Easter Queenstown 2002.

 By Chris Roberts
 Photos by others and myself   

Before I realised Easter was only a week away and without any plans I decided to give George a call regarding where the Canterbury group was headed this year. Being a shift worker and having the weekend off I could hardly say no to a blast on the Otago rivers. A call to a friend and I had a crew. Accommodation was organised with a clean spot in the back of the Hilux.
I headed away late Thursday to miss most of the heavy traffic and arrived at Twizel at midnight to camp the night out. I completed the journey early the next morning and caught the sunrise over the Lindis pass which looked magical with a clear blue sky.
The group of 15 boaters slowly formed at Frankton Arm marina along with my crew, David and Niki who had come from Dunedin. There were 14 boats in all with 30+ members making the group. After a briefing from Marty Black the harbour master and George Tarawhiti on the local by-laws and a few pointers we headed off across Lake Wakatipu, through the control gates and down the Kawarau. The large deep river, nothing like anything in Canterbury, was an easy cruise to the Smiths Falls where we encountered a large group of kayakers who were preparing themselves for the trip over. We, however, took Marty's advice and did not venture over as there has been more than the odd one or two boats sunk attempting. We parked on a sandy beach just up stream to re-group before heading up to the Shotover. During this my boat suffered the only problem it would have on the entire trip, a stone trapped between the two stages of the 212 turbo impeller. I decided after a short distance it would be best to remove the stone so seeing a suitable parking spot and with the help of some extra muscle from other boats the unit was stripped down on the river bank. We re-joined the main group at the turn-a-round point on the Shotover and awaited the return of the first party before following the tour boats for the trip up. Unfortunately we were unable to travel the entire gorge due to the busy schedule of Shotover Jet. The trip back to Frankton Arm was not with out the odd hiccup as the river made interesting boating for those not conversant in reading discoloured water. Back at Frankton Arm other members were arriving for the 2pm version of the above trip. While George lead the wave across the lake, Dean Hardy and family and my crew did some sight seeing at the mansions around the lake edge. Every place was architecturally designed but they all had one thing in common, the Sky dish, maybe there is a business opportunity out there making designer dishes?
The return of the second wave brought back the news that Rupert had knocked his nozzle off, on a rock, while passing under the control gates. The boat needed to be retrieved by 4WD. Later that afternoon a call to 3D marine and they had a second hand rear tailpipe and new nozzle teed up. Socialising that night was great but Mc D's for tea not the best, I guess that was my fault for not keeping up with the group and getting separated while Queenstown bulged with Air fans from Wanaka and bogans from the race to the sky.

Saturday.
A cold morning greeted us with a dusting of snow on the tops. Huddled under jackets the team discussed the "how lucky could you be" stories as the new tail pipe and nozzle were fitted. Some who shall remain name-less tried to talk us out of the Dart excursion but we hadn't come all this way to sit around. Dart river safaris confirmed the river was ok to boat and we were off. Discoloured water out of the Dart mixed with the crisp clean water of the lake greeted us after the short trip from Glenorchy. A brief stop, a few Km's up, just to check everyone was happy, with the almost hypothermic conditions, convinced two boats to turn back for the warmer confines of the arm chair and no doubt an odd ale.
The rest of the tough bunch ventured on until Dean and Mary Hardy's Toyota V8 began making a knocking noise, so theboat was parked and we continued on. The group split, some carried on up to the caverns and others stayed to help a stranded boater left by his "mates". While getting him and his family back to deeper water Richard hydroliced his 400 Chev and the decision was made to tow his boat down a mile or two to trailer it out. While this was happening a fire was made in a sheltered area to keep a few youngsters warm in the cold southerly conditions. I offered to share my lunch, a tin of Thai red curry tuna (big tin) and bread but everyone was "fine". While a waiting for the group that went on ahead Robyn was in demand making coffee and tea. In all the excitement of putting out the fire Richard managed to almost knock himself out on a tree branch while getting water.
Back at Dean and Mary's boat it was decided after checking the obvious things to proceed down the river at a quiet pace but the motor expired and oil filled the bilge before reaching the bridge to trailer out. Hindsight is always better as you have that sinking feeling in your stomach that maybe we should have….
It was nice to make it back to Glenorchy and crank the heater up in the truck for the trip back to Queenstown.
That night I made sure I was going to get a real meal and stuck like glue as we proceeded to find a suitable place to dine. Chinese it was and no complaints. You know New Zealand is a small place when Phil Kiesanowski came over from a table near by to say hello. Steve said he had two great jokes but proceeded to tell 4 or so all of which had the table in fits of laughter. Unfortunately there maybe younger members reading so the jokes remain "on tour"

Sunday
Just like Saturday a cool morning greeted us with a dusting of snow on the tops but even lower. Some proceeded to use the crown range to get to Wanaka for the trip up the Matukituki but most took the long way. It was made that little bit longer by a police cordon and detour as some thought the air show was the biggest thing in town (the Canterbury Easter trip was of course). On arrival at the launch site I remarked to George that the speed limit was 80K for a trailer and he said that 100 was ok as long as you have a good vehicle and trailer. I was not convinced. More on that later.
The criuse across the lake gave Niki her first real experience of driving a jet boat while I took photos of Rob and son with the beautiful blue sky. Again like all the previous rivers the Matukituki was discoloured and "Wild Thing" was found parkedup on a small bar. I could see why the race boats have so much trouble when the sand and water are the same colour. With everyone safely at the rail irons we had lunch before taking the short trip up to the swing bridge at the beginning of the Mt Aspiring National Park where a large pool awaited us. The run down found several boats cleaning the barnacles off their bottoms and George running into overheating problems which was quickly fixed with the removal of a small stone lodged in the cooling system.
Safely back on the lake it was a race back to the ramp and a chance to play with the GPS. With the southerly starting to whip up the lake I headed back to Christchurch, as I needed to be back for work on Monday.

Monday
Not being able to go I have here a brief review of what happened. Steve had an altercation with a car on the Clutha one way bridge. Bigger is always best, as the small car had to retreat as Billy goat gruff made his way across. The trip across Lake Wanaka to the Makarora was not very pleasant, as the lake was very choppy. The group proceeded up the Wilkin also for a while meeting up with a large rapid where 4 boats ventured 20min further on before returning. Doug decided that George's boat needed a wash and went the extra distance in giving everyone a shower. A late lunch at Lake Hawea Tea rooms before heading home.

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