Jetboating up the Arawhata River

JJ Nolan and his jetboat "Arawata Bill"

A brief intro before I write about the Arawhata. I'm now back in Auckland, it was a full on twelve day trip - I hardly had time to brush the west coast debri from my hair, down the whitebait patties and savour the tender vension steaks - let alone write up blog posts. I spent all my time seeing as many people as possible and the trip was well worth it, more on the summing up later.
The overall highlight of my trip has to be the trip up the Arawhata River with JJ and Kathy Nolan. Thursday 27th October, 11am, the sky is a clear blue with a smattering of cloud and the river sparkling and beckoning. Kathy backed the boat,  aptly named "Arawata Bill" down the shingle bank. The Frank E boat and Lindsay Kain had urgent business to attend too and we were unable to hook up for this ride; however I did get to see the Frank E while in Haast. JJ's boat is named after another interesting past resident of this region.   

Heading upriver to the Waipara Confluence

William O' Leary aka "Arawata Bill" was born in 1865 and lived most of his adult years in and around South Westland and the Queenstown district. A gold prospector and he also served as the Waiatoto Ferryman for a few years. He lived alone and walked the valleys, hills and mountains dressed in a white shirt and a waistcoat complete with fob watch and chain. His faithful companion for thirty years was a horse named Dolly, he'd leave Dolly to graze in the pastures  whilst he went in search of his elusive gold and precious rubies that he was convinced were lying somewhere in the surrounding hills. Dolly always stayed near to where Bill left her waiting for his return. Denis Glover immortilised Arawata Bill in his 1953 sequence poem of the same name. Easy to digress here as the coast has so much history and interesting characters.
The valley's wide on the Arawhata, that is until you get up to Ten Hour Gorge (named after how long it takes to boulder hop your way through it) where it closes in just past where Frank biult the log cabin.
It was exhilarating flying across the water and JJ's skill at the wheel and his knowledge of the river impressed me. 'He knows every part of it like the back of his hand,' Kathy yelled over the noise of the boat as we turned and navigated through massive tree stumps and other semi submerged obstacles. It's a ribbony river with a lot of pathways to consider, but I felt completely safe with JJ and enjoyed every minute of it. I think we must have been in the boat a good hour and a half there and same back.

Waipara Hut where we lunched.

We stopped three times, first at the confluence of the Waipara River where we lunched in the Waipara Hut. JJ showed me some old fencing Frank and Murray Gunn constructed along with JJ's dad Kevin Nolan. The Nolan's have stock all through this area and have done so for decades. He pointed up to the Waipara Valley to where Noel Skinner and Ralph Blanchard hunted. Noel and Ralph feature in "Those were the Days" one of Dave Asher's South Coast Productions DVDs. Noel sent me his Arawhata map recently, the one he always carried with him when hunting. I have it pinned on my studio wall and tresure it dearly, an old Lands and Survey Map dated 1959.

Frank's old campsite. Grassy Flat Arawhata River.

After some kai and a cuppa we headed down the Waipara back onto the Arawhata and up to Grassy Flat where Frank built the "Grassy Flat Motel" three weeks before he died. JJ showed me an old camp site Frank used before he built the hut,  we found one of Frank's old beer bottles by a tree there. The hut itself is still standing thanks to JJ who has a keen interest in preserving the history of the river.
Then it was onto what used to be called Massacre Flat where a large mob of deer was shot,  now called Log Cabin Flat, where the cabin was situated. Collins Creek has eaten away a good chunk of soil right where the cabin used to sit. JJ said when they decided to dismantle the cabin and save the timber for rebuilding it somewhere else, the chimney was about to topple into the creek. This was 1967 the cabin was built in 1962 and after the dismantling the hut never got rebuilt, all the untreated beech logs felled from the adjacent bush were now spongy and useless. JJ built another hut around 1970, away from the water and used the original flooring, window frames, a table and the chimney. I have an article written on all this published in NZ Outdoor Hunting June/July 2011 issue. It will be up here soon, so I won't go into the details of how the cabin came to be built and what happened to it.
I collected a nice stone, took photos  and learned the name of the waterfall I'd seen so often in all the photos of the cabin and its surroundings, Paulin Falls.
I'd love to go back and camp a few nights and hang out, the sense of wilderness this far up the river (about 60ks) is truely magical.
While there I imagined Frank up early, cup of tea in his hand, roll your own cigarette in the other, thinking about where he'd hunt for the day.
Looking down the valley I could understand why Frank chose this particular spot. I didn't want to leave but also knew how lucky I was to see this remote location, its not a tourist river, very few people get to see it this far up, thanks to JJ Nolan I did.

Louise sitting on site of old cabin. Paulin Falls in background.