13 Feb 11
David presents a cliff-hanger, while Nick flat-spins a "Rainbow Reaction", breaks a paddle, spots the hippos and fights off a man-eating hole. The rest of us had almost as much fun.
Troy D, Wayne M, David C, Nick M and I set off in the company of Riana, Aiden and friend, and of course, Mike and Ken.
We travelled mostly on tar road via Murewa this time, which was a lot more comfortable (but that may also be because we weren't in the Landy). After dropping us off, Riana and the drivers did an admirable job in locating Hippo Pools on a road none if us had travelled before, using a single GPS waypoint and rough directions (derived from Google Earth).
Meanwhile, back on the river, the warm-up rapid had completely changed character (with the water being about 30cm lower). The centre option was gone, while the right ended in a proper waterfall - which we of course discovered too late. We beat a hasty retreat, with minimal scouting options, back to the centre/left combined flow. David ended up taking a swim, and Nick did well to get him out of the current before the big drop. David then entertained us all by rock-climbing along the left bank, which is pretty much a cliff at this point, to get around the rapid. We didn't think it was possible, but then David has amazing climbing skills.
Wayne then ran the first drop of the big rapid, but opted to portage the last bit. Naming suggestions are therefore:
"Wayne's Drop" for the first part of the first big rapid and,
"David's Walk" for the (impossible) left bank portage.
The first wave after the rapid was no good, and the second, with no eddy, proved hard to stay on. Nick managed to break his paddle, and while drifting downriver to find the missing blade he spotted a pair of hippo. David loaned Nick a spare paddle and we set off, with Wayne well in the rearguard, to skirt around the Hippo, which proved easy as there was a shallow channel around the back of them.
Three hundred meters further on the "Castle Rock Twins" were waiting to welcome us into their fluffy depths, to hold and spin us, windowshade and flip us, and generally entertain us with their allround awesomeness. We spent an hour or more playing on "The Twins", until we we were sapped of all excess energy. Nick even managed several flat spins is the rather long "Rainbow Reaction".
Wayne, Nick and I had a good look at the next big rapid, and in the end decided on the chicken run river right. There are just too many gnarly holes to spank you properly if you screw it up. Wayne and I managed to stay on water all the way down the chicken run, rejoining the main flow about two thirds of the way down, avoiding the hole that spanked me last week and styling the last drop. No sandcastles this time, but I'm sure Troy was standing by with a bucket and spade in case my boat happened to drop in unattended.
Nick took a swim a little further down, but we recovered easily and handed his broken paddle, which had apparently prevented him rolling, to a passerby to carry to Hippo Pools. There were a few more good waves. One wave in particular, which I sat on for some time, was wide enough for 3 or 4 people.
Nick went on to demonstrate tremendous skill by staying calm in a very retentive hole, eventually flushing out after going over. I presented him my bow for an eskimo rescue and had to paddle hard to keep us both from getting sucked back in.
Cold beers and a lovely packed lunch awaited us at the end. Well done Riana and the drivers! The trip home was a breeze on good dirt and tar, and a beer stop in Murewa.
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