The Waimak river at MT White bridge.Off up Arthurs pass with our guide Josh and 2 others Coast to Coast (C2C) paddlers...named Tim , Tim and Tim (Me). This got quite confusing later on in the day when Josh was trying to shout instructions to each of us "Tim go more left!!" and we would all move in unison (normally towards the danger!). Anyway the Waimakiri is a river like I have never seen before, crystal clear at the start and tending towards milky blue after some glacial rivers have entered into it, Fast flowing and Cold (naturally). We started of the 55km paddle in bright sunshine, round the bend a howling Southerly picked up and withing 10 minutes I couldn't feel that my fingers were attached to my arms or paddles. Muggins me was the only one with out the stylish 3/4 dryish jacket, someone lent me one and things improved. The river isn't hard, with constant wave trains and Bluffs (Sharp corner were you think you are going to get pounded into the rocks but narrowly miss each time). They say it was made easier by the recent flood sending 2500 cumecs of water though which gouged out a nice smooth channel. Through rain, wind, massive gorges and mountains we paddled. Did I mention NZ is amazingly beautiful the scale of the mountains and rivers is awe inspiring! All good after over 4 hours, no swims for me luckily!
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