Remotologging #378

Waiting for the gas station to open I popped down to the Karamea mouth which was dotted with many whitebaiters

The Buller River

A relief to see some clear running water

Checking out a small tributary

Got ya!

Stoked to find some clear water I set up camp for a couple of nights

The next morning I was up at the crack of dawn and off for a fish

From the get-go I was following footsteps. Normally I always aim to get up extra early and hit virgin water but this morning I had been beaten and followed footsteps for the entire 20 km walk so naturally the number of sight fishing opportunities were minimal. Aside from that it was my first time in this area so it was nice to be out with boots on walking up a beautiful river

There were a surprising number of blue ducks around

This is the Wangapeka slip. I couldn't capture it all in the photo and it certainly doesn't do it justice. This slip caused a massive buildup of boulders at the bottom and formed a lake half a kilometre up the river. Very impressive to see in person

Standing at the top of the lake looking back on the slip

A precariously placed log from a recent flood

Halfway through the second night rain started coming down, by morning it was full-on hosing. It was time to pack up the bike and head off

The upper reaches of the Buller

After a day of checking out some new tracks I decided to spend the night in a motel and jump through a nice warm shower. Volatile spring weather had completely changed the weather forecast, 80 to 100 km winds were ripping through the upper South Island and dumping rain where I had planned to go. A change of plans was on the cards and I was heading back to the Coast, the only place where the sun was shining

Over the next couple of days I managed to find some great weather for exploring some new tracks. I found some absolute rippers that will definitely go up as routes on the website. As some seriously nasty weather closed in again it was time to head home

Two young lads all loaded up and heading away hunting

Coming back to the Buller it was pretty evident of just how much rain had fallen. The river was swollen and brown, many of the tributaries injected heavily tannin coloured water

After arriving home the weather progressed to get worse and worse and finally resulted in a flood. The Karamea River that normally flows at 72 m3/s exploded to over 3000 m3/s. This is a picture of my house with 1 and 1/2 foot of swift running water tearing through the garage but luckily it was 2 inches shy of coming up and over the carpet in the house.

The weather didn't allow me to get to all the places I'd intended but regardless I rode some great new tracks and visited some stunning rivers. Even so, I'm looking forward to summer rolling in with some more stable weather