Kayak-Personal

Date: Fri' 24th June
Location: Crooked
Duration: 2.5hrs approx
Grade: 2-3+
Group Members: Kristie, Martijn, Chris H, Tui
Key Learning: "If in doubt..Scout"
Incidents: Two Swims from Kristie,

Walked up to the grade 3-3+ put in again but this time without any 2nd years just with the others. Paddled that section with Martijn going first followed by me then Kristie then Chris. I eddied out and was on safety for Kristie. She tipped at the end and i went in for the T-rescue so no problems on that rapid. Tui was on safety on the rocks with a throw bag incase of any problems. Carried on down and had a swim from Kristie as she's gotten stuck upside down and got slightly pinned on a rock. Rest of the section went algood. Portaged the lower grade 3 rapid at the original put in because it was too low. Carried on down the rest of the river playing in the usual waves. Came up to the boulder garden and i got tipped and knocked by a few rocks but rolled back up, Kristie had a swim ad tui tipped but T-rescued. Carnage on that rapid haha. But overall a really good day!

Kayak-Personal

Date: Wed' 22nd June
Location: Arnold
Weather: Cloudy and Drizzle
Group members: Jacob, Ben, Sara
Duration: 1.5hrs approx
Incidents: None

Pritty sweet run on the Arnold after tech. Thought it was gunna be too low having put in at the bridge and every rock was out of the water. Turns out it was algood and the surf waves/holes were awesome to play in. Probably one of the funnest runs on the Arnie so far. Good day!

Survival-Polytech

Date: Tues' 14th-Thurs' 16th June
Location: Arahura Valley
Duration: 3 days
Weather: Drizzle, Cloud
Group Members: TPP Group 2
Key learning: Shelter building, fire lighting, Surviving! :)

Pritty sweet 3 days on survival with little food and cold, miserable weather from day 1 in the evening till day 2 at night. Built an amazing 14man shelter that kept us dry and relitively warm with a 14 man spoon chain going on. haha. 2nd day we went out and built our own shelter. Some people were tough enough to sleep in their's but not me.. along with 6 others. Felt pritty dissapointed the next morning having seen and heard the other's stories and how hard and cold their night was. My shelter was pritty good and dry but at the time of building it i was cold, wet and hungry so unfortunately gave up. that night was relitively warm. kept the fire going for the whole time. Next morning woke up and went to check out everyone elses shelters. after that we kicked them down then pritty much left after a few people swam in the river. Drove back to Hokitika and got shouted fish and chips! then left back to Greymouth.

Ice Climbing-Polytech

Date: Wed 1st-Fri 3rd  June

Location: Franz Josef Glacier

Weather: Fine and Sunny

Duration: 3days

Group members: TPP Group 2

Key learning: How to set up an anchor and V-threads, climbing top-rope on ice.

Headed to Franz on Wednesday morning and Arrived around lunch time. walked to the glacier and spent the rest of the day just getting used to crampons and walking on ice. Awesome sunny weather.

Next day learnt how to set up anchors with ice screws then set them up to climb off. Had a good few goes at it. Pritty sweet and deffinatly differnt to rock climbing.

Last day learnt how to do a V-thread which is just a differnt type of a stronger anchor. Set one of them up to also climb off. weather was still pritty sweet. Really great new experience.

Kayak-Personal

Date: Mon' 6th June
Location: Milltown Gorge
Weather: fine then drizzle.
Duration: whole day was an overall 11hrs!!
Group members: Robbie, Chris H, Chris E, Jacob, Martijn, Todd
Flow: Medium
Incidents: Two swims from Eckies, one swim from Harvey and a loong 4hr wait at the take out with 5 worried kayakers waiting for Todd and Martijn to come back from the shuttle "run"
Key Learning: Take a map so we know where to run the shuttle..

Wellll.. The day started at 10am having left Greymouth at that time to get to Milltown at about 11ish. We got into hokitika and turned down the road that we thought would lead us to the put in. Turns out we did a complete loop that took us back to red shed. We then found our way after that. Got to the put in at around 11.30ish, on the river at around 11.45. Got out and scouted one of the first bigger rapids with Robbie leading running the rapid fine, boofing a rock to the centre of it. I was next and i took to the right more of the rock, got flipped but rolled back up. Everybody else came down after that and had a swim from both the Chris's'. Carried on down stopping at a fuun hole to surf. It was a decent size but had no problems. The rest of the river was okay but then we hit the long 5km approx run out. Passed the red shed and carried on down to the end of the Arahura. By that time, Martijn and todd had gone ahead to run the shuttle through a forestry track that we thought would be pritty straight forward but turns out they got lost. Me, robbie, Jacob and both Chris's' had been waiting at the take out cold for atleast 2.5hrs and started to get worried because it was getting dark. Had no reception so jogged down the road to text people the situation. Texted Dan and told him to come and get us. By this time it was pitch black and about 3 or more hrs had gone by. Todd and Martijn only just turned up as soon as Dan and Jimmy did which was lucky as we were just about to call the cops for a search. Waited for another hour for the shuttle to be driven as todd and martijn never made it to the vans. VERY LONG DAY! but glad no one got lost or hurt. Returned home at 9pm.

Kayak-Personal

Date: Sun' 5th June
Location: Arnold
Weather: Partly cloudy
Duration: 1.5hrs
Flow: Medium
Group members: Chris E, Dan, Todd, Jacob, Robbie.

Relaxed, chill paddle down the Arnold. Put in at the power station at the bridge and had an audience of old people amazed that we were kayaking. haa. had one swim from Chris because Robbie got sucked in a whirly hole so Eckies came to the rescue and ended up tipping over himelf. Jacob was there for the H-rescue but was too late. Other than that no other problems. Was a fun run. Hadn't paddled the Arnie in a while.

Kayak-personal

Date: Saturday 4th june
Location: Crooked river
Duration: 2hrs
Weather: cloudy
Group Members: Chris H, Chris E, Dan, Jacob
River Flow: Medium

Me, Chris H and Jacob ran the first grade 3 rapid. I went down it first because i'd done it before and knew the line. ran it smoothly then eddied out to spot Harvey and Jacob. Minimal problems, no swims or accidents which was good. Kept paddling playing in all the waves that we usually surf. Always a good day on the Crooked.