The Lifeblood team is a generational mix of four of New Zealand's kayak industry adventurers, photographers, writers and teachers.
Mick Hopkinson, Graham Charles, Zak Shaw and the recently seconded Keith Riley are recipients of a SPARC-funded Hillary Expedition Grant. The project aims to refresh publicity surrounding NZ's stunning waterways, explore demanding kayak runs and photograph iconic NZ river environments -- particularly those threatened by hydro electricity generation.
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| Kayaking on the East Waikaia River (Photo: Zak Shaw / SPARC) |
"We have spent a lot of time teaching people to kayak on the Matakitaki River in Murchison. If you only had one river to take a politician to that would be it! The river is an exceptional fishery and is currently averaging 10 kayakers per day!"
The Karamea and the Mokihinui Rivers had fantastic flows and clear weather in spring. Zak shared a passion and affinity for a river with 10 business executives from Auckland and Wellington on a five-day Karamea tramping and river journey.
Mick and Graham are committed advocates for river conservation. They have written to Members of Parliament and conservation ministers, log books have been placed at the finish of river sections so that numbers of river users can be recorded, and Graham has been busy with camera in hand. He has also given several lectures about New Zealand rivers to international tourists both in New Zealand and onboard tour ships in the Southern Ocean.
Last November, Keith and Zak spent two weeks on the road adventuring and filming wild rivers. They ventured into South Westland's Burke River and the "Churn Gorge" The gorge is 2km upstream from where the Burke joins the Haast River. After kayaking, climbing and bush bashing all day, they were rewarded with views into an incredible chasm of carved bedrock with big cauldron waterfalls.
During this trip, they pulled off "an epic" three-day first descent of the East Waikaia River in Southland. "The alpine highlands of the Waikaia River are unparalleled and contain some of the best whitewater in New Zealand! There are no trees, only golden tussock slopes, craggy rock and unrelenting class V whitewater! The Waikaia descent was a huge adventure and a brilliantly tied in to the Lifeblood ideals," Zak says.
Keith grew up in Invercargill and at the conclusion of the Waikaia River descent members of the Lifeblood team were interviewed by the Southland Times.
"The Lifeblood of the Nation project is ongoing. Our efforts will not be limited to a few trips. With summer now in full force, we are actively adventuring and photographing wild rivers."
The team members have identified a list of rivers they believe hold qualities of national significance and have made the Waitaha River – where a privately funded electricity scheme is underway -- their next project. This river flows west out of the Southern Alps to the west coast of the South Island. Its glaciated headwaters feed the Morgan Gorge, ''a pristine corridor of raw rock and turquoise coloured water''.
The Lifeblood idea was fueled by a growing concern over the future of New Zealand rivers. Members of the group want to highlight their belief that there are rivers in New Zealand which should have the same level of protection as national parks. "New Zealand's mountains have always been sacred places but as a people we haven't extended that same sense of value to our rivers," Zac and Graham write. "Some rivers currently threatened by hydro electricity generation fit the bill in that they possess characteristics we believe are not renewable," they say.
