Q'town: Twirling and Bobbing Like a Cork

Kia Ora!

"OK," Sarah shouted, "we have to get out. We are stuck on another rock."

Sue and I obediently tossed our soaked wet suit booties over the side of the kayak, and the three of us dragged this unruly rubber watercraft back into deeper water. Deeper in this case means 12 inches deep instead of four.

I confess that I was always the last one to get out of this thing in hopes that Sarah and Sue could drag it off the offending rocks with me in it. As the only kayak with three persons, we probably got hung up oftener than some others.

 Our day long adventure started early with a bus trip to the Dart River in Glenorchy, a site where much of the LOTR trilogy was filmed. The day of adventure was billed as a jet boat and kayak experience.

Arriving at the base in Glenorchy, we donned wet suits, the first time I have worn such a thing. I thought they kept you dry. Wrong! One gets quite wet but stays warm as long as s/he is not wearing cotton underneath. Hearing this, I congratulated myself on wearing my merino long underwear, forgetting I had cotton sox on. My feet froze but the rest of me kept warm though soaked to the skin.

Braided river: shallow and rocky

Like many others in New Zealand, this river is a braided river, which means it flows in divided shallow streams over a wide riverbed. Fed by melting snow and glaciers from surrounding mountains, the streams tend to change depth and direction with the amount of water trickling or flooding through.

Not your ordinary motor boat!

I have rejected the idea of a jet boat ride in the past. They looked no different than the ordinary motor boats I have access to every summer at Lake Vermilion in Minnesota. I was quite wrong! Jet boats were invented by New Zealander Sir William Hamilton, who wanted a way to negotiate these shallow braided rivers without a risking a broken propeller. The jet boat is propelled by a blast of water from its backside. It is fast and maneuverable in shallow water and can turn sharply or stop very quickly.


Reese, our driver, demonstrated with a fast 360 degree turn. "Yippie, do it again!" I shouted.

And he did. Imagine riding a Tilt-a-Whirl on water.

Rubber kayaks await paddlers

Fortunately, the kayak portion of the trip began up river so we were at least drifting with the flow of the river. Sometimes sideways, sometimes backwards, and once in awhile we faced forward, always bobbing like a rudderless cork. Added to our depth and directional problems, a strong wind came up in the afternoon that threatened to blow us backward.

Sue is ready for hot chocolate and lunch

Cavern: deep water, no wind

 We paddled as best we could down river, stopped for a picnic lunch, investigated a quiet cavern where I dared to risk my camera in this wet, unstable environment for a photo, and continued downriver against a strong wind until at last we came to the bus waiting to pick us up. With much relief all around, I might add. We were bushed.

Sue and Sarah give a hand

All these rubber kayaks had to be deflated, flattened and folded up to be taken back to base. Most of us jumped right into the buses, ready to be warm and dry. Only two out of twenty-one paddlers still had energy left to help with the packing up process: Sue and Sarah. Good on 'em!

So where was our companion traveler, Barbara, during this adventure? Barb took it upon herself to support Queenstown economy with retail therapy. She ended her day happy, full of energy, Christmas shopping done, and reported she made our dinner reservations for the evening. We could walk there from our comfortable downtown Novotel hotel.The restaurant is Rata, and what a fine dining experience that was. Five stars!

Next, we check out Central Otago wines...

Cheers,
Kiwi Traveler
PS: Other previous Queenstown experiences can be read at the two links below.

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