Mangawhio Vid

Video from a recent run down the Mangawhio river.

Not kayaking!

So I figured its about time for a non kayaking update here.

Today we were out in the forest and snapped a few riding shots.

Brad on the ski jump at the end of pigeon run

Steve goin huge and flatlanding - for fun.

Me on the 6m double at the end of double down

Steve on same jump goin big

Nick firing the ski jump

Keep an eye out for some pics and a video from a recent mangawhio trip we did a few weeks ago.

Tuakopai Round 2

This is a old post that was on my dead computer, from a run down the Tuakopai a few months back, never got around to posting it up. Enjoy!

Last week we had a couple of decent rain days and Ryan and myself decided we should go check some shit out so we mished over to the Kaimais and found sick water levels, with 170 cumecs down the Wairoa, we knew the upper runs were on!

We fired everything which was sick but a bit scary with just the two of us and not really any safety but all was well and we had a sick day out, bombing out a run of the Tuakopai in 1 1/2 hours (which was good because we put on at 3, gets dark at 5).

Enjoy the few very average pics.

A raging Mclaren falls and Mangas.

Ryan below the first slide to drop.

My boat looking a little worse for wear after a rock fight in the first waterfall.

Corkscrew.

Spa falls from below.

Ryan firing Douglas falls, we both landed dead flat, fricking sore!

Me boofing a slide with a chunky hole in the bottom.

Pace, one of the funnest waterfalls you can run.

Ryan below a long, fast, and sick slide at the end of the Tuakopai.

Winter update

Well its been a while since I have updated this so I figure I'll throw a cheeky update on.

The reason being that I havnt updated is that I havnt had much to put on here.

Got some sick creeking in lately, me and Ryan got on a nice high tuakopai a while back and bombed out a quick run, both landing wayyyy to flat on douglas falls, took a few days to recover from that one. Other than that its been quiet on the kayaking side of things with the winter cold making us pursue other activities such as mountain biking and the odd surf (yes its freezing).

There has been a new run discovered in the Kaimais, the Heretatua or something along the lines of that, shot to pete, ryan, fatty and elby for claiming it, looks sick and I know were im heading next time the floods happen.

Also check out Mr. Simon Davidsons blog for some hawkes bay sickness, him and Sam Roil headed over there to jump on some river with a hard to remember maori name (arnt they all) and found some goods. Check it out and get on it.

http://sidavidson.blogspot.com/

http://chasingwater.blogspot.com/

First Known Descent - Omahaki Stream

Well its been a pretty busy past week mishing it round the North Island catching up with mates in Welly and getting raucous in town then coming back up here only to head down to Taupo, pick up Matt Burton, and head on over to the Hawkes bay where there had been a ton of rain and Sam Roil had some creeks and possible first D's lined up for us.

So we managed to get on a creek that Sam had been eyeing up for years and hasnt been run so sweet! Knowing there was a decent sized gorge and no idea what was in there we were excited for a sick day.

What we found was a funky little creek that would be terrifying but super fun in higher water, at our flow it was reminiscent of a low Rangitikei mixed in with a low flow Glenroy. Cool stuff, tick it off.

Enjoy the pics.

At the put-in. What awaits us, who knows?

First of many narrow little drops.

Sam on the biggest drop on the river.

Me on the same drop - boof, avoid rocks, sweet as!

Sam on a tight little chute

Matt running a rapid I wouldnt really call a clean one. The line is more or less paddle over the seive then get your boat grabbed and pulled over the next part of the seive. Didnt work so well for me.

Sam running a rather difficult and sticky hole.

 Shot for the mish boys, and thanks to Matt for the photos.

World waterfall record video!

Video of Tyler Bradts 186ft waterfall world record over Palouse Falls, if you havn't seen it yet. Amazing.

Tuakopai Slide Goodness

With the rain falling steadily over the last couple of days we managed to get on a low but still super sick down the Tuakopai river in the Kaimais. My camera was dying the whole time but I managed to get a couple of shots out of it. Most of us fired up Spa falls, Douglas Falls and the Abyss on the Mangakarengorengo and Sam Brad and Ryan ran Mclarens. Sick lines all round.

 

Brad firing spa falls

 

Sam running Douglas falls.

Spa falls from below

Brad running the Abyss, Mangas

Ryan Lucas on Mclarens falls

The amazing Upper Hokitika

Well im back up north sitting in rainy Okere Falls thinking creeking thoughts, and I thought I would chuck a bit of a post up about the Upper Hokitika river while I wait for the rain.

Stephan, wilzy and I, after a lazy recovery day on the Upper Kakas, decided on the Upper Hoki for our last day on the coast. With only the 3 of us we cruised through the run, paddling on a pretty juicy flow, making some of the holes pretty damn massive.

Sick day out and we got to the bottom of the run realising none of us had taken a roll. Choice!

The very busy class 5 "Viagara Falls" section

Fun sneak line drop

The always impressive Gates of Argonath

Stephan and Dando

Wills entering the sick gorge below Mikeys drop

Me on Viagara Falls

Stephan in a artistic shot

Big entrance waterfall to the first gorge

Stephan getting his Viagara right

Random South Island Photos

Out of my zone and into some big water

Trying to crank as much power out of those lettmann blades as I can

Me partaking in the Citroen Race

Looking down into the unknown - Hokitika Gorges

Gettin my airmail on

Illuminated by whitewater

Battling it out on the Matakitaki, I actually managed to take this dude, and the guy in front too. 

Stoked!

All photos courtesy of Louise Urwin and Tyler Fox.

The Kokatahi River... A big day out.

Hanging out at the Hokitika campground, me, willzy, si and stephan were wondering where to fly the next day when jordie rocked up and decided we would paddle the Kokatahi... well ok then, if we have to.
We woke up the next day to get to the river at the ridiculously early time of 9am and started flying at around 10.30am seeing as dando had a slight hold up. No worries, just mean we had to bomb all that much faster. The Kokatahi is a huge day and is full of solid class V water, helped by the fact we had a very juicy medium flow. Too many rapids to name, all big and scary. Check the sick photos!

B-E-A-utiful Kokatahi Gorges

Cave on the left, freedom on the right!

Simon clearing one of the MASSIVE holes on the Kokatahi

Wills lining it up

Jordie on his home(ish) turf

Helis are a great way to scout. Fun too.

Flying up the Kokatahi Valley on a super nice easter sunday morning

Jordan Searle about to test his luck against a huge hole in space.

Where it goes...? Who knows? Almost wills.

Chur bro!

Simon entering Carnage gorge. Shes tight in there.

Stephan gettin his boof on

Portaging on the Kokatahi is super fun.

Shes steep, gnarly, full of holes, seives and undercuts. Also bloody good fun.

Wills making the cover shot