ther trips. Once again, a big part of it is having a chance to check up on some Kiwi friends and see how they are doing and what big events have transpired in the last couple years. In this case, it is Tussock - the owner of the rafting company. Yes, he is our youngest dog's namesake - and yes, he knows it (much to his chagrin). Tussock is not his real name of course, but no one has any idea what his real name is. His moniker comes from his unruly blond afro which bears a striking resemblance to the native high country grass of the same name.Tussock married the farmers daughter - more on the farmer shortly. Tussock is from the little town of Geraldine just outside the entrance to Mt. Peel Station. He and a buddy of his had gone off on some wild adventures - rafting and kayaking big whitewater all over the world, and driving motorbikes from Capetown, South Africa up to the Mediterranean and also from 
Arizona down to Argentina. Anyway, when they came back home, they went into partnership with the local farmer who just happened to have a world-class whitewater river flowing through his property. [See inset photo taken from about 10,000 feet.] The Rangitata (River In the Sky) is fed by glacial melt from the Southern Alps. It therefore is capable of sustaining Class V whitewater year-round, which is very unusual and makes for an excellent commercial venture because it is reliable. This river is unrunnable at times, but it is because of too much flow, never too little. The farmer and the rafting bums saw this as a great o
pportunity, and launched what has become a world-class rafting operation. Tussock's guides are world renowned, and virtually all of them have guided in places far and wide. The stories they can tell.....of rafting in the Zambezi where you dare not fall out of the boat because of hippos and crocodiles, sharing a river with drug runners in South America, adventures in Morocco, China, India, US, Japan, the list goes on. Tussock trains guides for Class V whitewater, which requires two full seasons as a trainee before they can take clients down the river by themselves. Class II requires 26 days on the river. Tussock's operation is in demand because the river runs Class V all the time. He has a lot of international guides in training here, and gets requests from operators abroad for his own guides for special events, and heavy seasons. The deal is usually that T
ussock's boys get all of their expenses paid, plus a daily rate for guiding. This is why they are able to see so much of the world. Some of the guys we have come to know over the years have finally moved on. One of our favorites from way back is flying helicopters now (one dangerous job to another!), another had some kind of accident and turned into a fat hairy slob (we saw him while we were there), another's Mum died and he went back home. Ben still remains though, he has been guiding with Tussock for 19 yrs. He says he is addicted to it, and he doesn't know how to do anything else. Two others were here the last time we came, Yo is a Japanese fellow who came as a trainee and stayed - he finally speaks English. Simon (aka Chunky) took a job here during his college summer
break and ended up staying for the last five years and guiding internationally
during the winter months. He was our guide this year, and he said
he thinks it's about time to go back and finish college so that he can "get a real job". He was studying geography and hopes to become a teacher!
Arizona down to Argentina. Anyway, when they came back home, they went into partnership with the local farmer who just happened to have a world-class whitewater river flowing through his property. [See inset photo taken from about 10,000 feet.] The Rangitata (River In the Sky) is fed by glacial melt from the Southern Alps. It therefore is capable of sustaining Class V whitewater year-round, which is very unusual and makes for an excellent commercial venture because it is reliable. This river is unrunnable at times, but it is because of too much flow, never too little. The farmer and the rafting bums saw this as a great o
pportunity, and launched what has become a world-class rafting operation. Tussock's guides are world renowned, and virtually all of them have guided in places far and wide. The stories they can tell.....of rafting in the Zambezi where you dare not fall out of the boat because of hippos and crocodiles, sharing a river with drug runners in South America, adventures in Morocco, China, India, US, Japan, the list goes on. Tussock trains guides for Class V whitewater, which requires two full seasons as a trainee before they can take clients down the river by themselves. Class II requires 26 days on the river. Tussock's operation is in demand because the river runs Class V all the time. He has a lot of international guides in training here, and gets requests from operators abroad for his own guides for special events, and heavy seasons. The deal is usually that T
ussock's boys get all of their expenses paid, plus a daily rate for guiding. This is why they are able to see so much of the world. Some of the guys we have come to know over the years have finally moved on. One of our favorites from way back is flying helicopters now (one dangerous job to another!), another had some kind of accident and turned into a fat hairy slob (we saw him while we were there), another's Mum died and he went back home. Ben still remains though, he has been guiding with Tussock for 19 yrs. He says he is addicted to it, and he doesn't know how to do anything else. Two others were here the last time we came, Yo is a Japanese fellow who came as a trainee and stayed - he finally speaks English. Simon (aka Chunky) took a job here during his college summerbreak and ended up staying for the last five years and guiding internationally
during the winter months. He was our guide this year, and he said
I'll let the pictures of the rafting speak for themselves. That's Susan in the green helmet and me in the red one right up front. It is such great fun, I just wish we could do it again and again and again... The river was not quite as surly as on our last visit, those who read of that adventure will recall that Susan and I were in the only boat (out of seven) that made it down the 
river without capsizing. That was a bit stressful, here we were supposed to be responsible for the well being of these thirty students who were violently cascading down the mighty Rangitata river in nothing but life-vests and little plastic helmets. It wasn't like we could lend a hand, ours were already engaged in applying a death grip to the little rope that rings the gunwales of the boat.
river without capsizing. That was a bit stressful, here we were supposed to be responsible for the well being of these thirty students who were violently cascading down the mighty Rangitata river in nothing but life-vests and little plastic helmets. It wasn't like we could lend a hand, ours were already engaged in applying a death grip to the little rope that rings the gunwales of the boat. This years big event was when the guides in training got stuck in a hole and couldn't get out. Their boat just kept going round and round, every couple of minutes it would toss another 
one of them into the drink. The coup de grace involved their boat torpedoing under a wave for a brief moment, before launching itself vertical about 15 feet in the air. Needless to say, the last remaining guides were ejected during that little maneuver, and the boat plopped right back down in the hole to swirl round and round again. Our guides all watched these goings on with sheer delight until the finale occurred. This meant that they would have to go down there and rescue the boat - it was blocking any of us from being able to make our run - the only safe line through these rapid
s was exactly where the boat was stuck. Never mind that five of their own had just been 
rudely deposited into the water and swept away and that the largest life preserver on the river is your boat which they had all left behind!! It took the guides a good hour to do the mountain goat thing (we were in the bottom of a canyon with sheer cliffs on both sides that go up 50 to 100 feet. There are no banks or shoals - just vertical walls. They climbed up, disappeared, reappeared over the abandoned vessel, leaped off the cliff into the boat and swiftly extracted it from whatever kind of whirlpool maelstrom had captured it. They let it loose to go on down the river by 
itself, hopefully to rescue the stranded swimmers and returned to the awed spectators back upstream (that was us). The students on the trip were getting really apprehensive at this point - the theme was: "If that is what happens to 5 guys who know what they are doing.....what's going to happen to us - our boat only has one?" So Chunky (our guide) looks at us and says - "Right, lets go. We will see how bad it is and the rest will be in a better position to decide what to do then..." Dude - how many times does the experiment have to fail? We just saw a boatload of your B-team get smeared. You honestly think we'll do better? Ok - sounds fun. We made it - every boat crew - and it was 
FUN!!!! I guess that's why it takes two years of training for these guys to be able to take a boat full of clients down the river by themselves!
one of them into the drink. The coup de grace involved their boat torpedoing under a wave for a brief moment, before launching itself vertical about 15 feet in the air. Needless to say, the last remaining guides were ejected during that little maneuver, and the boat plopped right back down in the hole to swirl round and round again. Our guides all watched these goings on with sheer delight until the finale occurred. This meant that they would have to go down there and rescue the boat - it was blocking any of us from being able to make our run - the only safe line through these rapid
s was exactly where the boat was stuck. Never mind that five of their own had just been 
rudely deposited into the water and swept away and that the largest life preserver on the river is your boat which they had all left behind!! It took the guides a good hour to do the mountain goat thing (we were in the bottom of a canyon with sheer cliffs on both sides that go up 50 to 100 feet. There are no banks or shoals - just vertical walls. They climbed up, disappeared, reappeared over the abandoned vessel, leaped off the cliff into the boat and swiftly extracted it from whatever kind of whirlpool maelstrom had captured it. They let it loose to go on down the river by 
itself, hopefully to rescue the stranded swimmers and returned to the awed spectators back upstream (that was us). The students on the trip were getting really apprehensive at this point - the theme was: "If that is what happens to 5 guys who know what they are doing.....what's going to happen to us - our boat only has one?" So Chunky (our guide) looks at us and says - "Right, lets go. We will see how bad it is and the rest will be in a better position to decide what to do then..." Dude - how many times does the experiment have to fail? We just saw a boatload of your B-team get smeared. You honestly think we'll do better? Ok - sounds fun. We made it - every boat crew - and it was FUN!!!! I guess that's why it takes two years of training for these guys to be able to take a boat full of clients down the river by themselves!Our host for the farm tour was the aforementioned farmer. Mr. John Acland. He is an interesting character who has taken the time to come and speak to our students on almost every visit. I won't bore you all with the story of the station again - I'll just give a quick overview 
for the newbies. Mt. Peel station was one of the very first farms to be settled in New Zealand. Mr. Acland is the fourth generation of Acland to run the farm - and he has now turned the operation over to his son, Johnny (fifth generation) who has kids growing up as the sixth generation of Aclands on this farm! Mr. Acland's father was Sir 'Something' Acland - that's right a bona fide knight of the British Crown. Mr. Acland is a very influential 
New Zealander, he was some kind of high commissioner or something of the New Zealand Meat Board, and currently serves as some sort of big cheese on a government council that is meant to find solutions to some of the land access issues that have arisen over the years.
for the newbies. Mt. Peel station was one of the very first farms to be settled in New Zealand. Mr. Acland is the fourth generation of Acland to run the farm - and he has now turned the operation over to his son, Johnny (fifth generation) who has kids growing up as the sixth generation of Aclands on this farm! Mr. Acland's father was Sir 'Something' Acland - that's right a bona fide knight of the British Crown. Mr. Acland is a very influential 
New Zealander, he was some kind of high commissioner or something of the New Zealand Meat Board, and currently serves as some sort of big cheese on a government council that is meant to find solutions to some of the land access issues that have arisen over the years. The original homestead is still standing, and the Aclands live there. Next door is a beautiful private chapel constructed by the family well over a hundred years ago. Mr. Acland tells wonderful tales about the history of the farm, the church, the house, etc. Unfortunately, I didn't get to listen to his talks this year because I was busy keeping Aidan occupied. We laid in the grass and read books, counted sheep, sang songs, watched clouds go by, etc. while Mr. Acland gave the students the homestead tour. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day.
1 comment:
Hey,
I'm a little to the game, I know. I haven't checked my email in a while, see. Dad's the one who clued me in. He's been painting for Uncle Kenny and evidently your sire comes to visit and reads aloud your adventures to mine while he's painting. The painting's done now so I don't know how they'll manage. You should mountain bike somwewhere there. That would rock! I'm glad you guys are all having such a great time! Put 250 down the pipe of the XD while you were gone. HeHe! Can't wait to here more! Have fun!
Post a Comment