48 Boating New Zealand
that last gorge and then quickly got out of our kayaks
and changed out of our kayaking gear, packed up all our
stuf and hiked up the mountains.
“We got caught in a blizzard on the top. Absolutely
freezing. We climbed about 2,000m vertical – literally
rock climbing our way up and then down the other
side and we got back to where we camped the night
before just before dark. It was, hands-down, the
hardest day of my life.”
Tere followed another four days of hiking over
mountain passes and crossing the river in places
where they had set up ropes, like fying foxes, while
kayaking down.
“One group had done it before us and they said it
was terrifying but possible – and it was. Te climbing
was signifcantly more scary than the kayaking,
absolutely terrifying.”If you exit the
kayak and can
swim, there’s
probably another
rapid downstream
that you don’t want
to swim into.