The Morda Brook

Sometime in late 2018 I decided it was my duty to build a canoe. Furthermore I decided that whilst power tools were available, these did not suit my style. No, it was hand tools for me. The very notion of the intrusive, destructive, awful machines was alarming. They were antithetical to my style, inherently evil, harbingers of all things bad and so forth. Also I didn't know how to use them. In truth I chose hand tools because I wanted to see how hard it would be. Could I pick up a saw, sandpaper, paintbrush and with little else build a boat? Thus was the enticing dream. The idea formed slowly in my head, inspired by a number of books acting in concert. Firstly, An Englishman Aboard: Discovering France in a Rowing Boat  by Charles Timoney. A tale of the authors piecemeal descent of the Seine river in a homemade rowing boat. Secondly, The Pull of the River: A Journey into the Wild and Watery Heart of Britain by Matt Gaw.  Collected explorations of different rivers...

The section of the Ngaruroro between Kuripapango and Whanawhana is known in whitewater circles as the lower gorge, or sometimes simply the Ngaruroro gorge. I refer to it here as the 'middle' section of the river, in order to leave the stretch from Whanawhana to the sea as the 'lower'. There is about 50km of river between Kuripapango and Whanawhana and within this stretch is the hardest whitewater the Ngaruroro has to offer, culminating in one or two rapids which probably reach class IV. There are plenty of stories out there about people doing long day trips on the section, finishing in the dark or taking on high flows. I have now had the privilege of completing the section twice, both as overnight trips. Much like the upper river, this section holds great significance to me but it is for starkly different reasons. Let me take you back to 2013. In 2013 we had a great winter of flows in Wellington and I was chock full with motivation for whitewater paddling. I go...

With the exception of Te Awa Kairangi - Hutt River, the Ngaruroro holds more meaning for me than any other river. It is difficult to succinctly express what different parts of this river have meant at different times in my life. For this reason I have broken the river into sections and will order them as the water flows. By the upper river I mean the stretch from the source to Kuripapango, flowing almost exclusively through Kaweka Forest Park. The Kaweka range was the site of my first tramping experiences. Fly camping, forest service huts, snow and the ubiquitous kanuka scrub. For many summers the family camped at Kuripapango. I remember the obscene heat of the tent after a baking Hawkes bay day. I remember the terror of running low water class II in a sit on top. I remember the cicadas. I remember skimming stones. I remember. In 2011, I started learning to whitewater kayak in a meaningful fashion. Dad would take me up to Kuripapango and we would paddle the oxbow sectio...