Following a poor winter in terms of rain and
river levels, a few of the club's ‘white water warriors’, or should
that be geriatric warriors, were eager for some
action.
WA doesn’t have too much white water that you can count on.
There’s the Avon, an overrated drain, and a magnet for wana-be marathon
boaters. The Collie, which at least has some decent rapids,
is worth the drive, but the level depends if the cows down around
Harvey are feeling thirsty enough for there to be a water release from
Wellington dam. There’s the Murray, now that’s a decent
river, easy above the infamous Boy Scouts spout, entertaining in its
middle section, and in its lower race down the scarp to Pinjarra, it’s
a classic piece of white water, with enough technicality to test any
white water junkie. There’s also the Blackwood, well at least
it has some moving water sections, though hardly white water.
There’s the Donnelly, an esoteric gem, that’s rarely paddled, and then
getting to the put in through the brambles is a good grade 5 before you
even start to paddle. The Frankland, hmmm, in flood it's
challenging and well worth a look, but watch out for the very large
Karri trees across the river. The Pallinup, somewhere between
Albany and Esperance, is supposed to be good if a little
short – it’s still on my list of things to do.
Then there’s the Murchison! It’s spectacular sandstone gorges
are a real tourist draw, with spectacular walks along the dry river
bed,
but when the occasional summer cyclone fills these to capacity, it
provides WA’s biggest white water run.
So with poor winter rains, I only managed one lower Murray trip last
year, compared to the dozen or so in the previous
year. In need of an adrenalin fix a trip to
Thailand was suggested. A friend had been the previous year
and enjoyed a few days white water paddling with a company based close
to Chiang Mai. He reported good grade 3/4 water, a pleasant
‘jungle’ camp, good equipment and a safety conscious set of
guides. So plans were made for a white water fix.
Al Hale, Rod Coogan, Dave Oakley and myself decided to give ‘Siam
Rivers’ a try.
We booked four days on the Mae Taeng River, based out of their camp
about an hours drive north of Chiang Mai, and added a trip on the more
isolated Nam Wa River in the far north east of the country on the
boarder with Laos. Our two week trip would be rounded off
with some down hill mountain biking.
The week before we were due to leave for Thailand, the news was full of
tales of severe flooding in central Thailand, oh dear, what had we let
ourselves in for? Eager to practice my roll in readiness for the trip,
I managed to split my eyebrow on the edge of our pool resulting in 9
stitches, which fortunately came out the day before we flew out.
Meanwhile Dave had arrived in Chiang Mai, and his
first email said that Chiang Mai was flooded. Al arrived
next, and his emails said that Siam Rivers had reported that they had
just lost two kayaks on the river due to the high water, and some over
confident American paddlers! What were we letting ourselves
in for?
Rod and I flew out together on Air Asia. An additional charge
for sporting equipment, levied on our paddles had me fuming at Perth
airport, but to no avail. We just called them ‘umbrellas’ on
the flight home, and got through OK. Nook
our guide, picked us up at Chiang Mia airport and having collected Dave
and Al, we drove straight to Siam Rivers camp on the Mae
Taeng. The drive up the heavily rutted road to the
camp in an ancient combi-van, with no 4x4 was interesting, who needs
big tyres and lots of ground clearance! As we drove up the
valley Nook suggested that we took the opportunity to look at the main
rapids. A good move!! While not in flood the river
was certainly high, and the rapids we inspected looked particularly
ugly. They were long and technical, certainly grade 4+, and
with very little space between the main features to recover bits,
pieces, bodies or your breath! I think the others were
pleased when I said it looked too much for me! But
Nook assured us that while this was the difficult middle section, the
top section just below camp was an easier grade 3, with fast water, a
few technical moves, some long catching pools, and plenty of time to
get out before the middle section that we had seen!
Once settled into camp and with kayaks sorted out from the range of
battered specimens that they had, we paddled the top section of the Mae
Taeng. It was certainly bigger than most things in WA, and with a few
meaty rapids to keep us on our toes, it provided us with good paddling
and few swims over the next few days. We decided to raft the
middle section with Siam’s guides, and were thankful we were in rafts
rather than kayaks, as we watched their safety kayakers cruise down it
with ease. But then they were half our age and did paddle it
twice a day at least! The middle section had plenty of sticky
pour-overs, some tight technical lines, and a distinct lack of eddies
in which to catch your breath. However, having run it in the
rafts, it seemed that the last rapid of this middle section was a
possibility for the geriatric worriers, if we could just keep to the
correct line!
So on the last day before we left for the Nam Wa, we decided to give it
a go. We managed a short warm up paddle to the top of the
rapid before giving it a quick inspection. Spray skirts on
and away we went. Straight down the middle, avoiding the
boulder garden on river left, a few power strokes to punch the stopper
at the bottom, angle the kayak to river left as you punch the stopper
to ensure you are lined up for the final race down the steps on the
left, and that was it! It was
an exciting run, and a more exciting swim for those intent on
inspecting the river bed, and bruising their anatomy! But
Siam's safety boys were there with throw bags, so we all got to the
bottom safely, if a little battered!
Pretty colours.
Next day we had a long drive to the regional capital of the Northern
Province at Nam. An overnight hotel and then we were on our
way again, getting to the Nam Wa river around lunch time. Our small
expedition included two rafts, Nook and two more guides from Siam
Rivers, and four more ‘sub-contracted’ guides from a rafting company in
Nam. Seven of them, and four of us – a good ratio!
One raft carried all the gear, food and camping equipment, while the
other was available in case we decided to raft rather than
kayak.
As we were almost on Thailand’s northern border with Laos it seemed
that the monsoon rains which had flooded central Thailand, and given us
a fright, had not reached that far inland. Our river was at
its usual autumn level, and quite clear after the murky muddy waters in
the Mae Taeng. We had three days on the river to look forward
to. Nook suggested that it would be around grade 3+ with the
occasional grade 4 that we might want to look at.
Ready to start
on the Nam Wa River.
We started after lunch on the first day, and enjoyed the pristine
jungle that the Nam Wa flowed through. We didn’t see any
wildlife, but the swarms and variety of butterflies were
amazing.
All the rapids on the first day were ‘read and run’ which didn’t
require us to get out of our kayaks. At every horizon line we
paddled carefully forward, always ready for a sprint to the bank if we
didn’t like what we saw. But everything was OK, and though
it did result in a few rolls and swims, there was always a long pool at
the bottom for us to gather up our bits and pieces.
Our first night's camp was on the east, Laos’s side of the
river. The rafting company from Nam had developed a rustic
standing camp, complete with a benched eating area, a thatched camp
kitchen with running water, some level ground on which to pitch tents,
and three dunnies – quite impressive for the middle of
nowhere! Our guides prepared supper while we erected tents,
sorted sleeping bags, and hung our wet paddling gear out to dry.
Day 2
The guides where up early and had breakfast prepared while we packed
our tents and gear. Nook said it was a 25 km day with some
big rapids that we would be inspecting. The water was clear and so was
easy to read, which was good as there where lots of grade 2/3 rapids
that kept us entertained. None required any inspection, and
we
were able to creep up on them, scan the rapid from our kayaks and then
hope we had sorted the best route down. There were a few
rolls and swims but all was going well. The jungle was
particularly lush and thick on the left bank, while on the right there
was the occasional trace of human tracks.
We eventually came to the first rapid that Nook and the boys said we
needed to inspect. It was formed where a particularly large
side stream entered and which at some time had flooded and deposited
large boulders across the river. The rapid was a one drop
wonder, and took the form of a 2 metre drop over a boulder ledge into a
river-wide stopper, which fortunately had a tongue in the
middle. Our guides ran it and made it look easy –
don’t they always. I ran it and decided yes it was easy, but
the others declined to try. A little further and we had the
second rapid to inspect. Formed by a similar boulder garden
dumped by a side stream, it was more technical than the first and
probably grade 4. It required some manoeuvering to weave
around boulders and holes, but there was a good run out at the
bottom. The guides did their stuff, and I ran it and had a
roll at the bottom. But the roll worked – my first serious
roll, since my out of boat experiences in New Zealand back in
February. So I was pleased.
At our lunch stop, we watched our guides turning over every stone by
the river looking for some sort of insect larvae. Evidently
they were to be used as fish bait once we reached camp. We
had a short stop in the afternoon to enable the guides to go fishing up
a side stream, while one stayed behind and searched for bamboo
grubs! Again to be used as fishing bait!
Bamboo grubs.
A few more read and run rapids and we reached camp two after a long day
on the river. It was another remarkable site, with camp
kitchen, dining areas complete with tables and benches and shade,
level map sites and this time four dunnies!. The guides went
fishing, and we were amazed at the size of the carp that the insect
larvae had attracted to their lines. Dinner started with the
small fish that the boys had caught that afternoon; the big monster was
for them.
I retired early, a mixture of sun and dehydration. Dave and
Rod decided to sleep out on the dining tables under the thatched
roofs. It seemed a good idea. There had been a heavy dew the night
before and we had woken to damp sleeping bags, but I was too tired to
worry tonight!
How to catch
dengue fever.
Day 3 was supposed to have a couple more rapids worthy of inspection
but they all looked OK from the top and we ran everything on
sight. The river opened out, the jungle-clad banks receded,
and we were in farming land. A streamer stretched high across the river
marked the approach of the take out. More guides for Nam were
there to greet us with picnic lunches and bottles of Coke!
It was all over.
We had a two day drive back to Chiang Mai to look forward to, but this
time we were treated to the best hotel in Nam for our overnighter, and
a sumptuous banquet with our guides on the banks on the Nam
River. It had been a great trip and I had been surprised at
the quality of the rivers we had paddled and the professional approach
that Nook and his guides had displayed.
Back in Chiang Mia we had three days of the most memorable down hill
mountain biking or more correctly jungle biking to round off the trip,
but that’s another story!
Both Dave and Rod contracted Dengue Fever, or a close cousin, possibly
as a result of their night on the dining table. While Dave
ended up in Chiang Mai hospital, far from home, Rod was more fortunate
and ended up in Mandurah hospital.
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Born-again
bikers.
Mae Taeng base
camp.
It rained!
Mae Taeng
River.
The first of the Nam Wa drops.
First camp on
the Nam Wa River.
A small moth.
Nam Wa frade
2-3 rapids.
Al Hale.
Rod Coogan.
Dave Oakley.
Nam Wa rapids.
The team.
Thai wat.
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