First rivers in NZ

After the rest of our baggage arrived it was time to head to a river. Our choice was the Rangitata Gorge just less than 2h south of Christchurch. We found a sweet camp next to the river. The next two days we went to run the Rangitata. We also met up with Rachel Curtis a friend from NZ. She got of work for the weekend.

camp next to the river

David @ put in

Flo chillin' @ take out

From there we drove to the Westcoast via scenic Arthur’s Pass.

While recording a timelaps we ran into some Hokitika locals on their way to the Crooked River. Spontaneous we decided to take the opportunity of joining them. After a exhausting hike through deep mud and up steep hillsides we had an awesome run down the Crooked that really put a smile on our faces. ;)

This run is really worth the work.

Cheers mates!

Arriving in New Zealand

After a lot of trouble with our extra luggage at the Bangkok Airport, where Emirates ask for over 1000€ and we had to ship it with cargo, by the way, with Emirates, too. 

David working on the #1 Teaser @ BKK

We arrived in Christchurch last Saturday. Since then we got a cellphone number, enjoyed christchurch's burger places und finally bought a nice and shiny van.

Happy in New Zealand

Don't be gentle, it's a rental.

As the van wasn't totally suitable for our needs at that point we had to upgrade it quite a bit. We removed the rear bench first. Got roof racks and built a bed set up at a local hardware store.

David at Julia's booty ...

... he is getting closer ...

... Flo is inside.

As our cargo is still pending we did some grocery shopping and blog updates and all that crap...

Cheers, mate!

Tamba Kosi

"This is my favorite river in Nepal so far. It's challenging in the upper half and a beautiful river from top to bottom!" That's my (David) opinion on the Tamba Kosi. It was our last river here in Nepal before we left to New Zealand. But let's start two days earlier. We just got into Kathmandu after a short trip to Chitwan National Park. We had already planned to leave for a linked trip to the Bhote Kosi followed by the Tamba Kosi. So we prepared everything the same evening to be ready to leave the next morning.
We started early to get some time on the river. A Taxi ride to the local bus station followed by a bus ride to Bahrabise and another bus ride up the river to the put in. All went smooth and we put on in the early afternoon. 

waiting for the bus to the Tamba Kosi

The next day the weather had changed to rainy fog without any mountain views. While floating pass Bahrabise we were stopped by the Army Police. They informed us that a 5year old is missed and was last seen by the river and asked us to keep our eyes open for anything. We arrived at the takeout around noon and thankful didn't find a body. A minute or two later a local bus picked us up to get into the next town where we had to catch another bus for the transit to the Tamba Kosi. I was really looking forward for this river trip as it is supposed to be one of the top ones Nepal has to offer.
Arriving at the Tamba Kosi with little light left we paddled just a few hundred meters to get out of town. Like in every town we were surrounded by kids that ran after us and were laughing and shouting and joking about us crazy guys.
The next two days were a bless in kayaking. Also the weather changed again and we had a last sunny river day. At the confluence with the Sun Kosi a construction site awaited us. The highway to Kathmandu is still under construction. We paddled to the next village and were happy to hear that once a day a bus is leaving to Kathmandu.
One last bus ride and 6h later we were back in the loud, hectic and dirty capital.

gettin' ready in style

the circus comes to town

KANUmagazin article

Write up on our trip on the Upper Modi in german KANUmagazin.

(click on the photo)

Holidays in Chitwan National Park

Last week we decided to make holidays in the Chitwan National Park. So we booked a 3 days program from our Guesthouse in Pokhara and at the end we wanted to go back to Kathmandu. So far so good. Because it was cheaper we stayed outside of the park and went inside only for the activities. 

After some hours bus ride we arrived at our Lodge and started with the program. The first on the list was sightseeing, which wasn't really that interesting, except maybe for a couple of Bejing chinese. The next morning we went on a jungle walk but we couldn't really see any wildlife because some people were too excited ;-). On the canoe ride we were lucky not to stay in the same boat with loud people, so we could see crocodiles and some birds. In the afternoon we had a nice elefant ride were we saw two rinhos. On the last day in the morning we had out last program, the bird watching. Witch was rather boring. 

At the end of the tourist acitivities we had some nice impressions and now know that it is better to stay the whole time in the park, where are not so many tourist who disturb. 

David taking part at the elefant bathing

water buffalos

king fisher