05/03/2026

Dave, Hywaida, Jason, Kylie, Kristo and me

We are not the fastest group out there and don’t intend to break speed record but we go alright. Even taking the time to soak in the experience and take 1001 photos our group of 6 had cruised through Robinson, Cross Creek, Wilsons, and Mill Creek well within the suggested timeframes so we weren’t expecting Mathers to be too big a day.

As it was, it turned into a bit of a mini epic.

No idea why, TBH.

We did have a couple of stuck ropes ( first one the figure 8 block flipped over and caught on the anchor ring) but they didn’t take us long to sort out.

Maybe in our complacency we spent a bit too much time enjoying the slides and jumps in the upper section.

The middle section seemed to go on for-fucking-ever…

End result we were well over the suggested time but still had an absolute blast.

In hindsight a 4th rope in a party of 6 would have made it a lot more efficient.

Anyhoo. This one is a little less descriptive than my usual write up (Most of these ones from NZ are mostly from it all being a blur of awesomeness)

We were frothing to get into it. Mathers was rumoured to be very pretty with lots of slide and jumps.

We make our way from the campground, along the Haast and up into Mathers creek.

The canyon ends at one of the prettiest waterfall Archways going.

It’s recently become a social media hot spot. I can see why

Unfortunately Haast river is infected with Didymo and the increasing crowds of influencers either don’t know or don’t care about cleaning it off their shoes before entering the side creeks. Sadly the pool below the Arch is showing signs of Rock Snot.

While we tried to avoid walking in the water you can pick up cells in the dirt along the banks so we had brought bottles of detergent and scrubbing brushes and paused here to SAY NO TO DIDYMO.

And then up we went.

and before we know it… Wait no, that’s not right, I mean eventually spent and almost over it we finally get back to the arch

Back to the Canyoning Page

On to Imp.