On Wednesday 19 October 05, Duncan McEwan, James Coubrough and myself, Timon Maxey, all of Wellington, kayaked the Nardoo Creek, a tributary of the upper Matakitaki River. The Nardoo flows down a very deep narrow ravine which is near impossible to get out of. It is small and over the steepest kilometre, drops 80m.
Our first attempt to paddle this river in January 2005 failed when the walk in took too long, and our only glimpses of the extreme conditions in the gorge indicated that we needed to be better prepared. The river was high, but still clear ( about 8-10m3/s), and we could see waterfalls and few eddies. We walked out again.
In late April 2005, Duncan and I returned and negotiated the gorge by inner tube, and by climbing and jumping down drops. This was a particularly strenuous mission and we were pretty exhausted afterwards. The river was at extremely low flow (about 1-2m3/s), allowing us to stand on the edge of drops and wade down un-navigable rapids. We thought that an ideal flow for kayaking would be around 4-7m3/s. We discovered a number of big rapids and drops and 3-4 that would probably not be paddleable in any conditions.
So when we arrived to paddle the Nardoo on our third visit, we knew what to expect. From the DOC signpost at Mt Ella Station, we dragged our boats up the road to just above Matakitaki Base Hut, crossed the Matakitaki River and dragged our boats up the steep 4wd track angling up the hill on the other side. This took us up to a saddle and over into the Nardoo valley. The portage was about 6km long and took about 2 hours. We used small pram wheels attached to the bottoms of our boats which were invaluable until the track became rough near the end. The Matakitaki was low, probably running at about 12-15m3/s. The Nardoo was probably at 3-4m3/s.
We started paddling at around 3pm, thinking that since it took 1.5 hours to tube the section, we had ample time. The river was initially easy and got steadily steeper and tighter. The first notable rapids were two narrow chutes, the second of which was 2m wide, about 50m long with a tricky 90 degree bend and 2-3 small drops in it. James paddled it cleanly, but I had a bit of trouble getting round the bend.
Below here was a 2m drop with a log stuck in it which would be paddleable without the log and next was a 2-3m drop that fell into a slot. It may have been paddleable with a bit more water. After this was a 4m two tier drop with a log across it. Again, this would have been great without the log.
Next was another nice twisting drop; which we paddled, followed by a 1m boof in which Duncan became vertically pinned. It was lucky that he was able to rescue himself, because we couldn't get anywhere near him.
From the following pool, there was an excellent double drop (Twin Falls) separated by a small pool. The first drop was 3-4m high and the second was 4-5m. James and I ran both cleanly while Duncan decided to portage. He threw his boat down 8m into the pool (with James and I waiting below to catch it) and did a tricky climb down a "chimney" to recover it.
We all walked the next 6m drop because it fell into a slot. Higher water might have made it runable. At this stage, the already dim light filtering down was dimming more and we began to worry about escaping before dark. A night in the gorge would have been very unpleasant. Another unpaddleable 4m drop followed. With higher water, it also may be paddled, but in that case, getting out above it would be tricky as there isn't really an eddy. The portage was difficult.
Luckily, this was the last major drop. Around the corner, the Nardoo began to open out and the rapids became bouldery. One was a filter at this flow, so required another portage. By this stage, it was getting quite dark, and we paddled and scraped our way down the shallows into the Matakitaki and down to the get out as fast as we could. Then we blundered our way up the Mole Stm to the car. We were stuffed but elated that we had finally paddled the Nardoo!
We were surprised to discover that what took Duncan and I about 1.5 hours tubing and climbing took us over 5 hours in boats. We began the walk in at about 11.30am which proved to be too late. Anyone intending to paddle this river in daylight with a margin for safety should begin the walk at 9am and be on the river by 1pm (in daylight saving time).
If anyone is interested in running this river and wants more information, contact Timon (email: timon at paradise.net.nz), Duncan (email: duncan at mcs.vuw.ac.nz), or James (email: coubskayak at hotmail.com).
More photos from our trip can be found in this gallery. NB: Apologies for the quality of some images, but the light in the gorge was not condusive to better ones!
