Friday, March 02, 2007

KiwiKayaking

Well, helicopters are expensive and we were broker than we thought, so the big NZ south island creeking mish became more of a working, hiking, and attempting to get some boating in adventure. My camera broke, so I will spare you fuzzy images of mountains, etc. But, here are a couple of pics kayak related I thought to share with ya'll.



Lawrance putting in below the Fox Glacier on the West Coast where we were stationed cafe working. The river steepened after this, providing some excitement and frozen fingers.




Caught in traffic New Zealand style.






Lawrance & myself running the "crux" rapid on our attempt of running the classic Hollyford River in Fiordland on the lower lower end of good. Actually we are probably the only ones to ever bother running the river this low & tedious, but sometimes you just need to get wet.






Keas!! The only alpine parrot found in the world, keas are fearless and cheeky, scavenging food and tearing about cars and kayaks. We thought it was pretty sweet to have 5 rumaging around our car until I realized one kea was eating the backband for the Huka I am hoping to sell soon.

Even though I have only done less than a dozen rivers, after reading the guidebook in it's entirety and exploring the country for half a year, I would most def reccomend EVERYONE to gather a crew, get some money, and go kayaking in NZ. This place is choice! And word from the wise, If Lawrance says he'll take you kayaking, he makes an excellent guide, but make sure he isn't over $3000 in debt when he tells you this.

Cheers bro
Lawrance & Nicole

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