We met Toine and company at a foggy and early 6am on the top of Takaka Hill. Factoring in the driving, hiking and canyoning itself made for a long day. After a quick howdy, we caravaned behind them to the Awaroa roadend. We followed an old farm road to a historic homestead. We continued across manuka flats before climbing up the steep hillside to the start of the canyon. It wasn't a difficult walk, but it sure was sweaty!
After lunch we all suited up. Toine and Lee gave their clients the crash course, and down we went. The first abseil was only a 20m walk from the drop in. Water levels were relatively low which meant we could abseil through the guts of the waterfalls and not worry about getting slammed. It was really neat to have a carefree trip taking photos and watching Toine and Lee do their thing.
What a great canyon! Although narrow slot canyons are probably my favorite, the wide open style of this canyon meant it had lots of color and lots of variety. Green moss, ferns and trees everywhere. Actively water-worn granite had a nice light salt and pepper color while the weathered granite surfaces had a nice bronze hue. The canyon had great features too. Unique waterfalls, breached potholes, natural arches, fun downclimbs, jumps to 10m and slides to 16m! The "King Slippa" slide in particular was just perfect (below). It is smooth and fast with virtually no way to screw it up, and best of all, it is easy to climb back to the top of it and repeat to heart's content.
The canyon the opens up for about a hundred meters and the creek flows over a great wide slab of granite bedrock to drop again at one of the larger waterfalls in the canyon. A traverse bypasses a frothy slanted slot. A few more downclimbs, abseils and slides lead to another short scramble past a bouldery slip area.
The canyon then narrows again for one of its nicest sequences; three very nice waterfalls in rapid succession. The first an abseil, the second a fun zipline across a pool, the third a very steep and slightly intimidating 16m slide. I was first down and got a face full of water from not leaning back enough! Sara hesitated for several minutes, before eventually going for it. She was all smiles when she came up.
Another jump and abseil later and the canyon was over too soon! We strolled down the stream, regained the track, and headed for Golden Bay. Sara and I both had a fantastic time. It made all the difference having the local knowledge of which drops could be jumped or slid. And going as a group always makes a canyon more cheerful, friendly and fun. It is a very nice canyon- definitely my favorite on the top half of the South Island (so far!). Huge thanks to Toine and Lee at Abel Tasman Canyons for a great day out!
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