'A
Kiwi an Aussie and a Yank', sounds like the start of a bad joke,
well it wasn't, but a superb days boating was had. Ted Sagar of
Christchurch New Zealand, Matthew Fallow, Pearl Beach Australia
and Kelly Roberts of Lewiston, ID USA set off for the Rangitata
River mouth some 1.7 hours south of Christchurch. We launched at
the river mouth with a very light and uncharacteristic off shore
breeze and bright clear skies, the entrance to the river was shallow
but discernable. We made our trip in Kelly's Rivercraft 4.6m 175
sportjet with the 150 plus litre on board fuel tanks full to the
brim. Kelly keeps this boat permanently in NZ for occasions such
as this.
The water was nice and clean and after half an hour of braided
boating we took to the right bank when the river water divided decisively
for the first time. This had us hard against the willows on a number
of occasions, requiring some skilful navigation across the shingle
and through various obstructions. We were soon climbing steeply
and the rocks were getting larger and more unforgiving as repeatably
up to four boatable options were presented as the river constantly
divided and rejoined. In some areas a few large orphan white rocks
were scattered indiscriminately and large chutes with minor rock
gardens kept us on our toes as we occasionally took a mix of light
rubs and in one instance a seat swapping thud. The advantage of
a light engine/jet package in the rear was evident, as we sustained
negligible damage, largely due to the relatively low weight and
tough construction of the boat.
After
some 40 miles up stream the shuts were getting quite steep, escalator
like in parts and the river was now sorted rocks of football size
and larger. Navigation was an effort at times to avoid impacts midway
up and at the top of the chutes, sometimes you can try to hard,
miss one and get the next two ones for your effort! We had made
it only about 2km short of the weir and decided to count our blessings
and head home with the sun behind us.
As we approached the rail bridge near highway 1 we were flagged
down by a woman standing precariously on the rail tracks. She had
been waiting for a young lad who had been kayaking down the river
with no experience and had failed to turn up at the appointed time.
As it happened we had seen him about 3 hours earlier only about
10km from the bridge, we were quite worried and thought we were
looking for a body as we headed back upstream. We took a good look
at various log jams but could not find him and boated back to the
rail bridge. 
We
told the woman we would search down to the river mouth. Not far
from highway 1 road bridge we spoke to a fisherman who had seen
the kayaker on the opposite bank, we phoned the woman back and they
re-united only minutes before a helicopter would have been called
for search and rescue. They were very lucky that we are able to
boat and share these great rivers and that we happened past and
still had fuel on board for the search.
With perfect weather, a very exciting and challenging river and
a motley crew, it was certainly one of those memorable great days
boating that thankfully ended well.
Matthew.
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