OUTDOOR FREEDOM: A Home Away From Home

The Maruia River section is a very scenic run that hides itself well away from the main road to Murchison. It was the Buller Marathon weekend and my new found friend, James Moore, decided that we would rise early on the Friday and head up Murchison way, destined for Westport eventually as I was running the half on the Saturday.

We had read the guide book and knew that this section was a reasonably long run. There is nothing to trip you up on the river as it rates as a class 2+ 3 run, unless the river has a bit of water in it, then it would provide a bit more juice. The only thing being for us it was a grade 5 shuttle, as there was no chance of taking two cars, we enthusiastically threw the bike on the bike rack in Christchurch. After a grueling 10km of up, up, down, rolling country I was surprised to see that James had hitched a ride saving me a further 10km.

If I was going to do this run again I would take a bit of lunch and plenty of fluids its about an 18km paddle and towards the end most of it is flat water. When we got to the take out we were really ready to be off the water as we were hungry and dehydrated. Here are some of the photos that we took. Feel the serenity……