| Kerry, Matic and I eventually got to do the Mason river, a Waiau trib near the town of Waiau. The flow was about 20 cumecs, which is perfect. Any less would be manky and any more would make it pretty full on. The crux section is a 1km long conglomerate (unclimbable crumbly rock) gorge, and is full of steep and bouldery rapids, followed by a fast 5km float out to the end. 4 hours total+a good day out (but not as good as the Okuku or Grey).
For gauging flows, the Conway was on 230 cumecs, and the rain gauges at Stanton and Marble point were showing 85mm and 125mm total over the previous 3 days.
|
