Christmas creeking

Last week our household decided to roll with Jamie on one of his trips around lake Waikaremoana in the Urewera national park. It's a four day walk around a sick lake - especially when you have a boat to carry your packs/beer/wine and other assorted vital supplies from hut to hut. We had a mean time and with weather which wasn't amazing but fine for walking we happily started the drive back to Rotorua where we had missed a rather savage bender (by all accounts) for the xmas at Kaituna party.
Anyway, it just so happened that it had been raining the whole time we were away and things were starting to come alive in the Kaimais...
After being home for five minutes. I was sitting on the couch checking the guages (looking promising) and trying to get constructive conversation out of Josh (not so promising), when I saw a certain dark green Subaru with a full rack of boats fly up the road. Emergency measures were taken as a quick phone call established a Tuakopai special was in progress. paddling gear was fired in the back of the car and without further ado, team stinky took off to meet the other crews heading back towards the wairoa.
The put in found it on the low side but still good for a 12 person twilight bomb down one of the funnest (is that even a word?) creeks you can find anywhere.
With more rain being forecast, plans were made to keep the ball rolling for the next day and get back amongst it. The Waipapa was next on the list and with a slightly smaller crew we headed back over at the crack of morning tea for a run down a creek with some of the sickest boofs in the Kaimais.

B firing 'jism falls' - a 20 footer with a super super tight landing which launches you straight into a sick slide.

Me just about to maim the slut boat on the entrance to mojo gorge - there was about a 50-50 split of dented boats whether you ran the rapid or the seal launch right next to it...

J dog running some in between mank

Berno experiencing his first taste of the Kaimais on the second best boof of the day - the exit of mojo, a glorious 20ish footer with a sick entrance-to boof-to kickdown. Happy Christmas.

All in all a mean five days and a good bit of luck getting some creeking in a week before Christmas! As I'm writing this the lifestylists of Okere Falls (who haven't used up their get out of work free cards) have gone South to chase the rain; possibly near Taihape, possibly the Tauranga Taupo... watch this space.

Waihi First Descent

At the end of October Myself and Tyler rallied down to the Hawkes Bay to try and tick the Waihi stream which Matt Danes found a couple of years ago. without any real idea of the scale of this thing we arrived to find it pumping - a section of big wide bedrock about 900m long which lost 100m in gradient... Anyway here's a video shot and edited by the esteemed Mr Neilson who was on camera due to a broken wing. Epic times.

Southern Underground Productions: Waihi First Descent: "Waihi Stream First Descent 2010 from Southern Underground Productions on Vimeo."

Anyone want to argue about waterfalls now??