Slippery Eel Canyon, Manawatu Gorge

Next challenge was to scale the steep scrubby ridge to the top of the canyon. Being chilled from our early morning swim, we reasoned that wetsuits would remain on to afford us some warmth and protection from the scrub. In retrospect, it would have been good to bring some leather gardening gloves. At no stage was the hill so steep that we couldn’t climb, but most of the holds consisted of blackberry or gorse. Just lovely...

Satellite Canyon, Ruahine Foothills

Mitch and I scouted around for a while before deciding to commit to the canyon. The escape options looked limited at best, as the vegetation looked a little fragile, but at least relatively dense. The sides were also very steep in places. Indeed, this proved to be one of the more ‘canyoniferous’ little streams I’ve actually done in NZ...