New Zealand White Water Rafting Photos Rangitikei 2006 Ron Castle

White Water Rafting Photos Rangitikei River
Rangitikei River Headwaters Wilderness Rafting Adventure: Part 4
by Photographer Ron Castle

We came to New Zealand on Boxing Day (December 26) 2005 to join up with friends and client John Booth of www.incept.co.nz to participate in the annual Rangitikei River Headwaters Rafting Adventure. Click here if you missed Part 1 of this photo story to see the first page images, or click here if you missed Part 2. The Rangitikei River on New Zealand's North Island begins in the mountains of the Kaimanawa Forest Park east and south of Lake Taupo in the Kaimanawa Mountain Range.

These photos are from the last two days of the trip, which included 3 flipped boats in some challenging wind and white water.

If you see a New Zealand photo image you like, want to use it online or want a print, please contact me for permission and credit details, thanks. If you are a professional photographer and want good search engine rankings, read this.

Check out my:

Cumberland River trout fishing photographs from September 2005
New Orleans photographs that have never been published.
Dean River photographs from British Columbia August-September 2003
Pictures of New Zealand from December 2005 and January 2006
- Photos New Zealand Rivers Mountains Rangitikei Adventure Part One December 2005 January 2006
- New Zealand Photo Images Rangitikei River Adventure Part Two January 2006
- Ruahine Windstorm Makes a REAL Rangitikei Adventure Part Three January 2006
- New Zealand White Water Rafting Photos Rangitikei River Part Four January 2006
- See a short video of whitewater action on the Rangitikei (jumps down this page)
- Grade 5 White Water Rafting Pictures from River Valley Lodge
Photographs from Tennessee and around the world

The next to the last day on our Rangitikei River rafting adventure saw a continuation of the high winds from the night before. John Booth navigates his Raft Pro cataraft through some fun white water. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle
John at the oars. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle
Roger, Ruth and Jeff running the white water and fighting the wind. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle
Captain Roger at the guide position. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle To beard or not to beard, that is the question. Self portrait with apologies. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle
The high winds funneled through these gorges is making for some very exciting paddling. Pam, Bill and Larry's raft with 250 kilos of gear was flipped end for end by the high wind. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle
Dave in his Water Strider. In case you can't tell, it wasn't warm. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle
Same canyon, downstream view. Unfortunately, I did not get a photo of the flipped raft. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle
The weather was still cold, Dave backs up to the campfire in the bun warmer position. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle
Pam, Geoff and Dave working on dinner our last night on the Rangitikei. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle
Rain is eminent so we pitched a dinner fly on the gravel bar. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle
When you are cold and wet, Pam says something to eat is good! New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle Roger and Ruth enjoy being out of the rain. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle Larry is a skilled outdoorsman and all around good hand, the most chipper mate on the river. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle Roger and Matt awaiting dinner. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle Master trout fisherman Bill. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle Ruth, Matt and Pam clean up the dinner dishes. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle Based on the previous night's experience of having the boats blown around and a tree uprooted, we did a better job of securing them for the night. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle Last day on the river, looking downstream to and looking forward to a hot shower. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle Dave Inks in his Water Strider. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle Watch a short video of Ron running a Grade 3 whitewater rapid in his Water Strider. Video was taken by John Booth using a helmet mounted mini camera. At the end of the video you will see Dave coming down the rapid in his Water Strider. Great fun. Click here. Pam, Bill and Larry handling the white water. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle Geoff and Roger scouting preparing to attempt the most challenging rapid of the adventure. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle White water rafting part one of what Brian Megaw at www.rivervalley.co.nz says is a mild Grade 4 rapid. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle Part two. Excellent position! New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle They made the spill over, working to get far right for the big chute at the bottom of the rapid. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle They are in good position, working hard to get river right. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle The raft needed to make river right from the current flow that is split by the large boulder center left of this photo. So good so far. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle And, success! This is the way it is supposed to be done, mates! You might wonder how I got all of these photos with one camera? Actually, Larry, Geoff and Roger successfully made the run twice. They took their own raft down first, then hiked back up river and took the raft that Pam, Bill and Larry had been paddling. Perfect run both times, a tribute to Kiwi white water experience and the superior handling performance of Incept rafts. They turn on a dime. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle John Booth makes the same trip successfully in his cataraft. You can see that in the final part of the chute there is about a 2 meter drop. The balance of our final day on the river was through open rolling hills and pasture land back to our takeout at the Taihape-Napier Highway Bridge (Gentle Annie), an excellent white water wilderness adventure. New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle Part 5: The Rangitikei Grade 5 rapids with www.rivervalley.co.nz

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