Friday 13 December 2019

Leader: Owen Cox

This trip was on a fine Friday and was intended to be a leisurely amble and float down the lower gorge below the road.

There were just two us on the trip. We left one car by the road swing bridge over the Otaki and drove on up to the Forks in the other. We blew inner tubes up near the Waiotauru before wandering down the river to the Forks. The trip involved a mix of walking and drifting down pools and some of the easier rapids. As the water was not cold I didn’t bother with the wetsuit that I had.

The first swim, that isn’t easily avoided, is just below where the Roaring Meg meets the Otaki. There are some more unavoidable swims near the bottom of the flat with the stone walls near Pukehinau Stream. So we got our easy gorge done. Clear water, sun and the gorge is a bit of a canyon so there are only a couple of places where you even see the road. We ended climbing out of the river just above the swing bridge. There is a good track up to the road at this point.

Took us about three hours, but if you hurried it could take less. I’ll do a repeat on a fine day this summer when nothing else is on.

Those on the trip were:

Owen Cox, James Bester

Photos were not supplied for this report.