SAVEwith a - Canoe & Kayak

WHITEWATER KAYAKING
Mohaka Adventure....
Te Hoe to Willow Flats
by Steve ‘Shuttle’ Kittle and Nhoj Snikwad
“Hey bro, wanna be a Shuttle bunny!”
I thought for a moment and it clicked into place. I
was being asked to utilise my driving skills and
drive 4 gnarly white water dudes down to the Te
Hoe ‘put in’ for the grade 3/4 section of the
Mohaka River. They were (names changed to
protect the innocent) Dick Geoffrey, Nohj
Snickwad, River ‘where’s my hat’ Ron and the Dog
of Madness. It would be a jolly day out with the
boys. I thought, why not.
Had I known it would take over 9 hours, half of
which was over mountainous single lane
corrugated logging tracks with sheer drops
lunging down into huge ravines, I may have
thought twice and stayed in bed.
Ten minutes after dropping the lads off at the ‘put
in’ and cheerily waving goodbye, I experienced
the ultimate in free Adrenaline Sports that New
Zealand has to offer. A logging truck bore down
on me as my trailer slid perilously close to the
edge of an extremely big drop to the rocky splat
zone of the Mohaka River. Realising I had not been
dashed to a billion pieces by the truck or on the
rocks below, I opened my eyes, stopped swearing,
changed my undies and patted my dog, who I’m
sure was giving me a dirty look. I then continued
to the ‘take out’ at Willow Flat to greet the boys as
they paddled triumphantly home...
...shuttle drivers are great people. Especially when
the section of river you want to sink your paddle
into would normally be a 2 day driving epic - and
“See you at the take out” is your bag. The lower bit
of the Mohaka from the Te Hoe road bridge to
Willow flat is a quality run for the grade. Plenty of
bouldery rapids and a few that you will want to
scout properly before running. Take my advice and
get your creek boat fitted out properly so that
when you do get out for a rock scramble scout
mission your legs will work and are not completely
made of rubber. Anyhow, after Steve let us loose
on the water we were soon having fun finding our
way down this section. River Ron was a bit cagey
and admitted to not being able to sleep the night
before as his nerves were getting a bit on edge,
nothing to do with those funny pills and Barb eh?
Ron’s made more comebacks than Mohammed Ali
after telling everyone he’s not doing THAT river
again. The flow was very much lower than the last
time I did this stretch and it makes it a bit more
hazardous with some rock sieves you don’t want
to go near. The holes are smaller though and
there’s more boofy type drops which previously
were nice green tongues. Dick Geoffrey styled the
run as per normal and the ‘veterans’ walked
around a couple of bits. We have probably had
enough adrenaline in our systems for one lifetime.
I can’t get over Mad Dogs river knowledge.
Personally I have the memory of a lobotomised
goldfish when it comes to what’s around the
corner but M.D. was giving a running commentary
on what’s going to crop up in the next wee while.
Good to have someone like that on a trip if you
want to economise on time. Arriving at the take out
and seeing Hooba bouncing around and barking
on the bank was a great sight as you know the long
suffering shuttle driver is there too, even if his first
sentence is worse than the most chronic Tourettes
Check out the scenery down here
syndrome individual. But we all know sandflies
are there to remind us we are in paradise.....
...two hours later, I got to Willow Flats deep in the
Mohaka Forest and awaited their arrival. And I
waited, then I did some more waiting before
finally waiting a bit longer.
All the while I was being slowly devoured by the
bastards of the sky, your friend and mine, the
Sandfly. I was going insane with the relentless
biting, so much so that I went to the ultimate
extreme and put on the Dog of Madness’s soggy
long johns to cover my legs up. If you knew the
‘Dog’ you would appreciate why this was extreme!
12 ISSUE THIRTYthree • 2005