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Published: March 18th 2006
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Yesterday I had another run of the Kaituna, this time in a Phat that I had borrowed. The day before I spent the whole day at the play hole trying to get my confidence and roll back. I think I finally got it. At the end of the day I was getting windowshaded and cartwheeled all over the hole but I wasn’t swimming.
So what follows now is somewhat of a trip report for the Kaituna. First off the Kaituna is like no other river I’ve ever paddled. It seems to me to be like 1km of the Narrows on Section III at high water. But its drop pool and very pushy, almost big water but not really… there are drops. The eddies, well what eddies, just different types of boiling water, remind me of the Dries of the New…. But once again, the Kaituna has drops.
I would say that the Kaituna is a solid class IV river.
So the first major rapid is Okere falls. (fyi, I’ve miss labeled the pictures on the link… deal with it). It’s about a 2.5m fall into a very aerated pool. It’s actually a boof that you are supposed to boof
left. Well on my first run several days ago I thought I was too far left, so today I got even farther right. I was too far right both times, I got lucky, and being in a creek boat didn’t hurt. Out of the aerated pool you try and move down with the current getting right to boof over/off of the weir. Don’t be left, it looks real sticky.
Shortly after this rapid is Tutea’s Falls… or “The Falls”. It’s a big blind drop. At the levels I was running it, there is a V down the middle… don’t go there. If you do it’s like a bad line at Sweets with a great flushing. That is what I did the first time. The real goal is to get right and almost boof (again) onto the boil below and then skim right out. I was told you couldn’t get too far right. I did. Actually hit the rock and it turned me 90 degrees, so that I could perfectly pencil into the V. It least I was going forwards. After a submarine and some (well who knows what) I rolled up to my own cheers!
The rest of
the river is pretty much, blind drop and run. Make sure you miss the holes, because there are some gnarly holes. Usually the line if follow the green tongue.
So the main run is only 1KM. It is often run many times… Like the ledges.
But today, Erin and I decided to run the lower section… Awesome Gorge.
This section is started with an almost mandatory portage around Trout Pool Falls… pretty damn gnarly. The lower section is hardly run, I think because of the heinous carry out. It’s probably another 1-2Km run and then you have to carry all the way back up. At least the trail is easy. But I haven’t gotten there yet.
This section is solid and continuous class III boogey water. Eventually you get to the gorge. This is one of the coolest sections of whitewater I’ve ever seen. You enter this gorge through a 1 meter drop, and then go…. Just boogey water and more boogey water. But here is the really, really cool part….. (remember to paddle in this section, I forgot a few times). The gorge itself is probably no more than 1-2 meters wide at best. You can’t
really fit two boats through next to each other. And it’s tall. I just kept looking up to try and see the top and I couldn’t. Oh yeah, it’s not straight either. It is almost like being in a class III log flume at Six Flags. Until you get to the end of the gorge… then there is another drop. Oh yeah, there are no eddies either so scouting is not really an option. But for this last drop we looked a good long while. Well Erin looked. I sat in the eddy with one hand on the rocks and another on his boat. Finally we, Erin, decided the right move was a boof off the rock on the left, just about the center of the rock. It was obvious that there was a monster hole on the right side of the drop, and it looked like the green tongue would lead right into that after stealing all of your speed. So on a hope and a prayer, we took the left line and it was pretty smooth.
All and all and awesome run and some of the most spectacular scenery I’ve ever seen. Oh yeah, don’t miss the
takeout because what follows is Gnarly gorge. Another several Ks of class IV+-V boogey water without any scouting or portage options.
If anyone would like to post this and the last TR to AWC feel free.
Ok what else.
Tomorrow I’m leaving Rotorua, after another quick run on the Kaituna. I elected not to paddle the Wairoa. I’m going to do some blackwater rafting.
Want to know what that is, here is the
link.
Then I’m off to the south island.
Today I goofed off. Paddled a surf ski, around the lake and went to the Rotorua Jazz Festival. It was fun, though it was more blues than Jazz but the music was good.
Tomorrow daylight savings time ends… not that anyone cares.
Oh yeah pictures
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Tot: 0.062s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 7; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0337s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
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And who is Erin????
?