It was one of those mornings that did not exactly motivate one to undertake grandiose plans that would potentially involve intense suffering. The day got a slow start as we ran out of the car into the blistering cold to check the water levels in Wilsons Creek before rushing back to the safety of the car heater, which slowly defrosted my brain. Water levels: check. Hmm...not so sure about the snow falling from the sky though, and the 1 degree Celcius temperature, and the fact that we are already getting a late start to what would promise to be over 8 hours of partial or full submersion in near-freezing water. A long, slow discussion followed, which mostly consisted of putting every extremity next to a heated vent and staring blankly out the front window. At some point it was decided we should go canyoning since we were here, but that a fully committing day did not sound too smart given the conditions and potential for hypothermia (I had only a 4mm/3mm wetsuit). We would instead go for Robinson Creek, another new one to me and only about a 2.5 hour trip.
And so we suited up at the car and plodded up the hill to the start of the canyon. The drop-in had snow everywhere and light clumpy snow fell from the sky in waves. Perfect New Zealand canyoning weather (intense sarcasm)! Robinson builds slowly with a few small rappels and jumps and then before you know it the creek plunges eerily and ominously into a dark cavern whose bottom is not immediately visible. A beautiful 25m rappel skirts the full blast of the waterfall and drops you into a magnificent dark chamber. Where the obvious reaction from the top of the rappel is one of foreboding, looking up into the chamber from downstream inspires feelings of awe and appreciation. The circulating blast of the air from the falling water suspends the whole chamber in mist and in places actually forces the waterfall back skywards! The noise was deafening. Just downstream the canyon inter-fingers in a dark slot with enormous chockstones overhead. Shortly after the cavern section, the creek emerges from the depths of the glacial bench it has incised. Apart from a minor snafu on the last rappel and the constant cold, it was a very enjoyable trip. A short while later we were quickly peeling our freezing wetsuits and huddling next to the car heaters as I drove towards a sunny West Coast to do fieldwork.
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| New snow in background! |
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| Rappelling into the dark chamber |
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