The final report published!!

Last year's project report on West Coast Whitewater is finally published by Lincoln Uni...click here for online details: http://researcharchive.lincoln.ac.nz/dspace/handle/10182/3839

From there you can download a copy to print (270 pages in colour).

Or you could get the book straight from Lincoln for $64.80 by emailing michelle.collings@lincoln.ac.nz

Thanks to all of you who contributed.

Arahura - the first and last

Time has had its way and I've run out of it, before completing all the river's I'd have liked.  But, I started with the Arahura on 16 Jan 2010 and finished with the Arahura on 14 Jan 2011. 

I've been doing late nights getting the final report ready and now have 2 versions:

• the general report which is about 110 pages plus DVD and poster
• the workbook version which has river reports as hard copy as well as the DVD, 262 pages.

These will be kept at various locations and I will keep 2 copies, so if it's of interest to you please contact me.

survey results

The info's all here, but how I get it 'there' is something I'm still working on!  What does it show? 

• That the West Coast has an amazing density of high quality rivers (as defined by their scores in the WCWKS2010)
• That - other then the Buller Earthquake section which is more commonly associated with Murchison - the most popular rivers are in the central West Coast area. The Kakapotahi, the Hokitika and the Arnold are the most commonly visited here
• That wilderness trips are popular in northern Buller (Oparara, Karamea, Mokihinui) and South Westland (Landsborough and Waiatoto but also Burke, Waipara and Cascade with the few who've paddled them)
• That the West Coast is commonly seen as the pinnacle of kayaking in NZ and rated highly amongst the world's kayaking destinations.  It is valued in general for diversity of whitewater challenge, spectacular scenery, clean water and for the added interest of using helicopters to access many rivers
• That kayakers come to the West Coast from all over the world (28% from overseas) and more Cantabrians paddle here than West Coasters.  They tend to be university educated.

I'll try to work out how to post graphs etc.  It's most likely though that the survey and my work from this year in general will be kept by DoC in Hokitika as well as by me, and be available in full or part on request.

Survey analysis

I'm just home from Lincoln Uni.  Awesome help from Ken Hughey to start making sense of all this data.  443 entries multiplied by all the numbers that those people entered, plus the open-ended questions...is huge. 

Some quick snippets, focusing on "who kayaks here":
81% of respondents were male
72% were from New Zealand, with Canterbury having the highest return rate at 32% of NZers (West Coast 2nd with 27% then Bay of Plenty with 10%)
66% were employed full time and 18% were students
the most common income bracket was $70000-100000/year (really!)
69% were involved in some form of voluntary work
55% of respondents had been kayaking for over 10 years and 43% preferred grade 4-5 whitewater

Working this week on graphing the river data and making maps.

Coming soon: West Coast NZ Rivers Survey 2010

That's right, the crux of my work this year will be launched 1st July...
the West Coast NZ Whitewater Kayaking Survey 2010.

The survey is for anyone 18 or over who's kayaked on New Zealand's West Coast whitewater rivers.  Why 18 or over?  This will be an 'ethics committee approved' survey which means I've had to take several measures to ensure it's conducted properly.  If you're under 18 and want to have your say, I'd love to hear your views on West Coast rivers, though what you tell me cannot form part of the results of this survey.

The survey will ask people what it is about kayaking that they're in to, then a section on what they think of West Coast rivers, then a bit about themselves.

What will I use it for?  I'll be able to see what patterns of use happen here on the West Coast - where people come from to use the rivers, how many and what they think of them.  That will help DoC  to make smart decisions where West Coast rivers are affected and might help kayakers to deal better with other groups who affect rivers such as hydro developers.

So the survey needs you!!!!

Please get the word out there.  Follow this blog, join me on Facebook (Andy England on Facebook) or get in touch by email (westcoastwhitewater@gmail.com)

Paternity leave

As of 20th May, I've taken some time out to be with my new, bigger family. 

Samuel, pictured right at about 3 hours old.

South Westland river journeys

As we pass Franz, then Fox, the valley sides get steeper and our necks crane harder to see the mountain tops.  Rivers are the defining feature of every valley: glacially opaque or spring fed clear;  meandering, braided or charging? 

The rain we had further north didn't touch the sides here, so the Turnbull is low and so is everything.  We do the usual key chase for the Turnbull road and give up.  Gareth rides his bike, boat over shoulder...

Monkey Puzzle Gorge on the Martyr in hot sunshine is a physical chess game.  More canyoning than kayaking, it gives us a new view of this river flowing through conglomerate rock. 

Back at DoC, we discuss the Cascade and the relative merits and drawbacks of  'wilderness areas' preventing kayak access by banning helicopter landing areas within map boundaries.  I point out that the boundaries seem to take no account of river-based recreation, that helicopters taking in people who travel solely over river beds create hardly any impact.  But 'Wilderness Area' is a high designation and not likely to change.  The heart-clutching beauty of the Cascade River makes the argument important.

I travel back a week later to the Waitoto, this time with rafts and kayaks aplenty.  2 Hughes 500s shuttle us in quickly and we set off to enjoy this scenery float.  My birthday is spent with some old and new friends camped at a confluence, enjoying the finer things in life that rafts carry (Ledaig, in this case).