para la familia: kayaking is a waste of time

Philly has only five days left before he begins his puddle jumping tour: Christchurch to Auckland on Air New Zealand January 12th, Aukland to Fiji on Air Pacific, Fiji to Los Angeles, LA to Atlanta on a very long January 13th. In the ATL he gets picked up by Dad and the birthday girl, Magnolia, transported to Bryson City, North Carolina where from he will drive his own car to Sewanee…this extensive travel plan is pretty irrelevant at the moment as there are still five n zed days to work with. And there is certainly work to be done.
We have been enjoying our time so far and look forward to more air and river bound travels in the remaining days. New Zealand is host to locations on this earth and experiences within them which are very difficult to relate: deep schist gorges of dark, smooth, and rather tall rock walls, clear blue water, and very specific route of travel—downstream. This combination of factors leads to a wonderful feeling as if you are walking on forbidden land. Tiny cracks in the earth sealed off by million year geologic processes; barriers and obstacles you have cheated with technology, experience, and daring for a momentary trespass.

stealing time on the upper kakapotahi:

photo by mw

philly mid-trespass during a day trip on the lower kakapotahi:

photo by mw

a team portage effort, the last major obstacle on the upper:

photo by mw

Our Auntie Maria told us that her favorite all time river run was the Hokitika. Philly and I liked it so much we’ve been twice: once for a day run from the middle put-in about 4 kilometers upstream from the Serpentine Hut, and a second time putting in father upstream at Poet Hut (a trip we did in two days, with a stop over in the Serpentine Hut).

Philly boofing his way in to the beginnings of another gorge on the Hokitika: