Clarence River Rafting

Clarence River Rafting by Peter Gent The Clarence River showing location of camps Day 0 Like all good trips, trying to round up the punters at the airport was the starting point for a week’s rafting down the Clarence River with Hidden Valley rafting. Seven of us - Ken, Jim, John, Greg, Peter, Paul and myself finally assembled to be collected for the drive up to Hanmer Springs to meet our guides for the week - Grant, Sam and Eli.

After a couple of detours to ensure the cellar didn’t run dry, we made it to Hanmer for the gear packing session and the first of an excellent week of meals cooked by Grant and co. We even managed to get a trip to the hot pools before dinner, to ensure we were in the best condition for the week of paddling ahead of us.

The planned route was to raft 180 km of the Clarence and with a 700 meter descent over five days. The first couple of days would be in relative open high country, before spending two days heading in a northeast direction through the valley between the seaward and inland Kaikouras. Finally, the route turns in a south westerly direction heading towards the Pacific Ocean and finishing at the river mouth at Clarence township.

Day 1 After a mammoth van packing session in Hanmer, we headed up over Jack’s Pass at a leisurely hour with Grant. Thus allowing Sam, Eli and the van relocation crew a head start on pumping up the boats and getting most things loaded up, so we weren’t spending too much time dealing with sand flies and faffing at the first put in.

We put the rafts in just downstream of the junction of the Acheron River, at 700 meters above sea level.

Loading the rafts The crew For the trip, we had three rafts on the water - one with four rafters, one with three rafters and a third with all the gear including the kitchen sink and hunting rifle.

To start with, I was in the four-man raft with Sam being our guide for the day.

Eli manned the gear boat using some oversized oars to keep things moving and Grant took the select three-man crew with him to head our motley crew down the river.

At this point, my inner gear junkie was having a field day with kit galore including a large number of Pelican cases to transport everything from satellite phones, batteries to keep the gadgets charged, through to my snack box to ensure on the water refreshment was never in short supply.

The first morning was spent getting used to the raft, ensuring the crew paddled almost in unison and getting used to being coordinated by our guide.

After lunch on what turned out to be the smallest beach of the whole trip, we approached our first rapids. Helmets were donned and gopros were switched on to encounter our first set of white water. Although there was some decent movement to the rapid, it was a gentle warmup to the rest of the river. Later on in the afternoon, we came across more rapids, but what appeared to me to be the bigger hazard was not puncturing the rafts. It seemed the aim of the guide to stop the raft bouncing off the rocks on any turns, to stop the rafts getting punctured. I can only imagine the size of the patch required to get a six person raft airtight again, although a hole on the raft would not deflate the whole thing, as it had various air chambers to ensure no single point of failure / immediate sinking.

After a steady first day overall, we had covered around 35 km and descended 110 meters. The routine of camp for the next four nights was started, with an en masse boat unloading of all the gear. Sam, Eli and Grant were a well-oiled machine setting up the kitchen and various camp luxuries. Accommodation was provided but you did have to build it every night. I took up residence in the cosy one-man Macpac tent which offered down time and (a little) space away from the madding crowds and the rest of camp.

Day 1 campsite Day 2 Day two we woke to the sound of breakfast being cooked for us along with the option of cereal and yo- gurt for those requiring the continental option! After the decent feed of day one, breakfast muffins were offered to continue the high standard of catering that was experienced throughout the trip.

The day turned out to be a windy day, with a good half hour of going nowhere fast, even going backwards up river at one point on the strait near Palmer Hut. This was not the rafting trip I had expected. However, once we got moving again, we managed to find a very small spot on the bank to pull in, have morning tea and recharge before attempting to carry on hopefully downstream.

As the wind died, we came into a slightly more gorgey part of the river valley and stopped for lunch on a nice wide sandy beach which made a change from the stop for morning snack. At this point, the sun was in full effect and we were struggling to find enough shade for those that wanted to escape a little of the lunchtime sun.

The afternoon’s paddle was not that full of rapids but the water was moving with a good flow and there was some definitely noticeable gradients. The GPS was not giving too much away but visually we appeared to be heading down a steady gradient.

Late afternoon we arrived at Quail Flat homestead on one of the straighter sections of bank, but finding a suitable spot to land and camp brought us right to the end of the racing straight overlooking the clock face up at 1091 meters. We took the opportunity to walk round the remaining buildings of the historic homestead, passing the airstrip and accommodation which appeared to be bookable for a stay with a solid roof over your head. After another hearty meal, the last rays of daylight bought dramatic light across the inland Kaikouras. A handy hint for anyone that didn’t pack the boat themselves is to ask where the loo paper is kept before the guides go to bed as it’s a sensible thing to do.

Eli, who was steering, suggested it was down to driver error but I suspect I was not an innocent party in my dunking. After falling in, I added another layer to keep the wind chill down but it seemed that the effort in paddling managed to keep me warm, however the adrenaline prob- Quail Flat homestead Day 3 Today was where all the action seemed to happen. This morning we were being tasked with topping up the air in the boats and helping Grant and co with breaking camp. It did make a change from watching the professionals do all the work.

As we set out from camp two, we were aware that the weather may deteriorate from here on in as the forecast on Monday morning had predicted things may turn today. During the morning while the weather was still holding, we came to one of three sites where it is possible to cross the river by four-wheel drive. A colleague of mine, who was meant to be on the trip but had to pull out at the last minute for family reasons had crossed here a few months earlier with his 4x4 Club. Ken, who was paddling next to me on the front left of the boat today, starting a running commentary of the crossing site, just as a 4x4 came through (thankfully we were in front of the crossing point by this time therefore no right of way issues took place) and then we headed onto what looked like a decent but entirely manageable set of rapids at the end of the straight section where the crossing point was. Video replays after the event offer more information than I can remember, but it seems the raft seemed to take the initial rapids fine but a hole in the water caused me to exit the boat in a not very dignified manner. My entry back onto the boat was even less dignified - all I can say is that there is not much leverage available to get back into a raft in a deep river.

Fine weather in the morning

A faster flowing section of the river ably helped a little too in those first few minutes. As early afternoon rolled in, the decision was made to keep moving as it was getting cooler and more overcast by the minute. Despite my dunking, I managed to keep comfortable unlike some others in the group who were reaching for every layer to hand. With blizzard conditions rolling in in the final 20 minutes as we came to camp three, it was cold once we stopped. Getting the gear up to the camp site - probably only 50 meters away but in sleet, and a rock bank for the first 10 meters - made for an interesting portage of gear.

After getting the gear up, Grant and co worked on getting some shelter up to keep people dry and fires were built. Being the keen and enthusiastic fire builder that I am, I pitched in, sawing, cutting and generally helping the group to warm up and have food prepared as some of the senior members of the group were getting really cold.

Talking of food, Sam broke out the cake mix and chocolate cake was served up for dessert along with a suitable wine from the cellar (read plastic barrel) as chosen by our on board sommelier Paul.

After a suitably excellent meal and video replay of the day’s events as captured by our senior cameraman, Eli, Snow on the Inland Kaikoura ranges Sam and I headed off for a spot of deer hunting. Despite spending an hour or so at last light in the valley above camp, we only managed to see one at a distance and no fresh meat for dinner tomorrow either. To be honest, that was not a big issue with the amount of stores carried by the fleet of frozen chilli bins we had on board for the trip.

Day 4 The previous afternoon’s blizzard conditions had translated into snow down to 600 meters on the inland Kaikouras which made for an almost wintery scene as we paddled downstream.

It was still a cool day, with the rafts requiring an unusual mid-morning top up of air to ensure the rafts would travel as well as possible (and deal with any groundings on the shallow rapids).

As the temperature was not warming up much, even with all the paddling, Grant got a fire going, which helped keep the group warm and got the kettle on for a welldeserved cup of tea.

After lunch, it was decided to end the day slightly earlier than planned. This was due to a racing straight where winds can pick up in the afternoons.

We camped for the night at Dope Growers’ Corner, which sits at around 120 meters. It is named as many moons ago dope was grown on the site. It was apparently the furthest spot upstream that a jet boat could get to. There were the faint signs of horticultural activity with mesh netting holding the soil together in some of the flatter spots of the camp site.

The site offered a decent rocky beach and sheltered spot for the rafts. Not a great swimming location but quite picturesque with the last rays of sun that the afternoon offered on the final evening of the trip.

Day 5 What was billed as the final day turned out to be more like the final morning. We left camp at Dope Growers’ Corner pretty early on in the morning, despite the 75 meter rocky portage to deal with. After dealing with the racing straight, which didn’t seem to cause any problems in the early morning put in, it was off for the final morning. It turned out that food was even in more abundant supply as Grant pulled out seemingly endless bags of cookies to feed to the not-so-hungry group. We finally turned from the north easterly direction we had been travelling in for the past couple of days towards the southwest and the Pacific Ocean at Clarence township.

As the morning progressed, Greg offered up a photography masterclass (as he had recently been on one of Richard Young’s weekend courses) as the river widened out to become a flatter river valley, but still not heavily braided like some of the rivers found further south in Canterbury. The sea side of the seaward Kaikouras started to appear out to our right and stretching off to the south (and into clag) to remind us of how far north we had come over the past four days.

About an hour before the end, we passed under our first made man structure as we put in just downstream of the bridge at the Acheron on day one. The final group of rapids appeared, with one causing our raft to ground momentarily. The river seemed to have a little more life in it this morning, with two decent sets of rapids to get through. Then we had another hour of rapids and wind to deal with.

As we came up to the South Island main trunk railway bridge, there was some serious discussion over the last rapid, as there was some concern about puncturing a raft or two. Portaging the rafts was discussed but in the end, all three rafts ran the rapids and avoided the sharp flood Packing up at the end of the trip banks (full of old reinforcing concrete and rebar), passing under the railway bridge and then the road bridge of SH1. A final swift paddle to to true left of the river and some serious mud to deal with bought us to the get-out point. It was time to deflate the rafts and load up the waiting vans.

We headed back to the rafting base in Clarence township before parting with some of the team heading north to Blenheim while the rest of us headed for ice cream and cell phone coverage in Kaikoura before going home via the Koru Lounge. Being off-grid for five days was a great experience that something not many of us do these days. I admittedly survived until day three when I wanted internet back again! My thanks to my fellow paddlers, and Grant and team for leading us down the river (with a paddle) and keeping us well-fed along the way. The only problem is choosing which river to raft next?