Cross Ck Three

Canyon Crew: Cedric, Jodi, Mack and Chucky

After relentlessly telling my friend Jodi how wonderful canyoning was, she finally caved in to the pressure and booked a trip down from Jafa land to give it a try.

With Mack from work and visiting French Canyoner Cedric, our crew of four met up in Wanaka on friday night, ready for Cross creek on Saturday.

Though levels were down just a little from 'optimum fun' we still had plenty of smiles through the trip. Wearing various assortments of borrowed and rental neoprene, my canyon mates were a little cold at times, but all toughed it out well. (think the warmth from continuous smiling helps)

Despite being the third trip through, I still had a great time in the canyon. Truely a classic Kiwi Canyon.

Jodi in upper Cross

Cedric enjoys a downclimb

Mack perfecting his 'Blue Steel'

Showing French style on the 8m jump

While Jodi shows how Kiwi's Canyon...

Doubtful River Fishing, Lewis Pass

Made the most of a perfect weather day to take the fly rod for a stroll in Lewis Pass National Reserve.

The Doubtful river was beautiful, clear and low. Durin the day, I saw about a dozen rather large Brown trout, trying unsucessfully to stalk and fool them into eating my fly. Though I didnt hook any, I did get better at spotting the fish, maneuvering to a casting position and dropping the fly in just the right spot.

I tried Nymphs, drys, even pulled out the spinning rod to wave a black and gold toby past thier noses.. Simply weren't hungry.. But they were spooky and on several occaisons during the stalk i'd grind rocks underfoot or flash my fly rod in the sun and they were off...

The moderate breeze did make casting much trickier, but at the end of the day coming home with no fish didn't matter.. the amazing scenery and challenging fish made for a great day.

Confluence of Doubtful and Lewis Rivers

Having a break on the Doubtful River