Be in to win a $500.00 gift VouCher - Canoe & Kayak

The AwesomeGorge – Kaitunaby Peter Van LithI had often heard of the Awesome Gorge section of theKaituna, how it is a fun, beautiful and exciting section of theKaituna river not as frequently paddled as the more famoustop section. The threat of being dammed put it high on myagenda as a river to do in the near future. My opportunitycame with a Canoe and Kayak Taranaki club trip to theRangitakai, Tarawera and Kaituna Rivers. Our group of 18,half of which were grade 2-3 paddlers, shuffled leadersaround for the various rivers. I had my opportunity to do myfirst run down the Awesome Gorge on Sunday.We warmed up on the Okere falls run, portaged the trout pools fall and hoppedback into our kayaks eager for a last bit of advice from Andy Uhl as we drifteddown the deceptively tranquil river. I had information on this section fromother kayakers but what you hear can sometimes be quite different from theactual run. It is classed a grade 3 with possibly a grade 4 drop. The first halfis straightforward with a few chute type rapids. Then the river narrows intoa section of about 500 metres introduced by a reasonable rapid with a sharpright turn. It narrows further to between 3 and 4 metres between sheer c cliffsgiving the effect of a hydro slide with heaps of water and very few eddies.To feel truly alone with the beauty and power of the river, Andy encouragedus to go down with minute breaks between each paddler. Where the riverwidened slightly the group met again with smiles all around. (Pays to get localknowledge for this part, as a fallen tree would make it impassible).The next challenge was the waterfall. Although not very high it has a hard leftturn at the bottom. It proved a challenge for play boaters who hit the far wallbefore resurfacing. The key is to hit the peak at the top of the falls river left.After the falls we soon came to the get out which, if missed, puts you in GnarlyGorge where you don’t want to go!At this stage, carrying the kayak uphill is not high on most kayakers list of funthings to do, and you realize why it is not frequently paddled.Our mate who had missed the narrow gorge section convinced us to do itagain. He redeemed himself with a clean run. A last run on the Okere fallssection with the rest of our group in rafts finished a great weekend. The onlydampener was the thought of possibly losing such an awesome section ofriver to a hydro dam.32 ISSUE FORTYthree • 2 0 0 7