The Ultra-Classic Arahura River

The Arahura River is one of THE classic runs on the West Coast of NZ's South Island...


If everything is nothing. And nothing is everything. And if what you think, I think is nothing. And if what I think, you think is nothing. Then what is a helicopter, and how does it get us up a river?


Helicopters dwarf reality, and while doing so they enable momentary comfort in settings and situations we probably shouldn't be comfortable in.


In almost preparation, practice or a warm up for the riding of whitewater, helicopter riding requires moments of organized chaos. Organized chaos is a beautiful thing.


This is Chance. He is also a beautiful thing, maybe not as beautiful as organized chaos, but beautiful nonetheless.


Lacking enough emotion and character, the word 'beautiful' hardly does the Arahura get-in justice. A larger appreciation for standing in this spot with a kayak was felt a month or two after this picture was taken, after Ben Robson and myself hiked the 17km (according to the guidebook) into this very spot.


This is a drop named Curtain Call, you'd think that a drop named "Curtain Call" would be located at the end of a run. If you say the word curtain more like two words, as in cur-TAIN, (TAIN being said more like train, without the "r") it almost sounds like a verb. This is Chance curTAINing a call to boof.


Sam Tregenza makes the approach to Dent Falls. This approach involves an amazingly fun move above the lip of the drop...a carving-s-turn through some seriously aeratedly funky fresh water. And since we're in New Zealand, there's always a nicely placed sieve thrown in for fun!


Falls Dent drops Sam.


This is Jim Janney, he is a gang-star. The reason I know this is because Daniel Windham gave him "props" in this super-rad-a-licious VIDEO of Vancouver Local Spots. Props are either something used on stage by actors, or something gang-stars give to each other. Since Jim nor Daniel are actors, they must be gang-stars. So in that case..."See we just pull up the pants and do the roc-a-way, Now lean back, lean back.."


If kayakers actually were actors, would kayaks be considered props?


Maybe we should start an ongoing game of Find That Sieve! But maybe we shouldn't, since kayaking in NZ is more like the opposite. Chance does just that in Billiards.


This is his reward, and also happens to be one of the best boofs on the river.


The pool below Cesspit, above Cesspit Gorge. Sorry, no photos of Cesspit, but video of it and more can be found HERE! One of the coolest parts of paddling on the Coast is that you can drink the water straight from the river!!! Can you tell why?


A boof is worth 1000 strokes.


Truely yours, elevated. Big ups to Chance for the pics from this drop!


"Just a perfect day, problems all left alone, weekenders on our own. It's such fun."


The troops go marching on. It amazes me that when we go kayaking, we seek to quench this thirst we have to get on a river. Yet every time we take off a river our thirst is not quenched, but instead exacerbated making our thirst, thirstier.

Again, video from this and other West Coast adventures can be found at Rapid Transit Video.

In other news...


I'd like to holla a big BOO-YA-KA-SHA! out to one of my best friends, Daniel Stewart, who was recently crowned the 2008 USA Freestyle Men's Expert National Champion!!! Good on ya Bro! Coverage from the comp reported by another good mate of mine, Chris Wing, can be viewed HERE.


Also, Spencer Cooke of Effort Inc. and Rapid Transit Video recently just revamped his website, EFFORT.TV. So go check out the fresh goodness, Mr. Cooke's always got some good shenanigans going on there! (Pic-o-Spence by Mark McKelvy)

And finally, I posted up some older pics Bryan Kirk took of me last year throwing my molecules off a waterfall on the Potomac. These can be found on the Team Riot Blog.


And that's a wrap...for the being time.