We have arrived and are getting set up nicely. A huge shout out to Andrew and the crew at paddlerzone for helping us get pretty much everything in order for the boat.

After landing Tuesday we were off to pick up our rental van (with roof racks) then to paddlerzone, the grocery store, lunch and a run in the park, the storage unit place (much better than hauling all our kit around with us for a month!) and then off to Roger’s Pass. Camped out next to the visitor centre and got an early start hiking up to Goat Pass, which is stunning and beautiful and some of the toughest “trail” I have ever encountered. 17 river crossings, just on the way up! We stayed in a clean and comfortable hut perched on the edge of the peak with some other hikers, and headed down thursday morning, picked up the van, and headed back to Christchurch to meet up with Rachel (another crew member) and also with Ursula’s boat sourse. Ula and I headed to the lower Waimakariri to get some experience in our boats before heading down the river (guided tour through paddlerzone) today.

we met up with some other racers and plan to go over a bunch of the run course again with them tomorrow.

Cheers!