NZ Adventures

Its been 2 months since our last blog entry ( sorry mum). As usual, kayaking seems to have consumed almost every day. However in-between rivers we’ve both been trying to squeeze in a bit of work in order to help fund our travels

Having made a New Years resolution to be a more technically competent paddler, I signed up for a course at the New Zealand Kayak School in Murchison. I had a great time getting grilled on my general river running and rolling technique and even had a dabble in a slalom boat.

Sara paddling Laps on the Lower Matakitaki

Following the course I spent a month working part time at the River Cafe in Murchison, making pizzas and washing dishes ( trying to earn back the money I spent on the kayaking course).

Sara "Luigi" James

Working from late afternoon until evening meant that I could always catch one or two rivers before work (sweeeeet).

Hucking Mauria Falls before work

The stunning views overlooking the Buller river, made it a great spot to carelessly daydream when the cafe was quiet. It also made a great spot for Adam to work on numerous free lance projects that he has had on the go.

Adam : 1 month later we finally left Murchison and made the very scenic drive to to West Coast.

So far we have spent most our time around Hokitika, which is perfectly situated with  the beach on one side and the mountains on the others.

Driftwood sculptures on Hoki beach - One Art Please

For me this is a part of the trip I have been most looking forward to (since I was about 14 to be honest!) The West Coast of the South Island has some of the worlds best kayaking. Crystal clear water, stunning scenery and awesome white water, makes this the mecca of NZ kayaking. Plus the shuttle is always entertaining.

In order to paddle a West Coast river you usually have 3 options:

1- Drive up a ‘road’ to the top of the river. However please note that  *road in kiwi often means gravel or mud track. Fording streams, ‘taking risks’ and pushing the van out of ditches  is usually necessary.

Cows!!

2- Walk – this is something us Brits just don’t do back home. Basically carry your kayak on your back or shoulder for 30 mins – 2 hours up the side of a river a long ( an often questionable) track…. uphill obviously.

Sara enjoying the 'very reasonable' 2 hour mud slog up the Crooked River

3. Fly – This is VERY cool! Its a bit like calling a taxi, ring up Bruce, arrange a time and then he turns up (IN A HELICOPTER!!) to take you to the top.

Flying into the Lower Hokitika

Option 3 is understandably quite expensive. Therefore unfortunately option 2 is our most regular shuttle of choice

We now have about 3 weeks left to make a mad dash around the island and to sell all our kit and van in order to fund the next leg of our adventure. Hopefully we will squeeze in one more blog entry from NZ before we leave.

For more pics check out the Pyranha blog.

Big Smiles from NZ

One update, Two continents, Four different countries!

Sunrise over paddy Fields, Kerela

At the start of December we said good bye to Nepal and headed back to India. Our original plan was to get a bus back to Delhi, however after discovering that this was a 40 hour affair we promptly decided to look into flights! This defiantly paid off and after the usual discussions of weight allowances at the check in, we looked at our boarding passes to see we had seats 2A and 2B… quite near the front? Somehow we randomly got upgraded to First Class!

We spent a hectic afternoon in Delhi sorting out storage for our kayaks and then flew south that same evening to Kerela where we met up with Sara’s parents for 10 days of prime relaxation. The hotels we stayed at where a far cry from the previous hostels we had been inhabiting for the last 3 months.

Sara relaxing over looking Fort Cochin

After a few days relaxing by the pool in Cochin we headed further south to Kumarakom where we did some more relaxing and lots of eating.

I took the opportunity to catch up with some graphics work (I’m freelancing whilst we’re away so if anyone needs any logos, flyers, websites or adverts doing send me an email!) Sara on the other hand did.. well errr, didn’t do that much apart from read about 20 books and lots of relaxing by the pool! It is always good to have a holiday from your holiday.

After 10 days of 5* relaxation we were thrown back to reality, where we spent 4 hours preparing our kayaks for the Bio security in New Zealand.

From Delhi we flew to Singapore. We had a two day overlay in the city. This was a huge culture shock after spending three months in India and Nepal. Singapore is vast and contains more shopping malls than anywhere I have ever been but the street food was amazing!

Singapore Harbour

Having eaten lots of tasty food, bought a new camera lens and had enough of a reminder it was christmas we boarded our connecting plane to Auckland.

     

Once we had convinced the guys at Bio security that we were not smuggling in any bionic bugs, our next hurdle was to get some wheels. Having heard many horror stories of people buying dud vans, we planned to be be super careful, insist on a mechanical inspection and not buy anything unless we had 100% proof it was in good repair. However in the end we went out on a whim and on-site bought 1989 Ford Econovan maxi LWB with no mechanical history. It may drink petrol like its going out of fashion, but so far its been reliable and provided a comfy home from home (at a maximum of 80kph).

Whilst in Auckland we spent a couple of nights at Caroline’s house ( aka Parky) who is an old collegue of Sara’s. We had a great pre-Christmas party and ate enough food to last us the next 3 months on the road.

Once out of Auckland we headed south (at a steady 80kph) to the Rotarua, home of the famous Kaituna river. The Kaituna is a kayakers dream set in a tight, deep, tropical gorge there are a number of pool drop rapids with the main event of a 3m blind waterfall. To top it off you can walk back to the top in 15 minutes and run the river again and again*.

Whilst in Rotarua we were blown away by the hospitality of fellow kayakers who have put us up in their houses, fed us great food, shown us the lines down the local rivers and generally gone out of their way to be amazing. – Thanks guys as we said, whenever you are passing through Birmingham..!?

We spent our Christmas day on the beach, went for a swim in the Pacific Ocean and flew my new kite! We are now on the south Island, in a ‘town’ called Murchison (pop. 850) which is another paddling mecca! We celebrated New Year Eve (13 hours before you did!) in one of the two local pubs with some gold miners but thats a story for another time!

… Happy New Year all xxx Adam and Sara

　

　

*(Yes Matt you where right about Tutea falls, if you miss your boof you sure do know about it! ) – Sara

Catch up from Nepal.

Smiles all round from Nepal

A lot has happened since we last updated the blog, including a few complaints from friends and family about our blogging slackness! Apologies, we’ve just been too busy having fun. Hard life I know.

Back in mid October, we all finally recovered from various stomach bugs. Bored of good health, I then developed an acute ear infection, which left me in epic pain as I felt my ear drum was going to explode. A quick visit to the doctor left me with a plastic bag full of various drugs and ear drops, along with strict advice to stay away from water ( including showers) for at least 1 week.

Cruisey times on the Balephi

I was able to abide by the no showering rule, however with a plan to spend the next 10 days on the water, I resorted to plugging my ears up and taping plastic bags around my head with red electrical tape. I like to think that I looked someone like rambo, however luckily there is no photo evidence of this low point in my life. It turns out an acute ear infections can do wonders for your kayaking, as it motivated me to actually pick decent lines down the rapids and avoid capsizing. By the end of our mini trip I had paddled the Balephi, Lower and Upper Bhote Khosi and Sun Kosi  head dry ( quite an achievement for me as I usually like to inspect the river bed floor).

However the real credit should go to Adam who managed to spend the whole month paddling with 3 girls without killing anyone (  Paula, Fran and myself aren’t exactly quiet, friendly girls).

Montage of photos from the Tamur

Luckily for Adam in early November our old house mate Matt Tidy arrived out in Nepal, giving Adam a much needed boost of ‘man-time’. Matt was running a G17 trip to the Tamur river which we joined him for. For a more detailed write up on this particular trip, check out the Pyranha blog . However here is a photos montage of our trip.

In summary- 16 hour bus ride + 3 days walking + 4 days kayaking = Tamur river = amazing fun.

When we got back to Kathmandu we decided we had had enough of epic bus journeys* and changed our plans somewhat so that we could return to the chilled living of Pokhara. ( This was actually another 7 hour bus journey away, but this was shorter than the 42 hour journey we had planned).

*Over the last 2 months we have spent over 150 hours sitting on buses travelling about India and Nepal.

Our return to Pokhara ended up being well worth it. Last time our visit was plagued with sickness and poor planning, which meant we hadn’t managed to paddle as many rivers as we had hoped.  However this time, everything seemed to be on our side and we managed to paddle great rivers everyday.

As soon as we arrived in Pokhara Adam, Jakub and Matt headed off the beaten track to check out the Upper Upper Kali Gandaki.

Nikki and Ross take a quick shower on the Lower Modi Khola

Feeling sorry for myself, alone in Pokhara, I promptly bumped into a million different kayakers from around the world who kept me entertained ( cheers Erika, Simon, Jake, Nicola, Ross and everyone else!)  After paddling the Lower Modi Khola with Ross Montadon and Nicola Beeby I jumped on a bus to meet the boys at the normal put in for the Upper Kali Gandaki. Having done the arduous walk out the Modi Khola only 24 hours prior, I was a bit frustrated to find that our chosen exist point for the Kali Gandaki also left me with a 1hour walk up a mountain side with my kayak ( yes you can do it in about 25 minutes but my legs are designed for sitting, not walking and definitely not walking with 35kg on my shoulder). Despite my moans and groans we made it back to Pokhara tired, but keen for more and so headed off to the Madi Khola with Erika and Matt. After 2 great days on the river we had another epic bus ride back to Pokhara.

Having been fortunate to consistently meet up with other kayakers for the last two months Adam and I decided we were keen for our final mission to just be the two of us. So we jumped back on the road and headed up to the Marsyandi. We only had time to complete a short section from Khudi to the dam however it was well worth it. The fantastic white water and stunning scenery ( the Annupurna’s are your back drop) made for fantastic final trip.

Waiting for the bus back from the Marsyandi

We’re now back in India where we have met up with my parents for a holiday from our holiday. Like I said, it’s a hard life.

All pics by Adam D, Sara J and Jakub S

Nepal so far…

Since arriving in Nepal we have met up with our friends Paula and Fran and have put aside our tourist guidebook in exchange for our white water guide book. It’s great to be back on the river, paddling some beautiful classics ( including about 100 runs on the Upper Seti).

Sara on the Trisulli

Our plans have been some what hampered by ‘ stomach problems’, however our digestive systems seem to be getting back in tune.

Fran on the Lower Modi Khola

We’ve been paddling in t-shirts on many of the single day trips. How is the weather in the UK by the way?

Paula on the Upper Seti

Adam on the Lower Modi Khola

Parting shot - Day 2 on the Lower Modi Khola

The last few weeks

Since the last blog entry a few weeks ago we have been jetting about India via road and rail, being ‘extreme’ tourists. We haven’t really updated to the blog so we  have a massive back log of updates and pictures.

Waiting for a train at Agra station

In order to avoid one long essay, we have broken it down into a couple of separate blog entries. You can access them from the blog archive on the right or just by scrolling through below.

We are now in Nepal waiting for Paula to arrive ( her first flight was cancelled) and excited about getting back on the river.

Khajuraho – Erotic Sculptures

Sunset over the Western Group of temples

Khajuraho – On our way back to Delhi, we stopped off for a day at Khajuraho. This small town is spluttered with ancient Jain and Hindu temples. Despite being over 1000 years old, many are famous for their erotic sculptures.

 

Tip – don’t bother going to see the light and sound show here – big waste of money.

 

The sculptures were pretty explicit in places.

 

Varanasi

Holy cows don't let the busy traffic affect their chilled pace of life.

Another over night train journey took us to Varanasi. Based by the Ganges, Hindu’s flock here to pay their respects by the sacred river, as well as to cremate their dead on open fires.

Unfortunately the normal riverside walk way was under water due to previous heavy rains ( this is becoming a bit of a theme for places we visit). However, a morning boat ride was a beautiful way to watch life by the river unfold.