Kauai, Hawaii

 

Hiking the Kalalau Trail which is an 11mile hike running along the Napali Coast, starting at Ke'e beach.

Waterfall fun- slide was made for the movie 'South Pacific' back in the 70's! My  sister went down it pretty much everyday she was pregnant until about a  week before Arlo arrived:)

 Some dude

Stoked to finally make it out to Kauai, Hawaii to meet my beautiful niece Arlo:) She is probably the most chilled out baby I have met- below in her rainbow blankett

Had a great time here with the family- surfing with turtles, smoothies, papaya, avocados gallore, hiking in bikinis, more surfing, Awesome sunsets, amazing moons, sleeping out on the deck under the stars, Waimea canyon, snorkling, Lau Lau (Local Hawaiian dish, kinda like Hungi), Kava (Drink that makes you relaxed:)), Fresh coconut, playing on waterslides etc.
Thanks so much to Heather and Joe and Arlo for having me, its been radical!

 Really cool to catch up with Kamilla of Norway on the Island of Oahu:) We did some cool touring & her and Erlend took me to an epic party at a sushi bar (free sushi!)..the power went out but some locals bought a generator for the music and we danced in the dark, going outside to dance in the rain when it got too hot!

 Baby in a hammock:)

 Tunnels Beach- awesome snorkling!

 The Grand Canyon of the South Pacific!!! Amazing!

 Water babes at Tunnels beach

 Joe has his gainers dialed! I managed to land a bit funny practicing my gainer and cracked one of my teeth!

 Surfing at Kalihiwai beach- just down from where Heath was living

 When I was younger I was told "If you don't jump you will be disowned"...not much has changed!

 Heather at Waimea Canyon

A dude surfing at Wai Koko's

Huka Falls!

Above- Sam Ricketts flys over the falls

 Huka Falls is one of New Zealand's big water gems just outside of Taupo. The mass of the Waikato river condenses into a tight gorge of big water waves and holes leading to a 30 or so foot drop. At high levels this section of Whitewater is very burly, but at lower levels it is good to go. On Saturday night the flow was at 90cumecs which is descent but not too high. Ricketts, Tilzy, Greg, Sean, Rob and I boosted down to check it out. I havn’t paddled it in over two years and was not sure if I would paddle or not as 90cumecs is high enough to be a bit pushy. But once we got there and had a quick scout I decided I felt good and was fired up to get back on it!
Everything went sweet! I had good lines and came out of the falls upright even though my boof was pretty weak.
Looking forward to a lot more missions here over the summer!!! Thanks to the solid crew!
Stoked!

 Above- Sean Curtis setting up for the main drop

 Rob gets some air time on the lead in...

 Fun entry section

Ricketts & Tillzy at the Weir

Vew from the bridge- the horizon line

Mine Bay, Lake Taupo

Last week Luuka and I missioned in Taupo in the hopes of getting to paddle the Huka Falls on the Waikato River. We arrived at Canoe & Kayak Taupo and were told that the flow was too high. It was a stunning day so we grabbed some SUP boards and headed out on Lake Taupo (Acacia Bay) and cruised around to Mine Bay where there are some famous Maori carvings on the rocks. The Maori rock carvings are over 10meters high and are only accessible by boat, kayak or SUP! The carvings are the work of a master carver from the 1970s. They represent a visionary Maori navigator and recognise the Multi-cultural nature of New Zealand with some smaller features of Celtic design.
Thanks Canoe & Kayak Taupo for the boards! and Luuka for a rad day!

South America!!!

Last year in November I flew to South America with two of my best friends, Katrina Van Wijk and Louise Urwin! When I first arrived I was still trying to rehab my shoulder that I had broken on the Green River. Fortunately it healed fast and within 1week of touching down in Chile I was back on the water. We had an amazing time exploring the rivers of Chile and Argentina and soaking up the amazing culture!!! We camped out at the rivers and lived and breathed Whitewater! We ate Asados, empanadas and lots of avocados:) Thanks so much to Katrina and Lou for bringing so much stoke! Also to all the other radical people we met along the way or that joined us in early December...Beth Hume, Nini, Nicole, Nicole, Sara Jane, Martina, Nouria, and so on...

Mangas-Wairoa!

Stoked to have moved back to Okere Falls! Its nice to be back on the Rio Kaituna and working on the yacht:) This week we got some rain in the Kaimais!!! Unfortunately it was not enough for most runs but it was enough for Mangakarungaruna- Wairoa! Mangas is a really sweet run with some good little drops and techy rapids, it leads into the Wairoa river which stays similar to its normal flow in terms of lines but provides some bigger holes with the extra water! Sweeet day, cheers to the crew- Rob, Linford, Sean and Christy.

Below- Abyss Rapid on Mangas

 

Below- Maclarens Falls- Stout as

Tuakopai Stream

The Tuakopai River runs through the Kaimai Ranges in Tauranga, New Zealand. It is a super fun class 4+ river with lots of nice drops and fun slides. It requires heavy amounts of rainfall. Here is a little edit I put from our trip down this river last week, thanks to the boys for a good afternoon:) (Apologies for all the head cam and shitty footage).

 Quote of the day: If you don't like horizon lines your on the wrong river!

 Spa Falls

 "I think you go right..."

Heading North

Otaki beach with Nell & my father

 Surf sessions- too messy for a board;)

 Lake Wanaka paddling

 Surfing the Hawea Wave with Canadian Brenna Kelly

 As much as I will miss the night sky of Wanaka, the Mountains, the rivers, the lake and the people I am stoked to go back up North, now basing out of Mount Manganui

Winter time on the Islands!

 I have been getting up at 6am every morning for the last week to be able to get in a few hours of study before heading up the mountain to shred all day long! Then coming home to continue work on assignments. I now have 3months until I finish my Graduate Diploma in Secondary School Teaching! 

So with ski season under way my good friend Leela has come down to Wanaka to stay for a few weeks and join me on the slopes! It has been good times for sure. We have been hiking to the Summit of TC to get to the deeper powder and today we went off-piste to do some backcountry on some real nice Powder!

To finish off the day I went out for a surf on the local play wave in Hawea, about 10minutes out of Wanaka. This wave was designed I believe by Scott Shipley and is super fun. I was sooo stoked to get back in my boat. I teamed up with Pete Simpson, an old time legend of kayaking, he always carries so much stoke on the water and is a pleasure to paddle with! 

 At the Summit!

 Heading out to create some fresh tracks

 Day 8 at TC- Leela making new lines

 Leela- A little bit stuck

 Pete Simpson- NZL Number 1 Freestyle Boat & Legend:)

Me- Attempting Freestyle