Adv 223 Yumpu

RAFTING
TALES
The holy grail
of packrafting
the Hollyford-Pyke circuit
By Derek Cheng
The pack-raft wasn’t built for two.
It was sturdy, exceedingly buoyant, and had
lots of room - for one person. But a slit had
been cut in Eva’s raft after she’d floated down a
section of river with hidden knives just under the
surface.
With only a short stretch to the next hut, she
simply jumped onto the front of my raft, the most
shatterproof of the bunch.
There was blessed little drama for a while. Eva
sat facing upstream, gazing at the serenity of
Fiordland as I navigated the river. It didn’t need
much navigating beyond avoiding logjams, a
consequence of the extreme weather that has
shaped the most rugged part of New Zealand.
Then, the hairpin rapid. Just beyond it was
a tree so gargantuan it could be classified
as a unique species all its own. It was halfsubmerged
and on its side, creating a maze of
spindly branches just above the surface.
I had naively come to believe in my abilities to
control the raft through sheer willpower. This
didn’t work very well. We pretty much drifted
straight into the massive wooden maw.
The end of one of the spindles took aim at my
eye, forcing me to drop the paddle and intercept
it. The maze immediately closed in, trapping us,
as the rapid pinned the paddle to the side of the
raft. Attempts to rescue it were futile against the
might of a huge volume of water travelling at
pace.
It was more than slightly unnerving to be
subjected to such powerful forces, yet remain
stationary. With alarm bells ringing ever-louder,
I joined Eva in grabbing any part of the tree we
could to disrupt the rapid’s grip. Somehow, the
raft came free. As it did, the paddle - pointing
skywards as if levitating - dropped benevolently
into my lap, as if rewarding our efforts.
"Are you guys alright?" Fellow rafters Sam and
Jess had started paddling towards us to help.
We were fine. No idea how.
"The main rafting
challenges of the Hollyford
River are navigating the
logjams and occasional
class II rapids."
16//WHERE ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER THAN WORDS/#223