Goodbye NZ. Hi US and Canada. Can we please boat now?

Welcome back to the amazingly uncoordinated and rather random photodump.
There I am, running around with a camera around the world and barely ever manage to use the shots I'm taking. So they pile and pile and all of a sudden start flowing over. Out of my camera, spilling all over my computer, soaking my hardrive, dripping out of the WiFi, into a router and into this place. So take a look around, enjoy wonderful places and lots of colourful little boats falling and flying...
This time:

The Upper Kakapotahi - again

Rocks on a beach and a bunch of hippies playing with them.

The result of an attempt on highwater Monkey Creek on the Hollyford.
Wasn't me.

No campfires.

Milford Sounds. What a waste of gradient!

Red Granite Creek.
It defeated me. Not the creek but the walk.
Legs too weak to walk (for the 3h up a jungly slope)
Ditched the boat, brought the camera and canyoned it...

Kev England f^%$in stompin it!

Tyler Fox

The flying monkey!

Upper Kakas again. This time sunny and with local legend Barny Young on it.

No NZ without these cheeky little bastards. Kea!

Also: A roadtrip without water from NYC to the Ottawa
Everything over here is ridiculously low, we're pretty much running on August Levels... We'll see what the summer brings - Garb and Lachine should be in a lot!

Ottauquechee

Otter Creek. It was snowing.

It was snowing! Adirondacks.

Watertown.
Urban Boating.
Route 3
Tiia.

Trying to wash away the playboat rust.

So. That's it for now. I'll keep running around, will keep bringing my camera and keep stealing pictures of others to keep this going. Now get off the computer and go boating!

Sven

Pelorus Sounds - A change of pace

All the posts on this blog so far were about whitewater.

Not this one.

Even though I spent the last ten years almos exclusively in whitewater boats I come from a background of seakayaking. I guess growing up a few km's from the "beach" in Northern Germany made that a pretty obvious way of getting into kayaking in an area without any mountains (my parent's house sits below waterlevel) or even hills.

Now New Zealand has not a only a big reputation for amazing whitewater but also a huge system of sounds and bays, cutting far into the land, bordered by mountains raising right from sea level.
The possibilities are endless, there are incredibly famous destinations like Milford Sounds, pristine and rather crowded ones like Abel Tasman to the very remote areas of Fjordland.
There also is a big system right at the northern end of the South Island.
Most travellers experiencing NZ will have seen a tiny bit of it from the Interislander Ferries while approaching Picton.

With limited time on our hands and the idea to do something that neither of us had done I teamed up with long time Milford Guide and Paddlerzone Sea Kayak Instructor Matt "Tex" Walker to explore the area around Pelorus Sounds. Our time frame was roughly a week, weather seemed to be alright and with a week of hectic organizing we made our way North. Pretty stressed at that point to be quite honest.
It took us until the second day to shake off the daily grind and start enjoying the unique area.
Options are endless and after listening to some of the Mountain Radio forecasts we altered our plan to mission D'Urville Island and rather have a proper holiday.
Days still averaging around 20 to 30 km's after that decision (instead of a daily 40) we spent a lot of our time exploring, fishing, relaxing, eating well and lots.

After having had my last longer seakayak trip in 2003 it took me a while to get back into enjoying the special eventfulness of seakayaking. You are traveling at a rather slow pace and thus have tons of time to enjoy what is happening around you. And other than the fast paced whitewater part of our sport it is all of a sudden more about the little things that entertain you.
Wildlife was a big one, penguins, seals, stingrays, kormorans, seeing (!) king fish all made us stop for bits and just observe.

Fishing from the kayaks was another big part.
Matt was trolling pretty much throughout the whole trip, with tons of enthusiasm but very limited success. Well, he did catch a good sized and really mean looking Barracuda - until it put its razorsharp teeth to work and snapped the line.
As soon as we would stop at the rocky points where the tides stirred up the water around the steep rockbeds we would get lucky. Baitfishing it wasn't uncommon to pull up two blue cods at once! Delicious!

The moment I will remember the most though is one that was impossible to get on camera.
Close to the end of the trip we were battling a strong southerly wind all day to make it to the campsite. In a place where the hills are shooting right out of the water it is hard to find a good spot to sleep, so we stuck to the excellent little DOC campsites.
We had an hour or so left before sunset at this point, about seven kms to go but now both tide and wind in out back. We were sure we would make it.
We didn't.
Matt decided to climb up a somewhat accessible spot in a little bay, tying his boat close to sea level. I wasn't sure how high the tide would go in that spot, didn't want to risk my gear and the thought of climbing in almost darkness just to not find a flat spot for my thermarest didn't seem appealing either.
Though exhausted from the longest day we had I was still fit enough to do another few km's, do the last crossing to the campsite. By that point it was almost completely dark.
And then it all came together.
Lining up the stars I had marks on where I should end up. Headtorch flicked to red above my visor so it wouldn't blind but I'd still be seen I left shore.
A warm evening land breeze was blowing against me, but only mildly so.
After a while of paddling, just listening to the sounds, enjoying the blurred reflection of the stars I realized something had changed.
I could see my paddlestrokes! I had seen it before, but never in an area this big and a setting like this. Bioluminescense is caused by microorganisms that are stimulated to light up through motion or touch. What that meant for me was that not only my paddlestrokes but my whole boat and the waves coming of it where ILLUMINATED!
And to finish it off I did find a good campspot, had a little fire and enjoyed a small nightly hike.

I often find it hard to not spend time off on whitewater and it is still where my passion is, but I would go for a trip like this anytime again!

Another good thing by the way was that I spent some more time with my camera, playing around with pictures more challenging than the obvious action of whitewater kayaking.

Enjoy the shots!

PELORUS!

peer pressure

guess where there is good fishing!

mi casa!

campfires and bad spelling.

time to chill

amazing campsites

showers

find the sign. all you can see from the DOC sites

so delicious!

Tex trolling.

in spots you feel like coming into jurassic park

rushhour!

my ride! Mission Eco Bezhig! What a packhorse!

Green shelled mussels. Not so green anymore but about to pop open next to the fire!

My last night by myself.

Same spot.

Pollution. Or a romantic sighting of rusty anchors.

Sting Rays. RIP Steve Irwin!

Peace!

Sven

What the...

Everybody please stay away from me!

Well, that is if you're supersticious.
(I'm usually not!)

But for some reason I just seem to attract trouble lately.

The above picture is me checking how much my face is actually bleeding after running
Maruia Falls.
The very bottom one is our ride back to Christchurch. Rather wrecked.

But I shouldn't start here.
Good things first I guess.

After a lot of convincing, repeated messages, kind words and promises of an unforgettable weekend I made my way to Bullerfest. (Thanks Jordy, Barny and Nils!)
And I have to admit, it was amazing! Unlike a lot of events back home every skill level, every age, every style of boating was to be found within the crowd that made the pilgrimage.
The only on-water activity I partook in was the raft race - we killed the first heat starting late and finishing first and then got last in the second. So much fun though!

Apart from that I did the middle Matakitaki with a bunch of good friends and partied my face off on both nights. Amazing spirits!

So congrats to Ben Jackson and his team for an amazing job hosting one of the funnest events I've been to!

Not a whole lot of Buller shots, too hungover most of the time. But:
The main site on saturday for raft and slalom
The weather was horrible, can you tell?

People were wearing eight layers of down gear.
Nobody smiled.

And yes, slalom can be done for fun and by everyone.
Tits on fire!

Tired and happy we made our way back to Christchurch on Sunday.
My one goal for the weekend was to do Maruia Falls, but up to the point of leaving I just couldn't find time or the right people.
It wasn't until we were almost there that Anna offered to stop and wait for me to run it. I was pumped!

I saw the first shots of Maruia Falls about eleven years ago, when Arnd Schaeftlein was showing us the "waters of wisdom" on VHS tape!

It's not a hard drop. At all!
But rather scenic.
And fun!
Following shots by Tyler Da Silva

My first run was sweet. I was in a bit of a rush, as the girls only stopped to let me run it. Thanks Anna!
Boof stroke, tuck, stomp! So smooth!

My second run.
My intention was to wheel it, changed that last second and pulled another boof.
Very flat, very high up.
Flexibility is key if you try to kiss your cockpit. Split my nose.
Taped in hospital a while later. I am now off for a week.
And the swell here in Christchurch is pumping!!!!

As if that wasn't enough.
The grand finale.
Span representing mad rallye skills as we tried a new line.
Straight is the new right!
Everybody was fine, just meant another night in Murchison.
And a future of cycling for the unlucky owner. Sorry Span!

Well. So now I am back here, sore face, whiplashed neck, four more days of work with people staring at my nose, and then: Relaxation. Seven days of seakayaking, fishing and chilling in the Marlborough Sounds. Maybe I'll make it without carnage this time. Who knows?

Peace,
Sven