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.