04/03/2026
Kristo, Dave, Jason, Kylie, and me
3hrs drive to do a 3hr canyon? Are you mad?
Well, yeah, but there was a method to our madness.
And to be honest this one turned out to be a bit of a surprise highlight, partly because I wasn’t expecting much.
Anyhoo, Jason put it on his must do list for this trip and we all just went along with him. The description sounded cool and after Wilsons it was a bit of a rest day.
The diving would break up the trip a bit and give us a chance to restock supplies and eat out in Wanaka.
The pass up was steep but not too difficult and we make good time.
We are too high calls Kylie, We are a few contours above the trace
There’s marking tape here though, replies Jason
It looks like a rough trail, Says Kristo
we push on, or down. or sumfink
I’ve been down some goat tracks in my time but this was up there in the goat trackiness. And all the while the roar of the water is churning int he back ground.
still there are signs someone at some point has come this way.
It doesn’t feel right. Says Kylie. I’m sure this was run during the festival. the track should be fresh.
There’s a landline here.
The old hand line was possibly more a short abseil but Jason and Kris get down.
I start to hand over hand.
Whatever I’m standing on gives way and suddenly I’m free hanging on a skinny cord and can’t quite get my feet back on the wall.
Below nothing but steep scree, soiled underpants and a sense of dread.
No choice but accept a bit of rope burn and slide down.
I’ll say up front this little episode put the wind up me a bit.
Still we scramble down a bit more before coming to what looks like another small cliffline.
Below us Mill Creek Tumbles through a series of complex boulders.
According to the trace the start is 50m down that way.
Will be get past that pool? It looks horrid,
Maybe if we can cross above it?
Problem is we can’t see what the water is doing directly below us.
Phuk this say I, still shaken from my near fall. Let’s head back up a bit and cut across to where the trace is.
We ascend back up above the dodgy hand line and follow Kylie’s trace down over the next knob and pick up a much clearer trail, and less dodge path down.
Reaching the creek we see that had we have abseiled in before a narrow ledge and bit of scrambling would have gotten us across to the first anchor.
Anyhoo, setting up an anchor and getting us all down would have taken just as long. So alls well that ends well.
We pause for a bite to eat, suit up and take in the surroundings.
What a spot.
We bypass the first anchor and traverse bolts which appear to be high-water options and set up at the first drop.
The guide wasn’t wrong.
Some of the drops are very intimidating from above.
Most end in deep pools.
Most of those pools have wash-over risks
But whoever set the route has done a fabulous job. shout yourselves a beer or two.
The anchors are in the perfect positions to get you into a safe spot to assess the eddie and choose your swim line before committing to the water.
It’s such a diverse canyon too.
The top is open, yet intimidating. And the further you descend the more the walls close in.
And we make our way back across the flats, wade the river and meet back at the car.
More photos just because. Feel free to click on them
Mine.
Kylie’s
Daves
Do the thing. A Honnold
Back to the Canyoning page.
Or onto Mathers Creek
