We made our way back up to Murchison again in time for Bullerfest and met Larry Feeley and his family there. His son, Lorcan, races Wildwater with Sean. They are spending about 6 weeks here travelling around the country.
Bullerfest started on Friday with the Extreme Race. Sean and I decided to brave it in our slow boats so assembled at the start. The format is the same as the Boatercross at home. Usually four paddlers starting at the top of the rapid, and first 1/2 paddlers to the finish line go through to the next round. We all got a test run first and were then put into heats according to our placing. That was quite useful, as plenty of us had never even seen what was around the corner from the start, let alone knew where we should go down it!
For my first test run heat the starter was obviously getting a bit impatient and shouted “go” while the four of us were in random places on the river. I paddled off as fast as I could in the Scud (it’s a very very slow boat!) and through a bit of guile managed to knock one of the girls out and managed to come third. I was just happy not to come last! It turned out that the whitewater around the corner was fun but not very difficult. Sean came third in his heat too.
With that run over, we hauled our boats back upstream, cursing the slowness of both our boats, ready for the next run. There was a great bit of banter amongst the paddlers as first runs were discussed, and plans made for the second run, some taking the whole thing a lot more seriously than others. Then I was up again. This time I was all ready at the line when we started, nearly too close though as I nearly got my head taken off by the starters rope… Not to be deterred I paddled like fury again, still moving quite slowly in my lovely Scud though… However, adopting the same tactics as last time I managed to bang into someone on the way and again not come last! Of course I didn’t come 1st or 2nd either though, so that was the end of my racing for the day. Sean also came 3rd again in his run. The two of us are pretty sure we could have made it through the first heat at least if we only had a faster boat!!!
With that moaning done we enjoyed the rest of the racing before paddling the rest of the way down the river. That was nearly like a race in itself as we had Lorcan with us who decided to paddle the whole way down as fast as possible! We were trying to introduce the concept of eddies to him, but he was determined to get home for his tea! It was all great fun though. Oh, and it was on the Earthquake section of the Matakitaki River. The party that night was pretty good too!
Murchison, like the rest of the country, was pretty lacking in water at that stage, and the organisers were having some difficulty because of the low levels of the rivers. However, it started raining at last on Friday night. But then it didn’t really stop for a few days…
Saturday’s event was Slalom together with a Raft Race on the O’Sullivan’s section of the Buller River. Though Sean and I didn’t take part, we went down to have a look, until we got wet through and went back to our campsite for tea that is. The course was looking a bit hairy at that stage though. Two gates had been taken out of the course altogether. Apparently the water rose over 1½ feet over the course of the racing, and it had already risen quite a bit overnight, the course having been laid the day before. It was a hard course to run, though thankfully there were some fine slalom paddlers there to do it properly.
By Sunday, the rivers had swollen so much the planned Big Air competition was cancelled. Mainly as the organisers were quite worried that the ramp would be washed away. To explain to the non-paddlers out there, a big air comp involves paddlers going down a slide in their kayaks and trying to flip their boat in some sort of a fancy way before they hit the water. I was really looking forward to seeing it too! So instead, we all assembled for the prize giving, followed by the handing out of a massive amount of spot prizes. They’ve a huge number of great sponsors for this event, which is no wonder cos it’s a great weekend and well organised. Well done to all the lads and lasses who work so hard to pull it off!
After the excitement of Bullerfest we drove to Hanmer Springs and spent some time lounging (in the rain which still hadn’t stopped) in the hot pools for which the town is famous. It is quite a lot cleaner than the water in Spa Park (Taupo) but much the same thing, only this time you have to pay for it. It was a nice evening though and a good experience. We’re not the sort of people who would enjoy spending a day there though!
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