I went for a drive to the west coast of the South Island to scout out some future kayking runs. This coast is blessed with some of New Zealands most beautiful and rugged scenery, as well as more than its fair share of great kayaking rivers. The biggest of these is the Buller River. This is a BIG volume river and is a mecca for kayakers and rafters alike. It is fed into by dozens other rivers and lakes as it carves through this rugged landscape to emerge into the Tasman Sea on the West Coast. One day we hope to paddle its entire length from its source at lake Rotoiti, to the sea at Westport. Then there's the Karamea River, the whiskey coloured Oparara River, Mokihinui River, the Owen River, the Matakitaki River, the Maruia River (not to mention the falls), and the legendary Granity Creek to name just a few of the great rides we have to look forward to. Unfortunatly alot of them are class 4-5, and we a still thrashing around in class 2-3 stuff. There experienced to be gained... but we have heaps of incentive!
The tunnel to nowhere.
The West Coast gets a lot of rain. The bush is lush.
In places this road is literally carved out of rock. That's the Buller River to the right.
This Matai tree is huge. There are large vines that take over the tree and almost smother its base.
The canopy above is a whole new ecosystem.
YeeHa! One of many views of the buller from the road.
Karamea beach. (mental note. Return here with kites and buggy in a westerly.)
Lake Hanlon. 10 minutes walk through dense bush from the road to Karamea (click for large view 160k).
The windswept coast.
The Buller River just before it meets the sea at Westport.
2:15:12 PM
|
|
|
|
Monday, 17 November 2003
|
|
There's a horrible, gusty, easterly wind blowing here today. And when I say gusty, I mean gusty enough to blow the car unexpectedly sideways along Atawhai Drive on my way home. Although it doesn't come around often, the easterly is the only wind, around here,where there's really no good kiting to be had, anywhere. The gusting means its really hard to find the right sized kite for a start. One second you'll be way over powered, and the next, your kite can just drop from the sky. Its an unpredicable wind.
Anyway, I decided to drop one of my excaliburs off at the kite shop, since I won't be needing it today, at least! It needs a few repairs after the strong winds lately. The backbone of the kite had popped right through the skin (ouch!). It kept flying but left a tear which is just getting bigger. I can't seem to visit that shop without buying something; a kite for my neice's birthday, a harness for my two line kites, frisbee for the dog, etc... and today it was a splash gaurd for the buggy. Of course I had to drag the buggy out, assemble it, and fit the splash gaurd to see what it looked like, even though there was no chance of using it today :)
Ta DA! (its the red thingy)
6:33:41 PM
|
|
|
|
Sunday, 16 November 2003
|
|
We decided to return to the Motueka River today. We left my car at the Graham River take-out spot, the same as last week, then drove in Devon's van back to the put-in, but this time we explored up-river further. Instead of putting in at the Baton Bridge like last time, we drove further back up the road until we found another place where we could reach the river easily from the road. This added almost 3km to the run taking the distance to paddle to 10km. It also added a couple of nice rapids we hadn't run before.
The other nice thing about the new put in was the lupins in flower on the river bank (at least I think they're lupins, anyone know what they are for sure?). I photographed the sea of colour they created. I wish I could have captured the sweet smell too...
8:42:10 PM
|
|
|
|
Saturday, 15 November 2003
|
|
The only drawback of all the good kiting wind we've been getting lately, is it's no good for kayaking. These days if I want to go kayaking (on the sea) its got to be in the morning or evening, there's too much wind in the afternoons. Today was no exception, with a gusty SW wind arriving (as per the forecast) around lunchtime. After 4 o'clock, as the sun gets lower, the wind usually drops away. The sun doesn't set till 8ish these days so there's a chance to kayak in the hours between.
Today Devon and I took advantage of this window and went for a paddle in Cable Bay. Along the south west side of Pepin Island there was a large swell rolling in. Usually we can kayak right into the many caves around here but not today. Out in the deeper water the huge swells made for intermitant views as you crested each wave. Fellow kayakers would dissappear out of view into the troughs between each pair.
Closer in, where the water gets shallow, some very rideable waves were rolling in at the north side of Cable Bay. We spent about an hour just surfing in these. Before this afternoon Devon was proud that since getting his kayak he had only fallen in twice, where as my 'score' was three. The tables turned today though with Devon going for three unexpected swims while I managed to stay in my seat the whole time. 5-3 to me! Ha!
Below you can kind of see the size of the swells that were rolling into the bay. Great fun to ride when they break in the shallower water. A little tricky to photograph there though. I was even a little reluctant to take the camera out of its water-proof bag for this shot!
8:25:10 PM
|
|
|
|
Friday, 14 November 2003
|
|
An almost perfect sea breeze at the beach this afternoon. I clocked up 28km on the kite buggy, using three excaliburs, after work which is a long way on a short beach.
I have sand in my socks...
11:47:54 PM
|
|
|
|
Monday, 10 November 2003
|
|
Yesterday was spent kayaking the Motueka River again. I can't get enough of this river, and it sure beats paddling 'uphill'. The water is clear and bottle green from a distance, like the masses of willows, wattles and countless other trees bursting forth from its banks. The rapids on the strech between the Baton Bridge and the Graham Valley are fun, but always wide enough to give you plenty of options. I've been down this 7km piece of the river three times now and I'm still finding new waves and routes on each rapid.
We ran the 7km twice yesterday. Here are a few highlights...
This little place is near the start of the run. I actually rented this 'shack' for about two years in the late 90's while I was off work waiting on a shoulder operation. Being paid by the Government to do nothing while living here was great, even if I did have a bung shoulder the whole time. This place remains my all time favourite place I have lived!
(Click for 1024x768 desktop wallpaper (83k))
The bottom of a typical rapid. We have dubbed this one 'the dolphin rapid' because the large rock to the left looks just like a huge dolphin's head coming out of the water.
Variety of Riverstones.
A sceneic drift about halfway down.
Kaycee gets the job of car alarm for the day. (she takes her job very seriously).
The signpost at the Baton Bridge put-in.
The final kilometre is a gentle drift and wind-down before the take-out. A chance for all the rants about "this rapid" and "that wave", "did ya see me when..."!
6:50:29 PM
|
|
|
|
Friday, 7 November 2003
|
|
Today was Senior Prizegiving at school/work. That means the junior school go home early and the seniors and teachers spend the afternoon sitting on hard chairs, in a stuffy assembly hall. For me, it means I can sneak an afternoon off work.
Today is also my 32nd birthday. So the afternoon off was spent in the best way I could think of. Kite buggying with a storm kite in howling NW winds, on Rabbit Island beach. The speed record I set the other day is now exactly 1kph faster. With two excaliburs (again) I ran the enitre length of the beach (7.76km west to east) in exactly 12 minutes and 18 seconds, with a top speed of 64kph! The wind kept picking up and soon I was flying just one kite, instead of two.
I retired to the car at 7pm after clocking up 38.5km up and down the beach. I had buggied through 2 or three rain-showers but the wind had been perfect. They storm front made a dramatic sky.:D
The wind was blowing balls of foam across the beach like tumble-weeds.
Todays kiting desktop wallpaper (1600x1200) . My black excalibur kite against the stormy sky.
11:07:44 PM
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, 4 November 2003
|
|
Another windy day! I was 'wind-watching' all day, out the window at work. When I left, at around 3.30, there seemed to be no wind at all. But, it was just a lull as it changed direction to become a crisp, stong northerly by the time I got to the beach. Perfect! The tide was just low enough to allow a nice run up and down the beach. Even better still, there was hardly any people around so lots of room for speed. My previous personal best was 52.5kph in the kite buggy, and I did that here during the winter in almost exactly the same conditions. Too much wind to fly 3 excaliburs today but I went with a 2-stack instead. After 3 or 4 lengths of the shortish (1 or 2 km) beach I had a new top speed of 63kmh! I glad I bought that buggy helmet now.
Heres a video of me scudding, (thats being dragged through the sand like a barefoot water-skier by really big, loud, kites >:D ) with the two kites, just before taking off in the buggy to break my record! As you can see, there was plenty of power.
I still can't wipe the grin of my face! 8D
9:50:36 PM
|
|
|
|
Sunday, 2 November 2003
|
|
Had a great time kite buggying at the Wakapuaka Sand Flat today. Most of the spring rain had dried up and there were only a few wet patches to look out for. The surface was dry and fast out in the middle. The 40kph Northerlies forecast had arrived and after flying 2 excaliburs my arms were like jelly after exactly 12 minutes in the buggy. I stopped for a rest and put one kite away, leaving a single black excalibur...
...a fitting tribute for halloween I thought.
It was a pleasure to buggy with just a single delta. The relatively light power, responsivness and speed of one kite compared to a c-quad or a stack means you can do loops and dives and all sorts of stunts while your buggying. Its alot of fun. Kaycee has worn herself out chasing the kite and buggy for about 2 hours solid! She is sleeping soundly now. Even the storm outside (brought to us by those 40 kph northerlies) isn't enough to rouse her.
Here's a wee video production (950k) of my buggying today including a ride in the buggy with me).
- ps. I just realised that the link to the video (890k) in this story was wrong and no-one would have been able to access it. I fixed it... So go look now.... ;)
12:17:48 AM
|
|
|
© Copyright
2006
Murray Neill
.
Last update:
13/11/2006; 7:54:36 p.m.
. |
|
|
|
