Ashley River

Sunday 11 December; Ashley River. The day started grey. Rather than batten down the hatches, light the fire and watch a video we decided we'd go out for the afternoon and explore the Ashley River. This is a typical braided gravel river that you get in NZ. We'd driven through the Ashley Gorge before, where it cuts through the foothills of the Southern Alps, it then flows through the Canterbury plain before becoming depositing its waters in the Pacific Ocean.

The river is 10 minutes from home, north up State Highway 1 and leave by the northern bank. Its still estuarine here so must remember to give truck a good hose down later.

SH1 from the Ashley River bed

The route starts off as a well graded gravel road, a popular spot for fishermen, swimmers, boaters etc. Heading inland the track becomes less defined, sometimes just gravel, sometimes picking its way through meadows of lupins clinging to the silt deposits or heading across the river.

Each crossing followed a similar format. Vanessa forded the river in her jandels, if it didn't reach her knees I followed, lol.

[V would like to point out that the river was FREEZING, very fast flowing and the pebbled bottom very slippery. Given that I was carrying my pride and joy (camera), I would have been severly hacked off if I had fallen in - which nearly happened a couple of times!]

After about 10 km we decided it was time to get something to eat so we exited the river bed at Rangiora. According to the guide there's another 40 km of river crossings till you reach the gorge. We'll save that for another day.

Home, and jetwashed the undercarriage thoroughly.