first time in nz!!!!

Interesting that you can get lots of info on how to cross but not a lot on how to read a river and which are the best entrance and exit points. growing up alongside rivers has left me with a healthy respect for them and i still make the odd bad judgement. You realise of course that i am now waiting for the computor literate and those with endless hours to spend hunting to find me a suitable site to look at.

The Mountain Safety pamphlet is quite good http://www.mountainsafety.org.nz/assets/images/About%20river%20safety%281%29.pdf

Now thats what i mean i googled river crossings and that didnt turn up. Thats probably about as good as it gets although i do wonder at 7 people crossing at once seems a bit unwieldy to me.

Yes, 7 people would be unwieldy as you wouldn't be able to stay absolutely parallel to the current. There would be a tendency to bend the line a bit. Also, you wouldn't be close enough to whoever was communicating stuff like, "slow down a bit", or "slow down while I pass over this boulder", or " can we move downstream a bit so I miss this boulder and its eddies". However it may have been that the height and experience range wasn't going to work with 2 groups of 3 e.g. 3 or 4 really short novices and 2 beanpoles! With the gender dimorphism of humans this can sometime occur. I think it might be a bit awkward with a big group but they would be bombproof. I googled "river crossing technique" to find Hamish Reid's site and ended up reading his entire site! I think Hamish did put out the main points of river crossing no nos for novices e.g. rolling boulders, discolored water, strainers, dodgy run-outs, strong current over your thighs and ways to appraise things such as strong current.

Maria, it's great that you want to get out and see New Zealand, there is some beautiful scenery here. Will you have any weekends free while you are here? If so then I would be happy to guide you on one or two weekend trips around the North Island. I hope you enjoy your stay here. Hugh

Hi Hugh! Yes I've got the weekends free! It'd be great to have a guide to discover the scenaries I've been told NZ have! For the moment I can't tell you when but it would be great to keep the contact and when the dates arrive to organise something! Are you living near Wellington? See you! (just 2 weeks to come to NZ, I'm very excited!) maria

Great! I look forward to the opportunity of meeting you and travelling NZ. Stay in contact, that would be good, perhaps you have MSN or Facebook? I live in Palmerston North, about 2 hours drive north of Wellington. Let me know closer to the time if you like, if you can contain the excitement.. ok see you Hugh