2747 River Crossing on the Waipa River, 25 Feb 2018

I have been in the club for 33 years now and never done a river crossing trip so I thought it was high time I did!  With the two leaders, Alan Wickens and John Wilson, having an impressive combined experience of over 100 years this was the trip to be on.  The day dawned warm and sunny and we headed out to the upper reaches of the Waipa River for a day of fun and learning.

The first treat of the day was being able to use the farmer's toilet when we arrived at our destination.  This may sound strange but it was brilliant as it meant we had to walk into a working shearing shed, where the toilet was located, and was able to watch some very skilled shearers and rouseabouts shearing sheep.

We then walked across the farm and down a steep hill to the Waipa River which is 100% cleaner than the river we are familiar with near Pirongia and Ngaruawahia.  Next, we began our day of instruction and practising different river crossing techniques.  We learnt how to cross alone using walking poles, how to link arms correctly and what to do with our backpacks when doing this, how to turn or reverse if the river became unsafe to cross and pack floating.  We also walked down the river a little way looking at all the potential crossing spots and potential hidden dangers that could make a river crossing unsafe.

After lunch in the hot sun, it was nice to cool off by doing some pack floating and learning how to steer towards the river bank, which is not as easy as it sounds.

When I got home I emptied my pack only to discover a hole in my 'dry bag' so that was another lesson learnt!

Thanks so much to Allan and John.  It was a fantastic day, with everyone having learnt from the masters, heard lots of scary stories from Allan and had a lot of fun.

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