Over the weekend a whole bunch of the Okere Falls crew headed south for the Buller River Festival. Its a long drive but it was sunny and we stopped for many swims along the way. Our car was not really interested in shopping in Blenheim for food and clothes so we headed off and found some cool swimming spots and a heard of Eels. I may be wrong, it could be a flock...
Anyway back to the story. Now on the road for the second day we slowly made our way into Murchison in time to put up the tent and I think we went for another swim! By this time you probably understand that it is quite hot!
Unfortunately the sun did not burn off the sand flies and we were not coping well. Like big cities have traffic jams, ghettos have gangs and parliament has John Key, Murchison has sand flies and they are a pain in the... well everywhere! While I will not mention them again in this story just keep in mind that everything explained was done while battling them tirelessly!
Day 3 started with Boater-cross and as the fog drew back the sun pounded down on the course of rocks rocks and more rocks. As the rest of NZ knows, the rain has been non existent this summer so the course was low. Round 1 was a seeding race and I was up against Tyler Fox Matt Burton and 1 other. Tyler had a fast start but I caught him and snuck through to take the win. My second race I had the right side again and got out to an early lead and finished 1st again. Race 3 was much the same but winning that put me up against Barny, John Snook and Jamie Sutton. With a bad start I struggled against the wake. I thought I found a gap mid way down but Snook spun me and I was out of the race. Tyler and Jamie went on to the finals with Kenny Mutton and Murchison local 'Foxy'. The Okere Falls crew couldn't hold him back and 'Foxy' took the win. After that it was back to camp for dinner and a few drinks before going to the prize giving.
Day 4 was the slalom and raft race but I decided to have the day off and watch the racing from the bank. After the racing was over it was time for the dress up party. Okere Falls decided to boycott the party theme as we thought it sucked so we decided to all dress up as Ben Jackson. It worked well and was a pretty fun party! Sadly the security took their jobs WAAAAY to seriously and it really put a downer on the whole thing. Sunday was the Cardboard Cup race which the girls all entered by wrapping themselves up in boxes and swimming with a floating box. They came in a close 2nd but were disqualified because they did not use enough cardboard?? Anyway they did not loose out on anything special so all was well. That afternoon was spent eating, drinking and a couple of laps on Maruia Falls.
After a long, long weekend we were all shattered and on day 6 we started our long journey home. Not much to be said about the drive other than long and plenty of fast food. Back in Okere Falls now for some more work and a wind down till the 5th of May when its Cali season!
Cheers for a great Buller Fest to all the Okere Falls Crew!
Josh
