South Island Roady

We had three weeks to spare before my fourth season teaching kayaking in California. Joined by my youngest brother, studly raft guide and entertainer Elliott Shaw (LB) we hit the road. We had 15 days to hang out, paddle South Island river’s and forget about anything to serious.
As a warm water Kaituna/ Wairoa river man LB was a virgin to the white stuff of the south so I suggested he stretch into another thermal layer before the chopper landed. We were transported upriver into the Whitcombe catchment. First day on a coast river, first time flying with Dando and even Dave Ritchie was there, awesome! thats as good as it gets.

Image – Fox Glacier, LB at the put in

Flows were low, so we continued towards the Glaciers. Given the water temp of the Whitcombe in April we both dressed up warm irrespective of how hard we each were for the Fox River. Flowing fresh from the glacier it’s certainly no time to be staunch, practise your roll or swim. The run was short but we made it to the road bridge with two wrists each and all our digits, although for most of the run they felt like they would fall off.

Haast beach is a great place to park up the van and camp, id been wanting to get back there for years since my first visit. It rained hard all night, as the day dawned we loaded and headed towards the Turnbull.


It’s a run held in high regard but can prove a challenge to get in to. Due to vandalism and kayakers doing their best to gain access without permission in the past it meant gates are now locked. Understandably short-term memory loss goes on with those living in the area as to who has the keys thus restricting most attempting to sample the delights of the river upstream.
It was our lucky day though, a truck doing trips to collect firewood from the power-station happily agreed to give us a lift. Not only had we pulled off getting to the river in style the flow was perfect.
The walk in keep you pretty honest (about 1.5 hours) as the first hour is a solid hill climb.

Image – “half of its all up, half of its all down” LB reaches half way.

Image - Upper Turnbull, above “Venture Gorge” where all the action starts.

Having been our first time in there we had no real gauge for what a good water level was but upon entering the initial rapids we “felt good about it” (quote from the roadtrip)

Image – With lots of push behind him LB gets it right
Queenstown and the Kawarau river was our next stop.
Images - Citroen action, Rachel Moore prepares for impact from the left.
Image - Can’t see much, now I can! LB rides the buffer.