Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Mason River

A sweet wee North Canterbury creek. Check it!!



Nev and Jono scouting the first Grade 4 rapid "PEAU PEAU"


Leadin to PEAU PEAU



Nev Running "Broadside"




"Broadside"




Leadin to "The Beehive"



Nick running the G4+ crux rapid on the river "The Beehive"


Jono styling "Cold Chisel"

Nev looking back at a steep manky section that will be sick with more water.

Google Earth is awesome. After seeing this gorge on the topomap dropping at 40m/km, I checked GE and the high res photos showed whitewater was waiting. With 20mm rain falling over the previous 24hrs, we charged up after work. We think we have uncovered a beauty for Canterbury paddlers.

After talking to a few oldschool fellas, we believe this section of the Mason hasnt been paddled before. Very hard to believe, so not claiming a 1st decent at this stage but time will tell. All the rapids got paddled by our second decent. There are a few flood fences across the river, the second marking the start of the action. Put in is where the road comes back to the river above the Mason/Old Man hills. Take out is at the Wandle River bridge. Approx 2-3 hrs paddling to the bottom of the action (0.5hr flat paddle in) and then 1 hour G2+ to the Wandle River road bridge.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Farewell To Dormer Street

It was a big night, Jacqui and Shaun's last saturday night in NZ combined with the canoe club pub crawl after party. The night was characterised by blissfull good times. Skipping, congo dancing, bongo drums, some great boogie boogie and a cheaky keg to keep it all going. Great times and a big thanks must go out to all that came along and made it an awsome sendoff!


refueling after the pub crawl

kate struts her stuff
do you think I look fat in this?

Congo! yeah....


Garry Good C....
wow
WOW

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

BlissFest '07

Go forth and conquer!! was the attitude, and we did...

From Left: Nev, Jono, Ben R, Em, Nick, Little Ben in front
Our attitude toward the weekend may have been slightly off axis compared to most, with two of our crew getting into the finals (Ben Robson in the surf, and me in the big air) and thinking "competetion... beer?, competetition......or beer?" it was a hard decision and our rock solid commitment to the cause definitely won us the party. Neither of us entered the finals, preferring to quit while ahead and get on with business.


Jose Nipples working his majic


PPE is essential at an xtreme event such as this
Hi-Vis and Hard Hat at all times

The party as seen by the winning team

Oh and we did do a wee bit of kayaking too...

Ben flying high

Nev dropping in


Nick about to crash and burn (drown) in a back flip attempt

Video action including an interview with THE Spiderman (closely related to little Ben) can be seen on 3 News website.
http://www.tv3.co.nz/VideoBrowseAll/SportsVideo/tabid
/317/articleID/36425/Default.aspx#video

Monday, October 8, 2007

Our first road trip in the Van

So we walked out of Vic Roads on Fri with a high five, the van was finally legal to drive. We hit the road Sat morning, first destination Wanagaratta (or Wang for short). There awaited 2 boats and a rack of gear, the paddles are still to be found. We then headed out along the Alpine road bypassing an awesome cheese factory, yup free tastings! Along this road we came across a state park called Mt Buffallo, we camped out by the lake the first night.

Hows that serenity, free bbq lake side view - perfect! The next morning we went exploring the park itself - and I have to say its my favorite so far - the photos say it all...

Thursday, October 4, 2007

your all trapped into the world of blogging now,... hahaha

Sweet Shaun, cheers for setting it up. Am heading to Bliss Fest in Dunners this weekend so may have some carnage shots to kick off the blogging. They are having a big air this year, never done it but I have some great never seen before moves planned... woopwoop
Am with you, guys,
Can we upload photos in the blogger Nizzler? Ho yeah, gotcha.
What a lovely day amongst the tigers, Let's see if we can keep using the blog, huh?