WHITEWATER-KOA

Upper Ngamuwahine - Kaimai's

2011-10-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the week we got a front coming over the North Island from the West and it tried its hardest to fill the rivers of the Kaimai Ranges but didnt quite have enough to get over the ridge. Luckily it did have enough to fill up a few of the catchments and we got a sweet run on the Upper Ngamuwahine. It was definitely on the low side of good and the boat took a bit of a pounding but fun none the less!

Here are a couple of shots of the boys from Tauranga running the main section.

-Cole on the top drop of Double Drop - Photo Josh Neilson

-Laurence on the bottom drop of the double - Photo Josh Neilson

The New Bliss-Stick Tuna

2011-10-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

I have been lucky enough to paddle the new 'Tuna' from Bliss-Stick for the past few weeks on a variety of different occasions. First off was its home on the Kaituna where Sam Roil and I did multiple laps on the normal run critiquing its every move on the different drops. Immediately I was amazed by its speed on the water. It moves almost effortlessly through flat water. I usually have my Mystic seat right forward so I can keep it in control better but I prefer to have my seat back in the Tuna due to its large tail. Something worth playing round with in any boat till you find your perfect balance point.
With the extra length and flatter bottom the initial carving speed in the Chute (rapid 1 on Kaituna) was a little slower than the mystic but I soon found a different style to make up for that. Speed across the flow was unmatchable though. This is the first weigh up I noticed between the Mystic and the Tuna. Speed across the water Vs responsive sharp eddy turns.
Next up I was blown away by how well the boat handled across choppy, boiling water. It stays on top and glides over top and goes the direction your pointing and keeps that way till you change it. When the boat is a full speed here it is easy to make changes to your line as the nose is sitting high on top of the water.
Then comes the first boof of the river... For someone my size this is where I expected to have troubles. At a whopping 65Kgs I sit a the bottom end of the weight scale for most creek boats so moving into a longer and bigger volume boat was a little optimistic I thought. But.. With that extra bit of acceleration and an uncanny ability to land beautifully I was now sold on the Tuna. Yes it does take the smaller paddler a bit more to boof but even with a little bit of nose up it scoots out of the pit again in a straight line of where your pointing and then the bow stays low and does not kick up or to either side. Even though its harder to get the nose up for me I now find myself boofing less as I know how it will react at the bottom.
I then took the boat on 3 days kayaking instruction on the Mohaka River and it was great there. Fast on slow water helps get to upside down students quickly! Also the deck on the Tuna seems slightly lower than the Mystic so I don't seem to hit my hands as much and barrel rolling students is easy too!
We took the Tuna for a couple of runs down the lower Kaituna run and have no complaints there! Especially when you have to paddle for an hour on flat water to get out. longer hull = less effort paddling!
Now I know the Kaituna is a great river but one of a kind really. So we were hanging out to test it on something a little more characteristic of other rivers around NZ and the world. With a bit of rain in the Kaimai Ranges we set off to paddle the Upper Ngamuwahine. This is a sweet creek that makes its was through dense forest a lot like the Wairoa River. Big boulders and lovely sieves on every rapid meant we needed to keep on our toes. The Tuna had no trouble keeping out of trouble here. One thing Sam and I both noticed was we were now in a creek where the rapids are stacked on top of each other unlike the Kaituna and some adjustments were needed. Not with the boat but the way we paddled. Like I mentioned earlier the Tuna once boofed it lands and speeds out of drops. When drops are stacked up we had to make sure we didnt boof, land and shoot right into the next drop. This was quickly noted and adjusted for and we had a sweet day out paddling.
I will be sure to keep you updated on how the boat goes and a video coming soon! Till then if you want to see how it looks watch Sam Sutton's run on the Sickline Race. You will notice a few of its characteristics I have pointed out matched with some amazing paddling by Sam!
For now that is all!
If you want to know more or like to try the Tuna out on the Kaituna then send me a message and Ill let you take mine for a spin.
Cheers
Josh

- Sam Roil - Upper Ngamuwahine River - Photo Josh Neilson

Wednesday's Todays Video - Voss Extreme Sports Veko

2011-09-12T19:36:00.000-07:00

During the last week of June Voss, Norway is host to the most exciting and fun Extreme sports events I have ever been to. It has it all! From art shows to Music and not to forget the amazing display of sports and the top athletes in every field. This year I was up there filming Mike Abbott for the Kayak segment to my film and Jokke Sommer for the Base segment and while I was there I got the job of editing the 'Todays Video' for the kayaking. I had a great team of paddlers to work with and we were able to shoot a bunch of cool edits to show what kayaking had to offer! Over the next while I will post the days videos. I am starting with Wednesday as this was one of my favorites!
Cheers and Enjoy!

2011 Paddle Sports Awards

2011-09-07T14:44:00.000-07:00

Last issue of Cumec Magazine held the 2011 Paddle Sports Awards. The different categories were announced and people, sites, groups and businesses were nominated for each award. Once all the nominations were in it was half open for public judging and then the other half was judged by a panel selected by Cumec Magazine. The paddle sports scene down here is still relatively small but it was cool to win a few of the categories.
The First win was for 'Blog of the year' - This blog has been a way for me to share my adventures with family and friends and I'm stoked that people out there enjoy reading and using it to find other stories linked on the side of my blog!

The next award was for 'Photo of the year' - Now I have seen a lot more awesome photos throughout the year from other blogs etc and possibly they didnt know about the awards or didnt have time to send them in but regardless I'm stoked to have this shot of Tyler Fox in there! This river is one very unique river in the North Island and I missed it due to injury but meant I could get this shot! I cant wait to get in there this spring!

During 2010 I was stoked to go back to Thailand and explore more amazing whitewater! I was joined by Tyler Fox, Louise Urwin and Toni George and we ticked off some sweet first descents and returned to a number of runs that we discovered in 2007. Logistics were relatively easy, the food was great and the whitewater was great again and we are stoked to share the 'Expedition or Adventure of the year' award with the Papua New Guinea Expedition.

Canoe and Kayak NZ Magazine

2011-09-06T15:49:00.000-07:00

Home again... It has been a great 4 months on the road filming for 'Transcendence' and I am happy to say its almost all shot!!! Still a lot of editing to do but it is on the go right now!!!
I will keep you posted as it comes together but for now I hope you are all checking out issues of Canoe and Kayak NZ magazine! I write an article each issue on the kayaking adventures I have been on! Here is one of the latest ones and there is a new one in progress right now!
Cheers
Josh

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3

Cheers Pete and Canoe and Kayak for your support over the years!

Raft the Kaituna this summer!!!

2011-08-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

This Summer a mate of mine Sam Sutton is starting his White Water Rafting company on the Kaituna River in New Zealand, so if any one is heading through NZ this summer they should check Rotorua Rafting. They Raft the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world in one of the most beautiful gorges on planet earth so check it out here www.rotorua-rafting.co.nz .

-Sams clients going off the highest commercially rafted waterfall in the world!

-Inside the Kaituna Gorge

-The Powerhouse rapid

-You even have the option to go tandem kayaking

"We're leaving tonight for Upper Cherry!!"

2011-08-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

Upper Cherry Put in - Beautiful place!! - Photo Josh Neilson

Sometimes things don't go exactly to plan. I had such good intentions to get back into kayaking in an orderly fashion after my surgery in January. The Dr said 3 months till flat water then another 3 till I could start getting on some rapids and building up from there. The first 3 months went past and i went kayaking on flat water for the first time which felt good. Then I left to start making my film and time to flatwater kayaking didn't really happen. I then decided after months of stretchy bands and other arduous exercises that id try out the mighty raft section on the American River which was rather successful with a bout of cheek cramp from smiling so much...

Then I left for Norway and motivation to kayak soon diminished due to the loss of a good friend to the river in Canada(love ya Si).

Upon returning to California I get myself back in a raft and did a bunch of rafting and the shoulder felt strong and got stronger and stronger due to 22 miles of class 3 and flatwater each day!!!

The thought was always in my mind that I could handle a run on upper Cherry Creek at a low flow and just walk all the big ones but with the season dragging on a lot i thought it wouldn't happen any time soon.. I woke up one morning to Dean saying something along the lines of "I just saw Tyler paddling past on an inflatable kayak and he said something about getting your gear together as we are going in to Upper Cherry tonight". I had predictions that it would still be high but couldn't miss an opportunity to ignite the injury comeback tour with 2 of my favorite paddling and general life homies Tyler and Lu!! SO I got on the phone and begged borrowed and bought everything I needed to make the 10-12 mile hike in and 2 days paddle out as successful as possible. Thanks Harvey and Nick for your gear!

So the departure time was 4.30 and by 6pm sharp we were rolling out the gates of Coloma central and on the rd to Cherry Lake! I was a little nervous and a lot excited! I announced that there would be a need for some serious celebration if the trip went well on the way home and some serious drowning of sorrows if it didn't!

With the drive and some sweet fast food under our belts we rolled in to cherry lake and met up with the rest of the NZ contingent for a briefing of what the plan would be for the next few days. We loaded out boats and attached our carry systems before setting the alarm for 5am and going to bed. And by bed I mean thermarest in the dirt by some cars in the woods..

Again with a departure time set, this time for 5.30am, we graciously stumbled up the hill with kayaks on our backs at 6.45 and got stuck in to 5.5hours of pain and suffering.

About half way in I threw a knee out and proceeded to hobble the last half trying to think about the pain on all the blisters rather than the knee falling off!! At the put in I realised that coming off the couch for 11 months and expecting to make fun of the hike in was rather stupidly optimistic but I made it none the less!!

Once I had slept in the small shadow of a pine for about 20 mins the rest of the crew arrived and we shared horror stories of our pain from the hike in and then go on the river. I portaged the first drop due to it being the biggest one of day one with no warm up and I wanted to test the waters before going too big too soon! Good decision or over cautious decision? Didnt matter! I was in one of the coolest places on earth with good friends and back in my kayak!

We made our way down stream knowing we had put on late and we needed to make some ground. The rapids on day 1 are pretty chill but an amazing place to be! The shoulder warmed up and the drops got better and better!!

We rolled in to a small island inhabited by about 9 other kayakers at about 6pm that night right above the crux gorge and decided to set camp for the night and dry out thermals by the fire.

Me on Cherry Bomb Falls - Photo Barney Young

Day 2 was a slow start as we lay in waiting for the sun to reach us at the bottom of the gorge. One by one we re packed our kayaks and made our way into the flow for the warm up gorge to Cherry Bomb. It wasnt till I was at the lip of Cherry Bomb Falls that I realised we had a bunch more water than Id seen it before. So much for a low water run to get back in the swing of things! My logic then switched and figured more water meant less likely to hit rocks so I was sweet!

While the crew scouted I signaled to fellow Kiwi, Barney Young and friend Charley who were in the ground in front of us to please run safety for me so I could then set safety for our crew at the base of the falls! A couple of strokes passed and I lined up the boof out of the eddy and onto the granite slide down cherry bomb. What a feeling! I slid fast and turned back right for the kicker. Friction was soon replaced with freefall flying through the air into the pool below and then a quick stroke or two and I was through the weir at the bottom!

A sequence of shots from Gopro footage heading down Cherry Bomb Falls

High fives were exchanged and I knew I was where I needed to be! Back in my kayak doing what I love!

The rest of the crew came down and had good lines! The highlight was seeing Matt Coles coming down, sticking his line perfectly for his first run ever and then celebrating every ounce of stoke he had in him in the eddy below! A pleasure to watch!!

At the bottom looking up at the beast that is Cherry Bomb!

The rest of the crew left us at the bottom of the gorge and camped another night while Tyler Lou Dave and I carried on to the lake. We ran everything apart from Kiwi in a Pocket and Dead Bear and made it out in good time!! Tired and battered we loaded the car and hightailed to Sonora for a much deserved 'Jack in the Box' eating fest because Sam Sutton would have wanted us too! I then kept my word about some celebrations on the drive home and while Lou felt unwell and tired and Tyler drove I opened a box of Coronas and yarned the whole way home beer in hand stoked to have a solid shoulder and a sweet crew to get back on the water with! Cheers to everyone who helped me with my shoulder, time off, rehab, and all the kayakers on the trip! I was stoked to be out with you guys!

Now I am enjoying a few more weeks in California and then back to NZ to start editing the film!

Cheers

Josh

A spot of kayaking with a bit of flying

2011-07-04T06:52:00.001-07:00

Gudvangen BASE site - Amazing day!

- The view from the top! Jokke in front right after take off

So things have been so busy in the last week I haven't had time to post anything! Firstly Extreme sports week started here in Voss and it was raining pretty hard for the start of the week meaning a lot of the comps were postponed or canceled! Luckily we were able to shoot some sweet kayak footage and get some edits done! My job for the week not only to film my own film was also to film and edit the 'Todays videos' for kayaking in the festival tent. I was stoked to work with Julian, Hugh and Finn to make some funny films and was stoked that I was awarded Best film of the Todays Video!

With the bad weather I was forced to shoot the interview with Jokke Sommer indoors but the content was great and it shouldn't be too bad in the final film. With a bit of good weather on the way we headed out to Gudvangen to film some BASE shots. Day one was not a big cliff and Jokke just busted out a double back flip into a straight base without his wingsuit. Then it was back to work with kayaking the next day for the race where we busted out a quick edit on the race mixed with a bit of dancing!

- My ride for the day

Luckily the BASE day was postponed to saturday and I was able to fly up to Gudvangen exit point and film there! I was up on the lip of the cliff all day and watched all the jumpers have sweet jumps! Jokke busted out 2 sick lines one left and the last to the right buzzing the cliff and trees on the way down with his buddy Tom. From here we flew back to Voss in time to gear up for Prize giving where Sam and Toni won their head to head races and I got a sweet new Gopro for best film.

- Teams race prize giving

Next up was Fat Freddies Drop in concert and the rest is history! What an epic week of filming and hanging out with awesome people! So inspired by all the sick athletes out there doing what they love! Stay tuned for more updates as the film is coming together fast now! Stoked on all the support from people who have made this film happen so far! Big things on the horizon!

Cheers

Josh

- Team Gopro on take-off - Such nice guys!!

- Jokke checking his wingsuit

- Base day 1 - Most chill people I've met!

-Brothers Sutton at the teams race

Simon Davidson - Love ya bro!

2011-06-24T01:40:00.000-07:00

-Simon up in Quebec this Spring - Always smiling, always thinking..

Friendship is a BIG thing, and its also a Million little things too! Simon Davidson was a big guy with a big smile and a big heart and his friendship to me was a BIG thing! This friendship was made up of a Million little things some we both physically knew about like our shared passion for kayaking, our general love of water, the odd dress up party etc and then there were the things underneath that are not talked about much like the huge amount of respect I had for him, how genuine he was when he asked how things were with my injury or life in general, how much I loved his smile, energy, passion, humor and these things needed not to be spoken to Simon as this is just what made him who he was but it was a Big thing for me to know! Then there are the things I am still learning about Simon that I cherish in our friendship! How he played the guitar and while I'm just starting he will motivate me to keep trying, and how much of a hole he has left within our community of friends that will never be filled! Simon you were taken from us too early and those millions of little things you brought to make my life and our friendship better should really have gone into the Billions. I will miss the kayaking with you, hanging out with you, chatting on Facebook about how epic both our missions were going and how great the reunion would be back in the falls. So now we must make that reunion some other day. Ill keep remembering you down here and you keep looking over me out there and someday when we have that reunion we can share stories and add to those Million things that made our friendship so amazing! Bro you will be missed so much! Thanks so much for everything that you gave me and the inspiration you have left me! You have made the world a better place and for that I know you have succeeded! See ya on the other side someday bro! ~Aroha Nui~

Josh

- A guy that made things good

"One of the steepest slides I have ever seen and paddled... and the most fun I have ever had in a kayak.. what a day....Round four...best day ever!" - Simon davidson - www.flowadventures.blogspot.com

- Huka falls - Simon and his best mate Matt Burton's local drop! These 2 were a joy to be round!

- How we like to live, with our best buddies hanging out every day!

Simon Davidson - Love ya Bro

WW Grand Prix Highlights!!

2011-05-24T09:50:00.000-07:00

Here is then highlights reel from Whitewater Grand Prix that has just been on in Quebec! Its revolutionary kayaking in an event format! Never seen before like this! Well done Pat and Julie and everyone else for making this happen!!! The way forward is here!!!

2011 Whitewater Grand Prix from Tribe Rider on Vimeo.

Natinoal Geo extreme photo of the week!

2011-05-18T15:09:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I was contacted by National Geo online to provide a quote that they could use for the shot above so they could publish it as their 'Extreme Photo of the Week' . I was in the Bahamas at the time so I slowly downloaded the shot to see what one it was and fired them an email back. It was online on Monday so that was cool to see. Amazing how much more exposure and response photos get when they bridge the gap from kayaking media and make it into main stream media. Cheers to Tim Ripper for shooting this sweet shot and thanks to all to boys out there that day! It was a sick mission! Check out the page here..

Cheers

Josh

WW-Koa nominated for NZ blog of the year! Time to vote

2011-05-16T17:39:00.000-07:00

Cumec Magazine are running NZ and Australian Paddle sports awards and voting is now open! Its easy to do and this blog is nominated for Whitewater Blog of the Year! Please go on and vote for all the amazing athletes and things related to kayaking! We also have nominations for Photo of the year and Kayak expedition of the year for Thailand last year! Click Here to go to the page where you can find out more and vote! Every vote counts so get there and vote! Thanks very much!!

Josh

2011-04-14T21:04:00.000-07:00

- Arches NP in Utah - One of the hottest places I've been in my life!!!

With a lot of time on my hands at the moment rendering video files and things I have been looking at a bunch of the highlight moments of 2010! Although there were not many for me on the water there were a lot off the water! Moments when your stoked to know the people you do and stoked on the places you get to see! In 2.5 weeks I am off on a new trip to document a film on Extreme sports psychology! Its going to be epic and hopefully by July the shoulder will be back in action and Ill have some kayaking shots to share once again! In the mean time ill be posting stuff on filming free diving, Skiing, Kayaking and Base Jumping.

Here are a few moments from the 2010 mission which stood out! Cheers everyone for a meen time and lets make 2011 even better!

Chur

Josh

- Sam Roil at Mal's lake house behind her boat! Cant wait for 2011 lake visit!!

-Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?? Yosimite NP Hold up!

-Team Kiwi celebrating Sam's Win at the steep creek race!

-'MUM' cruising through Arches NP in Utah in 45ºC on the way to Cali from Vail!

- Moro Rock in Sequoia NP after a day chasing Bears in the park!

BULLER FEST 2011

2011-03-08T23:01:00.000-08:00

Alright so it has come and gone again for another year and I must say that it was amazing once again! This was my 9th Buller River Festival but this one was different! Unfortunately this year was my first year not racing due to recent shoulder surgery but I still made the trip and it was so worth while!!!

The weather came to the party for most of it and the sun roared down in between patches of classic Murchison fog and cloud. I left Hawkes Bay on Wednesday morning to pass by the Hydraulics HQ to pick up some spot prizes and some kit for the team and then made my way to the ferry in Wellington. After a meen feed with my bro and his flatties I met up with Sanga and Flick for the 2.25am ferry crossing. By 8am Thursday we made it to Murchison with no sleep and rearing to go for the weekend ahead. While everyone got ready and raced I did some last minute editing to a collaborative film Tyler and I would show that night. Mike D came in with the 1st place spot even though there was 3 others equally able for the spot.

The night kicked off with Zac, Keith and Dylan's East Waikaia Film and then we finished off the showings with a bunch of 2010 missions mixed in to make an epic flick! The rest of the night I will leave up to your imagination..

Saturday morning was the slalom race but a few of us decided to go rest our heads at Maruia Falls while some of the boys hucked it. Some interesting lines but no serious carnage.

Back at the camp people were getting restless for the party planned for the night. The theme was denim and the sneak peaks of costumes I had seen were epic! Again the rest can be left up to you imagination.

Sunday monrning got off to a slower start than the one before with some much needed cold juice and a pie before the events kicked off. This was the fun event and it came in the form for the first time this year as a cardboard cup. Competitors had to make a vessel out of cardboard and race down the river to the camp where we all watched from. it was very funny and entertaining!!

Prize giving went down a treat with some very stoked people winning sweet prizes from great companies such as Bliss-stick, Hydraulics, Skull Candy and many more!!!

THEN... as we were about to set down for a few hours sleep before an early start to make the 8am ferry home we realised that we did not fuel up and that we had 80km of Gas and 120km to the nearest gas station... We decided to get up a bit earlier and go for it and hope for the best. 4am we woke and began the nervous dash via Nelson to get gas! No trouble! We made the ferry and then 12.5 hrs later i made it back to Hawkes Bay where I set in for 2 days rest and recovery! Thanks Ben for once again outdoing yourself and producing a world class event!!!

Cheers to all the friends that come to this event! cant wait to see you all again in a few days, weeks or at Buller Fest next year!

Chur

Josh

2011-02-27T21:19:00.000-08:00

-Classic NZ country sign, BOOM BOOM BOOM..

If you are anything like me right now, recovering from an injury and having far to much time dreaming of kayaking you will have noticed that there has been a shortage of blog updates by the more fortunate, healthy, fit people residing in Okere Falls, Hoki, etc. Each morning I get up and pour a cup of tea and while eating my Vogels toast and sipping my tea I like to see whats news. Seems the rivers are dry and all people have to do is try to flip bikes off ramps into the lake! (classic edit here)

But I guess this is the time of year when everyone is hard at work saving as much as possible for the coming spring in the northern hemisphere! Its not far off really!

So with a bit of spare time I decided to join Matt Danes on another outing in search of Hawkes Bay waterfalls. This time it was not as successful as the Waihi Stream mission but we are sure there are more out there somewhere! It was a fun day and even though the drop looked sweet from google earth after 2km walking up Nuhaka River we found it was not to go. Maybe if there was a ton of water and a heli access higher up then maybe but I think this one will go down as a nice scenic place to visit...

-Upper Nuhaka River waterfall, deep pool but mission to get to!!!

The days of kayaking are getting closer but for now its, exercises and a bit of Buller fest to keep things interesting.

Hopefully people will have some more kayaking updates soon for us to enjoy!

Cheers

Josh

Gopro Mount System

2011-02-03T16:02:00.001-08:00

Since I have been off injured it has given me a lot of spare time! Time that I never used to have because I was kayaking as much as possible. A lot of people said that this time off could be a good thing and will allow me to get other things done and sort out my direction in life! Profound and definitely true!!!

I have had a lot of time to work on the up coming film which I must say is coming along nicely! It has also given me more time to sort out how to film better! With the expertise of Alan, my dad, we have come up with a number of sweet contraptions that im going to share with you over the next while. First up is our Gopro mount system. I wanted something that I could put on and take off with ease on any river trip. I wanted something that as light and tough. I wanted something that could be moved from back to front with ease. I came up with an idea of integrating the mount into the grabloop of the kayak. I have seen a lot that mount here but this means getting rid of your grabloop. With some alterations to design we came up with the removable mount/grabloop system. Check it out!

-The Mount/grabloop system attached to boat

- Mount/grabloop system and attachment pole ready

- Simply slide on and clamp pole to mount

-Simply angle Gopro toward kayaker and tie it on just incase

We made 2 of these so one can be attached to front and one on the back. That way you can switch it round throughout the river trip. The attachment rod does stick up a little bit but its nothing too serious. We have tested it out (not me obviously) and it works great! I cant wait to be fixed so I can enjoy using this out there!!

Cheers

Josh

NZ Extreme Kayak Championships is on!!!

2011-01-23T17:14:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone.

A quick note to say that this year's Citroen Extreme Race is the New Zealand extreme kayak championships.

The date is March 12th on the Citroen rapid, Kawarau River, Queenstown.

It is a fantastic event to be a part of whether racing or just spectating and partying.

Pre-registration is now open and only available until March 6th. Event t-shirts are only available with pre-registration.

Keep an eye on www.citroenextremerace.blogspot.com for up to date information.

Spread the word.

See you there.

Dylan

Photo Contest

2011-01-23T13:26:00.001-08:00

VOTE HERE

Five2Nine Productions are having a Photo contest and I have entered a Photo. As I know most of you reading this will have facebook here is a Link so you can vote! All you have to do is 'Like' Five2Nine Productions and then Like my picture and that gives me a vote! The picture is of Tyler Fox on Waihi stream last year! It is strictly a flood run as there is usually no water in the river! You wouldnt believe that its mid summer in NZ right now and its pouring down and this beauty is flowing as I write this! If your out there and want to paddle this get on it NOW!!! Enjoy

VOTE HERE

Welcome 2011

2011-01-17T17:40:00.000-08:00

Well it sure has been a while since I wrote something on here!!! This I must add is due to the overwhelming amount of work Ive been doing... Ok thats not true.. its actually because Ive been injured and not kayaking at all. Not even a little bit. On Wednesday last week I had surgery to fix a torn Bicep tendon and torn Labrum in my shoulder!!! But things are looking good and im healing fast! I will start Physio this week and see how things go from there!

In the mean time I have a few things to report on. The new film Im working on is about to begin! Keep a look out! Also 'Rider of the Year' award have began again and I have a few things up for nominations. First is 'REALM' for film of the year, and also 'Graceland 2010' for online short film of the year. I was also able to nominate Tyler Fox for 'Best Drop' for his sick line on Waihi stream last year. You can check out all the action on 'RIDER of the YEAR'

Cheers

Josh

Currents Thailand

2010-11-22T12:17:00.000-08:00

Here is the Latest Video from Five 2 Nine Productions edited by Tyler Fox. Its a film about our trip kayaking in Thailand and the issue of water quality over there!

Check it out!!!

CURRENTS THAILAND

Thailand Gopro video

2010-10-31T17:55:00.000-07:00

Here is a short film from my travels in Thailand this year with Tyler Fox, Toni George and Lou Urwin. Check it out and there is more to come very soon!

Enjoy

Josh Neilson

Graceland 2010

2010-10-05T18:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick edit from Graceland slide in California's West Cherry Creek earlier this year. Paddlers are Evan Garcia, Brendan Bayly and Bradley Lauder. Enjoy

2010-09-28T02:21:00.000-07:00

With a bit of a bad shoulder and a house in the Bay to look after I decided to spend a bit of time making some longboards. Turns out they work pretty dam good and we took them out for a test the other day! Here are a couple of shots of Matt Danes testing out the boards up Te Mata peak. Hopefully the next post will be about kayaking and ill be back in the River! For now though its a bit of hill riding not waterfalls!

Chur, Josh

Tom and Kelby going big

2010-09-13T18:01:00.000-07:00

- Tom on a Dam drop in the Feather Drainage

So im back home now and I must say its good to be here! Its been a tough year with injury but at least I'm home now to deal with it all! Lately I have been editing a bunch of footage and getting things lined up to start shooting my next film which I'm stoked about! Although not on the river im still getting fired up about the River as people update their blogs and today I got a cool message from a family I met in 2007 on the American River. The Senter family booked a day rafting with Chris at Action Whitewater Adventures and I was the guide for the day. We had a wicked time and they were a super cool family to take rafting, They seemed pretty interested in what I do and we spent the day sharing stories about adventures. At the end of the day I gave them this blog address and wished them the best! They replied with some emails saying "Thank you for a great adventure in the River. We looked at your site .....YOU ARE CRAZYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!." We shared a few emails since until today when I got a message from Tom Senter with some photos of their latest trip to the Feather River in California. Since our day in 2007 Kelby (son) and Tom (dad) have decided to learn to kayak and are loving it! Kelby is almost 13 and already firing up some big drops but also learning Slalom and Down River Racing too which is great to hear! Definatly a kid to watch out for in the future of kayaking! Cheers Senter Family! Cheers for the photos and Keep it up!

Kelby Senter - 12 years old and going big already! Keep it up!

If you too want to learn to kayak but all these waterfalls and things look to serious on this site you can always check out your local Kayak School and they will get you started from the beginning!

In NZ check out www.nzkayakschool.com for the south island
and www.canoeandkayak.co.nz for the north island
Or California www.otterbar.com or www.currentadventures.com

Haew Suwat Waterfall - the one that got away!

2010-09-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

- The Park and waterfall in question - Photo Louise Urwin

I'm not really sure where to go with this post as it is one that I'm stoked about but on the other hand super gutted about. Basically my year has been plagued with various injuries which have kept me off the water a lot and just when things were going good it turned upside down again!

- Things not aloud in the park... kayaking is not on there? Yet - Photo Lou Urwin

Since my last trip to Thailand I have been on the search for new stuff to explore there and that resulted in a big list of potential runs and drops but one National Park stood out above the rest. Khao Yai National Park is located 120km North East of Bangkok City and is Thailand's oldest National Park. Khao Yai is home to wild Elephants, Tigers, Monkeys and even the extremely rare Siamese Crocodile! With high expectations early in the trip we headed there only to be shut down minutes from taking our kayaks off the roof in the car park. This was a huge disappointment but we knew we could get around it someway. One option was to paddle from higher up and sneak past the Rangers and hit the drop but this would mean paddling through the home of the Siamese Crocodile and 2km of dense jungle.

- Looking at a map figuring out our options for the mission - Photo Lou Urwin

Option 2 was to try get permission from headquarters in Bangkok which in the excitement of other trips got forgotten about till the last day.
Then due to another injury to my arm I was forced to stay off the water in case of making things worse. I was hoping to be ready again for the last trip back into Khao Yai but it was not to be...
In the park again we found the waterfall in question running with even more water and looking sweeter than ever! I made the very hard call to drive shuttle and act as a distraction as the others got their kayaks to the water. About 5km up the road everyone geared up and re-tied the kayaks so they were ready to pull straight off and go. As we drove toward the car park it seemed reminiscent of driving the crew into Royal Gorge earlier in the year but this time we knew the authorities were just over the other side of the car park. We stopped and the crew unloaded and split into the bush. I kept moving into the open and could see the Rangers moving towards the others. I got out of the car with all the cameras and the car they knew well by now. This caused enough confusion for them to get close enough to the water before the Rangers turned back to them in pursuit. Tyler and Toni made it safe and Lou was within striking distance of a junior Ranger. "Stop you can not swim here" stuttered the mostly Thai speaking man. "Its OK we don't want to swim" replied Lou as she dragged her kayak to the edge and pushed off to join the others on the other side of the river safe from anyone. While this was going on i snuck around and set up my cameras on a platform 100m from the lip. A few minutes was taken for them to get their kayaks to the lip and scout from there before I heard the whistle of Tyler as he set up to go. It was at this moment that i realised injuries suck the most. A clean waterfall I had found months before and I was behind the lens and not rolling off this beauty and nor would i probably ever get too. As Tyler rolled off the drop it all went smooth, the camera was rolling and i was snapping shots on the still camera as fast as i could.

- Tyler Fox - First descent of Haew Suwat Nam Tok - Photo Josh Neilson

Tyler had been in the pool for less than a second before i heard the whistles and loud speaker... I turned to my right and saw the Senior Ranger running toward me telling me the police were on their way and we were going to jail. I assured him everything was OK and that after watching Blood Diamond the night before could only say "I am the camera man". I turned the camera back to the falls and lined it up for Lou's run.

- Louise Urwin - First Descent of Haew Suwat Nam Tok - Photo Josh Neilson

She came in with wicked angle and half way down tucked for impact and straightened up perfectly to go deep and pop out the bottom.
Toni was next and i was hoping she would be fast as i could see people gathering in the car park and a lot of commotion. Less than a minute later Toni appeared from the trees and styled the drop breaking her paddle on impact but able to roll up and away from the falls with ease.

- Toni George - First Descent of Haew Suwat Nam Tok - Photo Josh Neilson

But this was just the start... I quickly packed up and met the crew at the bottom to plan our escape. I then went and go the car and they headed through the bush to avoid the people waiting at the top. Before we could do this they jumped in a truck and headed for the park entrance to lock us in. At the gate they told us to wait then escorted us to the Park HQ for questioning and mug shots to be taken and to wait for police. This was then to turn into a pretty relaxed situation with no one really knowing what to do with us. In the end they told us we needed permission to paddle it but we were not able to do it ever again. From here we headed back to Bangkok to drop off Tyler and rest after the big day behind us.
It was cool that this drop got paddled but spending so much time doing the research on these areas and having to sit and watch it happen without you is a huge downer for me! Hopefully one day I can find the right people in power to let us go back there and paddle it again without the stress of this descent.
Enjoy these photos and if anyone wants to go back there one day let me know and I have contact to one of the rangers in the park who may be able to help.
Cheers
Josh

- Another drop in the park that at closer inspection does not go but the george below might hold some goods. One for the next trip maybe - Photo Tyler Fox

Mae Panning for gold

2010-08-19T18:27:00.000-07:00

Back to Mae Pan Waterfall... This drop alone was the selling point for my trip to Thailand in 2007 With Sam And Will so the idea of a return visit was pretty cool! We got turned away a week ago due to low water but on this day it had come up a bit and although a bit low, it was going to be our only chance to get in on this trip. Once we had hiked the boats in and hauled them up the canyon wall to the top of the drop it was go time. Due to the fact park rangers were not happy with us being there I suggested Tyler and Toni go first so as I had done it before. They came down looking a bit flustered at the bottom saying its a hard hit... I knew this but i wasnt prepared for what happened next.

- Mae Pan round 2 - Photo Toni George

-Tyler dropping in for his first time - Photo Josh Neilson

- Lou preparing for the big hit - Photo Tyler Fox

- Me getting my tuck on - Photo Tyelr Fox

Lou and I were at the top with our boats and I got in with my line in my head. I turned on my waterproof camera mounted behind me on my kayak and rolled off the lip. Half way down I ramped out a bit and hit the bottom with some angle and on impact put my mouth into my arm. I have had a dead arm for 2 days now. The camera was ripped from the boat (even though tied on and stuck on too!!) and sunk to the bottom. Next up was Lou and she hit very hard also but was ok.

I decided to walk out drop there as i was not in the mood and my arm was dead and the others ran 3 more drops and hiked out with me.

-Lou ramping into the triple drop below Mae Pan - Photo Toni George

- Toni slightly left of good - Result.. Broken boat - Photo Lou Urwin

- Tyler getting air on number 2 - Photo Lou Urwin

- Lou on entry - Photo Tyler Fox

- Lou on the last drop - Photo Tyler Fox

-Toni boofing into the last pool - Photo Josh Neilson

All in all it was a good day but much harder landing than I ever remember. Next time I will only do it with brown flooded water to make the landing soft! On our way out we were met by park rangers and when asked if we were kayaking the girls shook their heads and said no we were just taking photos. Thailand has got to be one of the only places ive ever been where kayaking is such a bad thing to do. They have no idea what we are even doing. They just say no and thats that.

We are heading out east now to Chae Son and Tard Luang Waterfalls and then heading south toward Bangkok to drop off Tyler next week! Wish us luck!

Chur

Josh

Cobra Falls in Chiang Mai

2010-08-19T17:48:00.000-07:00

New drops are always fun to find whether they are big or small. After a couple of days running some more well know rivers at super high flow we went searching again. On a map of Chiang Mai I spotted a river super close to town which had a Waterfall marked Nam Tok Mae Yoy so we decided to check it out. Heading up the creek we noticed that it was not high but had been 2 meters higher recently. This was a good start as it rains a bit up here and potential good run. After missing all the signs to Mae Yoy we found one that said Tat Krok Waterfall.

-Me at the lip of the cobra - Photo Toni George

Even though there was not enough water to kayak we decided to go check it out anyway. We started hiking the 1km up hill to where we were supposed to find it but at the top of the hill we figured we were lost as there was no river. We found some locals picking mushrooms and asked them where it was. they pointed down the other side of the hill, smiled and walked off. To our surprise there was another creek right there on the other side which actually had a bit of water and what was to be named Cobra falls. This was due to the 2 Black Forest Cobras we almost stepped on trying to find it!

We quickly gathered our kayaks and gear and headed back into the drop and one by one ran different lines off it. We all had a few goes to try master it but this one was a tricky one! We called it a day after my last one where i hit the wall at the lip and fell on my head. Soft landing but not worth trying again!

-Tyler through the trees - Photo Josh Neilson

- Toni making the line of the day - Photo Josh Neilson

- Me at the lip on attempt 2 - Photo Toni George

- Nice boof at he top - Photo Josh Neilson

-The view from the top - Photo Tyler Fox

- In the cave at the bottom - Photo Tyler Fox

- Tyler ramping in - Photo Toni George

Today was a super hot day and foolishly we left town with no water so by the end of our little mission we were all severely dehydrated so raced back to town for frozen cokes and water! Tomorrow we are off on another mission of potentially lots of driving but hopefully some good new waterfalls!!!

See ya soon

Thailand-Part 2... Mae Sa Upper, Middle and escorted out from the lower!!!

2010-08-13T18:57:00.000-07:00

- Nice rice field heading to Doi Intanon National Park - Photo Toni George

-Temple on a hill - Amazing - Photo Toni George

After a fun park and huck session on Si Dit we were ready for more! With the drops in Si Satchinlai National Park Un-Runnable we decided to high tail it to Doi Intanon National Park to what I thought would be a sure thing... Turned out that there had been no rain in the area and we were looking at a half dry river bed.

- Mae Pan with not enough water- Photo Josh Neilson

With high hopes for the next stop we headed for Mae Pan Waterfall but that too was very low. Even though it is a low volume waterfall and creek run it would have made for a very hard hit at this flow so we opted for some sight seeing and headed toward Chiang Mai. On the way we decided to head up to Mae Wang and find the waterfall run in 2006 by Steve Fisher and Ben Brown resulting in Ben's broken back. When we finally got to it we found it was kinda high and looked soooooo good! There is no visible sign of a rick in there but we were not going to go totally against ben's word and run it. Instead we decided to do a bit of underwater recon and did some bamboo probing, and came to the conclusion that in fact that yes there is a rock shelf in there that we could hit with the bamboo 50% of the times we jumped in. This was reason enough for us to head back to the car and go eat fried rice. This drop is super sick and at raging flow would be runnable without going near the shelf. It is about 1 or more Meters under the water on the left half of the drop.

- Josh, Bamboo probe in hand - Photo Toni George

So from there we enjoyed our fried rice and woke the next morning to head into the Mae Sa River. One of my favorites from the last trip. To avoid park fees we decided to run the upper first and see where we got to. The flow was good and we were set for some good kayaking finally. We made our way into the jungle to the first drop where some dudes waved us down and warned us of the Nam Tok (waterfall) just down stream. I gave them the broken Thai/english version of its ok and we were going to run it anyway. They excitedly moved aside and watched as we dropped in.

- Tyler on the first boof of the day - Photo Josh Neilson

- Tyler on one of the mini gorges - Photo Toni George

A bit further on we got to the one that pinned Will last time and with a bit of probing decided its not worth it! Not much further in we got to the best section... The first is a double boof drop right next to some huts which leads into a 6foot boof into a bouncy slide into the big slide at the bottom. One by one we ran each part and it was great. This section could even have more water to make the slides a bit nicer but good at this flow too.

- One of the funnest drops only 20 mins from down town Chiang Mai - Photo Toni George

Drop 2 clean boof - Photo Toni George

- Entering the middle slides - Photo Tyler Fox

-Tyler in the middle slide - Photo Toni George

- Toni, right after getting her paddle caught in a Bamboo tree - Photo Tyler Fox

- Toni on the bottom slide - Photo Josh Neilson

- Tyler getting his slide on - Photo Toni George

After these drops the river mellows as it makes its way through Mae Sa Elephant Camp and then drops into the middle and lower sections. Last time we ran the lower but the middle was still un run.

- Big Elephant casually washing on the side of the river - Photo Josh Neilson

- Me on the first part of the Middle run - Photo Tyler Fox

- Tyler on the middle slide - Photo Toni George

- Toni running a crack drop - Boof into the undercut is the line almost - Photo Tyler Fox

- Tyler dropping in too - Photo Toni George

- Me on the first runnable drop in the lower section - Photo Toni George

- Lou on the line - Photo Toni George

- Me from Below - Photo Tyler Fox

The next morning we headed in with a good amount of daylight and found some goods in the middle section. It was much longer than i expected with some portages in there too. We just made it into the lower section and ran 2 of the drops until we made it to number 7.

- Slightly dark shot as Toni sneakily shoots us getting caught by park rangers - Photo Toni George

Right below this was a ranger post and the ranger on duty swiftly rounded us up and told us to walk back to the top.... Not possible sorry its a jungle up there... He then made some phone calls and then told us he was escorting us to the gate where we would have to pay a fine and leave. We picked up our boats and followed him all the while plotting a plan to escape. At the gate we kept walking and they yelled and followed us. On the main road we flagged down a car and jumped on the back to our car. The dude waited for us and we just loaded out boats and drove off. I hope we dont get stopped at the boarder and taken to jail!!!!

All up a good mission and good to see whats in the middle there.. If you go in there be prepared to get shut down or made to pay a fee.

Next up was a high water run on the Mae Taeng. EPIC... Coming soon

Thailand 2010 Part 1 - Success level rising

2010-08-11T05:27:00.000-07:00

So it all began in Bangkok when we arrived at 9pm and by 11pm they could still not track down my paddles that were once attached to the kayak and were now missing!!! Finally they told me they would hopefully locate them in the morning and send them the following night to our accommodation!!! From here things pretty much stayed on this level of dissapointment with Tylers gear not turning up and then getting shut down on some of Thailands best waterfalls due to the fact 'its too dangerous'....

- Looking at one we are not aloud to run - Photo Lou Urwin

Im going to leave it there and not go into these stories too much as we have a plan to do a stealth mission through the jungle later in the trip to run these drops and will show you them then!!!

- Where to go next... -Photo Lou Urwin

After all the stress of not kayaking we really needed to kayak so when we found Than Tip waterfall, even though it was not epic, we were keen to get wet at least. Our Kayaking efforts were quickly overshadowed by local kids wearing jeans not only jumping off the rocks into the water but climbing massive trees till the overhung the gorge then dropping in from there...

- Tyler Fox Boofing into Than Tip Waterfall gorge - Photo Toni George

- Josh Neilson on Than Tip - A nice start to the trip - Photo Tyler Fox

After Than Tip Waterfall we headed north for more and more rivers and drops with no water in them. We planned for the rainy season but the rain was not doing its part. That was Until we made it to Si Dit Waterfall. With the threat of getting shut down on yet another waterfall we stealthly unloaded the kayaks and ran them to the waters edge and got in. Lou and Toni went and set up cameras and Tyler and I waited for the go sign. Si Dit was a very un-natural looking drop that looks like you are boofing off a concrete slab but its not. Its a Natural drop with a soft pool at the bottom. Again although there was not heaps of water flowing off it was still a great way to kill the depression of not kayaking.

- Josh on Si Dit Nam Tok - Photo Toni George

- Lou Urwin Boofing Si Dit Nam Tok - Photo Josh Neilson

Josh at the Lip on round 3 - Photo Toni George

- Tyler Fox with Go Pro attached on round 2 - Photo Toni George

- Toni Georges turn, Si Dit, our first good drop- Photo Josh Neilson

One by one we ran the drop and got some sweet angles. After that it was back on the hunt. Next post will have more. Check back soon people...

The Thai Mission begins!!

2010-08-01T21:12:00.001-07:00

- Coming soon....

And so it begins... the return to the Thai jungle in search of waterfalls. Ever since the 2007 Thai mission with Will Clark and Sam Ward I have wanted to return! With no real expectations going into the last trip I was overly amazed at the quality of white water that Thailand has to offer. After a few years to do other missions I have finally got the opportunity to return with a sweet crew to re run the rivers we found in 07 and also search out some new ones I have found on the internet over the years. First stop is Bangkok where the crew will re-group after traveling and then search out a sweet rig to drive us round the country then its off. I will leave it here and in the next wee whileposts will start to appear on here as the rivers are found, the waterfalls are paddled and the epics start to flow in! Keep an eye out here over the next month for what its like to practically circumnavigate Thailand in search of water!!!
Peace
Josh

Something about Icebergs, Oxygen and kayaking???

2010-07-24T17:38:00.000-07:00

- The Crew minus Keith, Jo and Gringo - Moro Rock, Sequoia National Park

- Whats a good tourist attraction and a sunset without some jumping around??

Imagine walking through the desert for 1 and a half months without water and then finding a cooled water machine, or climbing mount Everest and loosing all your oxygen then finding a fresh tank at the very top, or how about being stranded on an iceberg floating in the ocean and coming across a tropical island paradise with sun, surf and a poolside bar.... How good would it feel.... Well I can relate to that pretty well!!! Altough there were no poolside bars, oxygen tanks or cooled water tanks in my story there was something better. After 1 and a half months of driving shuttle in the hot Cali summer sun with my shoulder strapped in a sling my time finally came! With just 2 weeks Left here I filled my pack with extra food, sleeping gear and all the cameras I could carry and hiked back into 'Flinstone camp' on the Upper Cherry Creek run. The team consisted of about 9 kiwis, one American and a dog. But all logistics and bush bashing aside I feel I have digressed from my moment of glory. While Rach, Jo and I set up camp in the trees the rest of the crew made their way 12 miles to the put in and then kayaked the 'Moon Slides' down to below Cherry bomb gorge where we were set up. I was still unsure about the state of my shoulder so chilled for the evening and waited till the next day to try it out.

- Roasting Marshmellows in the coolest camp ever - Photo Brad Lauder

Early the next day the anticipation was killing me as I hiked up and filmed the crew on their second run down the gorge. Once at the bottom I threw together a mix of peoples kayaking gear and started running the Jedi Slides and the perfect tea cup drops down to camp.

- Hiking back up to run laps - Paradise - Photo Rachel Tombleson

- The Line up at the top - Photo Rachel Tombelson

- Running the 'Tea Cups' down to camp - Photo Rachel Tombleson

- Getting familiar with the boof again - Photo Rachel Tombelson

After about 5 laps I was feeling good and knew that i needed to hike into the upper gorge and run 'Cherry Bomb'. After a bit of lunch and a steep hike I got in behind B and started sliding into the gorge. All was good and although cautious I felt like a child on christmas day or like the people in the situations earlier stated... Well not quite... This was just the entry to the gorge. I still had to find this much needed oxygen bottle at the top...
Sitting on the rock looking down 'Cherry Bomb Falls' I spotted it. It was in the form of a 45degree ramp with a perfect kicker at the bottom into a pool 3oish feet below. I promptly got back in my boat and boofed out of the eddy into the flow!!! I was back. My shoulder felt great, i was back on the water with my boys and I was running arguably one of the best gorges of whitewater in the world.

- 'The Oxygen at the top, the Island from the Iceberg, Kayaking after a season long injury - Photo Rachel Tombelson

- Follow the leader - back with the crew running the 'Jedi Slides' - Photo Rachel Tombelson

Thanks to all the people who have put up with me/ helped me with my injury/ partied with me/ kept me sane for the past month and a half, you guys have been great! To Nick and Harmony for letting me crash on the best couch in the world while I recovered, to (good) Jordie and Nige for not having much work so we could hang out and swim lots, the boys for putting up with my excessive party motivation, Rach and Gringo for sharing the terror of hiking in Cali with mountain lions and bears, but most of all thanks to the iceberg for not completly melting before I made it to the tropical island!!!
Cali is now over and I'm ready to go. Next week I will join Tyler Fox, Lou Urwin and Toni George for an month in Thailand searching for new rivers. Keep an eye out!
Cheers
Josh

GRACELAND

2010-07-14T17:18:00.000-07:00

- The boys sitting contemplating

There are a few places in the world that are really scary but draw you in and make you want to paddle despite their MASSIVENESS!!! Graceland is one of them! Unfortunalty yet fortunatly I am injured so I was not able to experience its greatness in person this year but I did get to hike in and shoot some sick footage of the boys for the next movie!!! Here are a few shots from Graceland slide on West Cherry Creek! One of those places.... Ill be back for sure...

- Photo Stitch of the area - Photo Evan Garcia

- Side on of the slide of Grace - Photo Evan Garcia

- My Hiking friend and mountain lion hunter, Gringo - Photo Evan Garcia

professional shuttle driver and river hiker!

2010-07-14T15:59:00.000-07:00

Still on the injured list these days but to fill in my time I have taken to a serious regime of Facebook, airport shuttles and hiking food and cameras into multi-day sierra runs. Although seriously depressing watching everyone running super stout drops while im behind the camera at least i can still get out there and enjoy some of these amazing places!! beats being in NZ in the cold thats for sure!
Here are a few shots from the Gopro camera from some driving and life on the road! Been on the video camera for the kayaking part so limited in the Photos there but expect some sick stuff in the next film!!
Enjoy
Josh

-Toni trying to fit inside her kayak- not possible

- Mum driving away from the sunset on 99 - Photo Josh Neilson

- After 5 miles hike, Graceland slide is in sight - Photo Josh Neilson

- Go Mum Go! photo Josh Neilson

- Brad smart bringing a mozzy net! These fullas are brutal - Photo Josh Neilson

- Samoa aka Jared Mitchel getting limber before day 2 of west cherry - Photo Josh Neilson

- Practicing his Waka ama - Photo Josh Neilson

- Driving the 99 and missing the turn off to 3 rivers!! whoops! Photo Josh Neilson

- B getting ready to hike down into the slide in the background! MASSIVE!!! -Photo Josh Neilson

- The Greek Adonnis getting his drive on cali style!! no Air con so its HOT!! - Photo Josh Neilson

South Silver- The injured photographers perspective

2010-06-25T10:06:00.000-07:00

Luckily when California was built they made a few rivers with easy access for walkers so when you are injured you can still enjoy the excitement of kayaking but from behind a camera lens! South Silver Creek is a great example of this with a track from top to bottom and easy access on the granite to each of the drops! On Wednesday Toni, Dan and Yan were at the bakery in Coloma (where i spend most of my injured time) and they were heading up there for the day! I Jumped on the opportunity to escape Coloma and head in there! The flow was stull healthy but I personally think this is the optimal flow because it actually has water to paddle on not just rocks!
It true South Silver style i passed on the beta that the first rapid had to be run blind and they took it and ran it sweet!! Its a huge slide about 200m long that runs straight down the middle the whole way!
There was mixed success on all the rapids during the day apart from Toni. This was up there with some of the styliest kayaking ive seen on this river ever!
For more on Toni's Kayaking you can check out her blog at www.toni-george.blogspot.com

Toni getting air on the bottom drop of 'Left Left' - Photo Josh Neilson

- Toni part way into one of the sickest drops on the planet - 'SKYSCRAPER' - Photo Josh Neilson

- Toni on 'Off Ramp' - the second part to skyscraper rapid, manditory at this flow - Photo Josh Neilson

- Yan and Toni trying to figure out the portage - Photo Josh Neilson

- Yan on 'Plastic Surgery' - Photo Josh Neilson

Chatroom tv segment on REALM

2010-06-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

Alright so before I left NZ this year Lou Urwin and I went in and did an interview with Chatroom about our lifestyle and about my new Film Realm. You can check out the 3 part interview and see what it was all about!

Click the link and scroll down till you see -

Josh Neilson and Louise Urwin, Adventure Kayakers :

Travelling New Zealand and the world conquering unexplored whitewater by kayak.

CLICK HERE

Injured and bored!

2010-06-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

- Picture on the drive into Upper Middle Cosumnes out the window of 'Mum'

- The boys loading up 'MUM'- the car, and me looking unhappy about driving shuttle!

Being quite a restless individual it comes as no suprise that now after a week of being injured and off the water that im starting to loose my mind! There have been a few things that have kept my mind off my shoulder but with broken sleep every night due to the pain its quite hard to not think about the potential end to my season coming in the next week!
Im off to see the Doctor again on monday and this is when ill have a better idea on whats going on. The initial diagnosis while still swollen a lot was that I have partially torn my AC joint, separating the ligament from the bone that holds the shoulder together! I have not heard of this injury very much until this week and ever second person I have talked to has been through it! Apparently it can vary quite a lot from brusing of the joint through to complete tears. I am staying positive and it seems that I have just partially torn it which is a good start!
Stay tuned for how this unravels and where the summer will lead!
Till then here are a few shots from my new Head Cam from GoPro. Super sick cameras!
Cheers
Josh

-Jared, Toni, Jamie, Ben, Scouting East Meets West Drop on Upper Sth Yuba

-Something California is well known for - Driving!!!

- Pre injury on Slab Creek section of the American River

- More Scouting of East Meets West!

Vail and on to Cali

2010-06-15T12:33:00.000-07:00

- The crew scouting East Meets West Drop on Upper Sth Yuba - Photo Josh Neilson

So with our car loaded up with all our gear and 5 of us crammed in we headed out 3500km toward Vail Colorado!
2 nights and a day later we made it to Vail to find our amazing house for the week! Right downtown and massive! It was awesome!!!

Teva Mtn Games in Vail - photo - Mike Dawson

So we Kiwi proofed the house by taking down all the breakables and then went to bed! Over the day people turned up and got stuck into catching up on stories from the past missions!
By Wednesday night everyone was all caught up and ready to race the next day!

Freestyle feature in Vail - Photo Mike Dawson

Early Thursday we all headed up to the race course to scout our lines and get ready!
The day was full of carnage with a mix of good an bad lines! I had a sweet line but once again this year missed out of the finals by less than half a second!
The kiwis continued to dominate the race scene and this saw Sam Sutton come home with the gold!

- Priceless - Photo Teva

- The Boys on the Podium for down river sprint -

Over the week there were more podium finishes by the kiwis which was great to see! In true form we also indulged in some good partys at the Kiwi house and throughout Vail!

Some other action in town during the week! - photo Mike Dawson

Once the week was over I changed cars and headed for the WEST!!!! California!!!
On the way out we stopped in at Arches National park and checked out the amazing rock formations and cooked ourselves in the 40degree heat!!!
Finally in California we had a few days sorting out flows and swimming in pools to keep cool!
Day one on the river was a quick blast down Slab Creek which was super fun!
The Next day kayaking was also sick until i decided to run Vslide! I hit the line but went deep and connected very hard with the bottom of the river! The impact was on my right shoulder and Head! Everything went black with purple and pink stars. I Came up and headed to the side! I still had movement but knew that it was not too good! Lots of pain! We still had a few miles to get out so decided to rally it and get out quick! I got in behind Ben Jackson and we bombed the rest out! There were a few moments where i got hung up in holes but thanks to Jamie behind me he tackled me out of them!!
Finally at the car i was stoked to be out and not hiking out of the Californian Posion Oak infested mountains!!
So that pretty much has stopped my kayaking right now till I can see the Dr again! I have ruptured my AC joint so in a week ill know more about how long im out for!

- Vince going big on the wakeboard! - Photo Josh Neilson

- Sanga going for the forward flip - Photo Josh Neilson

With our days off we went up to clearlake to visit Mal and friends and go wakeboarding and enjoy some drinks in the sun! The Next day we rallied up to Big Kimshew Creek where i drove shuttle and the boys ran the shit!!! Im super jealous to not be on the river especially for this one! Kimshew is one of the best runs in the world!!!! Oh well ill be back!

- Sanga on Kimshew Falls - Photo Jared Mitchel

- Sanga on Frenchies - Photo Jared Mitchel

Keep your eyes peeled and fingers cross for my return to the river and more updates!!
Take care
Josh

Chutes du Haha

2010-06-01T09:27:00.000-07:00

Road trip quebec 2010 - Photo Josh Neilson

- Josh Neilson on lower Haha - Photo Lou Urwin

- Josh Neilson from above - Photo Dave Crerar

This time last year we went to check out Haha falls and it was about negative 2 degrees and i decided to let that drop go for another day! Luckily this year we were about to leave Chicoutimi and decided to go back! the temperature on this fine day was a blistering 30 degrees and the water was warm!!! This was more my style!! I checked out the top drop and it looked good but upon closer inspection it was actually a bit trickier than i had thought, but it was fine!

- Me entering the top drop on Haha - Photo Dave Crerar

It threw me left a bit but was sweet!

- In between the two - Photo Lou Urwin

The next drop was the one i was here for though! sloping funky 2o footer that you line up for and melt! I felt like i went pretty deep and could feel my skirt pressing on my legs! No deck implosion and a super fun drop!!!

Time to head toward Ottawa for one last park and huck!

- Tyler Fox lining it up! - Photo Lou Urwin

- Fox going deep - Photo Josh Neilson

- Our Last park and huck - sweet rapid with a melt into a big hole at the bottom! - Photo Lou Urwin

- Josh plugging the hole - Photo Lou Uwrwin

2010-06-01T08:47:00.000-07:00

- Chicoutimi - A beautiful city close to a lot of sick runs!! - Photo Josh Neilson

- Josh Neilson on the Middle Valin drop - Photo Tyler Fox

What happened next.... So being on the road trying to find new rivers is sometimes awesome but sometimes not... After Huit Chutes we had a few down days organising accomodation for Vail Mtn Games and also not finding rivers with any water!!! After those few days off the water Lou and I were seriously hanging out for some kayaking!!

- Blake Mahoney finding center in a sticky slot drop - Photo Tyler Fox

Our drought was stopped beiefly over the weekend with a race that Pat had been organising but was not enough to get the full buzz back! Following the race we had a premiere of Realm and Rush's Dream Result in a bar in Chicoutimi followed by a $5 cup of endless beer all night! Something that seemed to appeal to us for some reason... ( Section censored and deleted) After the impending hangover we regained focus and headed in to run a waterfall we had come across earlier in the trip but had too much water. A super clean lip 25footer with a soft pool at the bottom. We ran a few sweet drops to get to it and to get out but this was the one we were there for.

- Me coming out the bottom with speed - Photo Tyler Fox

- Lou Urwin showing us how to fly - Photo Tyler Fox

- Me from the bottom getting ready to stomp - Photo Tyler Fox

- Dave Crerar on the rooster below the big drop - Photo Tyler Fox

We all hucked ourselves off it a few times and lost one Gopro camera on landing!!! Got some sweet shots and headed to dinner with Pat and Vero. This was the end of out Chicoutimi trip so a nice dinner was a good end. Our thoughts were to get a few park and hucks on the way back to ottawa then next day and so thats what we did! Unfortunatly on the last one of the day Blake exposed his shoulder to the river devils and re dislocated his already twice dislocated shoulder!!! From here we boosted to Ottawa to get him to hospital and get some rest before Vail! While in Ottawa we had a couple of days surfing Garburetor Wave which was awesome! Although people think i dont like play boating i actually do!!!

- Practicing my flying techniques - Photo Blake Mahoney

After a weekend of surfing and a few drinks we loaded up a truck and started the 32 hr drive across USA to Vail Colorado!!! This is our base for the next week! Downtown Vail, 18 person house, 3 stories high, 8 person hot tub, foozeball, table tennis/beer pong, and much more! check back soon for updates on or week at Teva Mountain Games!!! Its gonna be a good one!!

Peace

Huit Chutes - 8 Chutes

2010-05-19T08:09:00.000-07:00

After a day to nurse a hangover from Lou's birthday we set off early to a river called Huit Chutes (8Chutes). Pumped and ready to go we made it to the Take-out at 10.30 but with the normal road closed we were forced to find an alternative. After 20km extra driving and almost walking in miles from where we thought we were we decided to check if the origonal gate was even locked. To our little suprise it was not. It was just tied with a piece of string. We proceeded to drive the 6 km and loose the boats 5 times off the roof and make it to the put in at 4.30pm. With much debate some of the team decided to stay behind while Tyler, Boomer and I chose to race the falling sun and attempt to run the 6km of solid class 5 before dark.

-Tyler Fox put in drop - Photo Dave Crerar

-Tyler Fox put in drop - Photo Pat Levesque

The run took us 2 hours and we bombed down super fast! Only stopping to get a glimpse over huge horizon lines to check if it went. Everything went and we ran some stout drops, some of which with only a bit of beta from the one who beiefly checked it out.

-Josh Neilson on the skinny slide - Photo Dave Crerar

-Tyler Fox Skinny right slide - Photo Dave Crerar

-Tyler Fox on Atomic Piton, Dont Mess this one up! - Photo Dave Crerar

Pat Leveque with the big one in the background - Photo Tyler Fox

Josh Neilson after the big one - photo Dave Crerar

-Josh Neilson on some boogie water - Photo Tyler Fox

-Josh Neilson entering the "Popcorn" drop - Photo Dave Crerar

- Bursting through the "popcorn" - Photo Tyler Fox

The next day we put back on and ran it with 5 of us to get some footage and photos ad took our time! It was at times hard to believe what we had bombed the day before!
A super sick run with a bunch of sick rapids but a few extra inches of water would be nice i recon!

-Tyler Fox on the final autoboof drop - Photo Blake Mahoney

-Josh Neilson on autoboof - Photo Tyler Fox

-Tyler Fox Autoboof - Photo Josh Neilson

-Josh Neilson on the last drop - Photo Dave Crerar

Quebec is a savage place with lots of quality rapids!! This one was not exception!
If you ever get up here Huit Chutes is a must!
Chur

Back to back new runs!

2010-05-19T05:50:00.000-07:00

- Our mess preparing for the missions ahead - Photo Josh Neilson

- Our base at Pat and Veroniques house on the Shipshaw - Photo Josh Neilson

So with some nice warm up runs under the belt it was back to the reason we are here! Finding new rivers. Last year we found a section of the Riviere du Portage that looked like it had potential but didnt not have the time to do it. This year we were about to go in when I spotted a higher volume run a bit further away that we decided to check out first and see what it was like. We arived at the forestry road that was our entry into the put-in and found in the middle of nowhere a gated community and surveillance everywhere. We were forced to abort and the next morning took a longer harder road up.

- Camp at Put-in of Petit Saguenay - Photo Tyler Fox

- Translation - Bridge Closed! - Yeah Right - Photo Lou Urwin

- Road works 101 - Snow shovel/paddle - photo Lou Urwin

We were almost there when we got shut down due to bad road and snow so we set camp and walked our kayaks in to the lake that was our put-in. At the lake we found out that we were one lake short of out intended put in but this was all good!

- Hiking our boats into Petit Saguenay - Photo Tyler Fox

- "I think we are at the wrong Lake"..."Yes we are" - Photo Lou Urwin

- Fishing for fish - Caught mostly weeds - Photo Tyler Fox

The rest of the day we set shuttle and did a spot of fishing with no success!
Early the next day we walked in and got started. The river was a bit different to what we expected but still had some sweet drops. Half way down we came into sight of the private land and while Tyler was out scouting a drop out of nowhere a big truck pulled up telling us we were not aloud there! with some broken French from our Irish translator we were let off and got into the best drops of the section.

- Sam Melting a big hole on the Petit Saguenay - Photo Tyler Fox

- Josh on the big one, melting the middle line - Photo Tyler Fox

- Sam running the boof line on the bigger one - photo Tyler Fox

Lou on the Bottom slide midway - photo Tyler Fox

After 18km of kayaking we were out to the main road and stoked to have run a nice section of whitewater. We didnt take many photos due to the length of the run and the unknown ahead.

- Josh on tight drop - Photo Lou Urwin

- Lou on the tight drop - Photo Tyler Fox

From here we boosted up and did shuttle and headed to a small town to re-fuel and headed into another forestry area. Heading up the road we were stopped by a gate which Lou lifted up and we thought we were away free till a drunk guy on a motor bike started chasing us! Once again Dave the french speaking Irish man got us away and even scored us a sweet topo map of the river. At camp we studied the Topo map and decided the next day was going to be a lot steeper than the Petit Saguenay!

- Tyler on the top drop of the Portage - Photo Lou Urwin

- Sam at the bottom with a dislocated shoulder! - Photo Tyler Fox

On the first main drop of the day Tyler and I ran ahead with sweet lines but then Sam hit a rock at the top, flipped into a slide ran that upside down then backwards and hit some rocks on the bottom section. At the bottom he was in a lot of pain and decided he would walk out and Blake went with him. Back at the car they got his gear off and realised his shoulder was dislocated so they rushed off to Hospital!

- Josh bottom slide - photo Tyler Fox

We carried on for a sweet day of steep gorges and nice drops. The 2 main big drops unfortunatly were un runnable but still some fun in there for sure!
At the bottom we loaded the car and headed back to Chicoutimi to check in to a hotel and get stuck into Lou's Birthday celebrations!! Needless to say the next day we did nothing!
A great few days with some good new drops!
Again photos were limited as we had 28km to cover! Check back soon as the next update is from our mission to Huit Chutes, Translation - 8 Waterfalls!!!!

Quebec Update 1

2010-05-19T04:55:00.000-07:00

- Quebec Crew 2010 - Photo Tyler Fox

In a rather unfamiliar way my year started with 2 easy flights up to montreal with Lou with no lost baggage, missed flights or anything inconvenient! At the airport we were met by Blake and headed back to Ottawa for the night to rest then the next day drove a further 10 hrs up to Chicoutimi where the rest of the crew was based. With a day of driving/rest we were ready to get into it. First stop was the Middle Valin. This was a sweet pool drop section to get back into it with a good amount of water!

- Drop 1 in quebec on the middle Valin - Photo Tyler Fox

- Josh Neilson, Middle Valin - Photo Tyler Fox

- Lou Urwin, Middle Valin - Photo Tyler Fox

All warmed up we were set for a few months of kayaking ahead! Warmed up maybe but the weather still freezing! The next morning my kayaking gear was frozen solid!!!
With big plans for day 2 we set out to try run the upper Haha river. Almost at the take-out we were hit by a snow storm that continued all the way up to the put-in. By the time we were almost there the snow was a few feet deep and the truck was forced to turn around!

- Forced to turn around at Haha River - Photo Josh Neilson

back in town we ran a sweet creek called the Moulin that runs right into town.

- Poutine Stand - Chips, Cheese curd and Gravey!!! Savage - Photo Tyler Fox

Overnight Quebec decided that spring was over and summer was here. A beautuful day out on the Cyriac started our week of hot weather paddling and much higher spirits!

- Josh Neilson, Cyriac's finest drop! - Photo Tyler Fox

- Irish Dave on Cyriac's Finest - Photo Tyler Fox

Back at Pat Levesques house we were doing some recon on a first descent we looked at last year and with a bit of searching i spotted another creek near by! Check in to the next post for the back to back first descents of Riviere du Petit Saguenay and Riviere du Portage!

- Portage Quebec style - This is one of the easier ones! There are sooo many trees here!!- Photo Tyler Fox

Peace

Up Up and Away!

2010-05-03T16:24:00.000-07:00

Alright people its that time again! First of all thanks to everyone who helped out over the past few months to get REALM out to the world! i has been a great film tour and am still stoked with the film!
Within the busyness of the film making I have managed to come up with a plan for the first part of the year! On the 6th may Lou and I head off to Quebec to meet up with the rest of the crew for a month of creeking up there before heading down to Colorado for the Vail Mtn Festival. Here we will party and paddle for a week then Lou and Tyler head back to canada and I swap cars and head for the sunny paradise of California! 2 months of creeking in Cali will end with a Middle Kings trip hopefully then im off to meet up with Ty and Lou and few others in Thailand for a month of new and old rivers there. September is where my plans end and ill play it by ear then. More countries, more rivers and a sweet trip with great mates once again! Check back soon as we start to update you on 2010! Cheers
Josh

REALM - Out now!~ BUY ONLINE

2010-03-13T20:50:00.000-08:00

Alright people I am happy to say that REALM is finally finished and ready to go! We have had our first premiere in Murchison at the Buller River Festival and it was an awesome night!
So if you want to come watch the film you can see it at:

Century Theater Napier - 6pm
Saturday 17th April
Cost - $10 at the door

Thistle Hall Wellington - 7pm
Saturday 24th April
Cost $10 at the door

If you would like a film show in your town please contact me to organise that!
If you want to buy a copy click the link below and BUY NOW!!! If you live in nz and want to use online banking send me an email at joshneilson@gmail.com and ill do that!
Please support this film as it is raising money to help protect NZ rivers for the future!
DVD - $29.95 including postage

Please include your address when paying so i can get it in to post to you!

Cheers
Josh

REALM trailer

2010-02-07T01:32:00.000-08:00

Alright here it is. A small teaser to let you see a little of what to expect in the upcoming film REALM due out 5th March!
REALM TRAILER CLICK HERE

REALM - Coming soon!!!

2010-01-10T14:17:00.000-08:00

-Coming soon to DVD - 'REALM' April 2010

Hey there everyone! So another year has passed and its time to get into the next chapter of Southern Underground Production life! Over 2009 the film crew followed 4 kiwi mates around the world through the seasons they love and shares with you how each of them lives throughout these seasons. It follows Lou Urwin and Josh Neilson as the Northern Hemisphere spring kicks off exploring new rivers up in Quebec in Eastern Canada. While they were here Sam Sutton and Mike Dawson were preparing for the Northern race season which kicked off in Vail, Colorado for Teva Mountain Games where Mike took the grand prize!
After that we all headed to Ivrea, Italy for Teva Outdoor Extreme Games with more wins for the SUP Crew and NZ taking out the World Extreme team Champs!
Some of the crew parted ways here and Sam and Josh Headed to Norway for Voss Extreme week where we raced, partied and ran some sweet rivers (seen in cover shot for 'Realm' - Sam Sutton Double Drop). While we were up there Lou Urwin was back in Canada surfing the big waves of the Ottawa followed by a trip West to run drops in British Columbia and Mike was in training again for the Sickline World Extreme Champs in Austria! After Norway Sam also Returned home to train and Josh headed out to Africa to surf the big waves on the White Nile and document his part that Southern Underground Productions has in raising money for Soft Power Health Clinic on the banks of the Nile.
Now the whole crew is back in New Zealand running the clean clear waters and big drops that we call home! Already firing up Tree Trunk Gorge, Aratiatia, the lower kaituna gorges and Huka Falls at some ridiculous flows! So this is what you can expect to see in SUP's new Film 'Realm' coming soon in March/April 2010!
Thanks Very much to Everyone who has made this film possible!!!
Bliss-Stick Kayaks
Keen Footwear
Smith Optics
Canoe and Kayak NZ
KAYAK Magazine
Snap Dragon Designs
Skull Candy
Hydraulics
And Many more amazing people!

The end of my years holidays! Bring on 2010

2010-01-02T19:59:00.000-08:00

- Stitched photos of lake Taupo from where we had new years! - Photos Josh Neilson

So since Tree Trunk it was back to the Okawa bay for a few days then a sneaky Huka Falls run in before heading back to Hawkes Bay for Christmas in the sun with great food, drinks and family!

- Making a swing in the big tree for my mum - Photo Jenny Neilson

- New Years Day Dinner on the beach - Photo Josh Neilson

- Great way to see the 1st of Jan 2010 in! Taupo NZ - Photo Josh Neilson

After a few days it was time to get back out on the road looking for some more rivers to paddle! We headed back to central North for a few Kaituna runs and then Tyler and B hatched a plan to head south to the Mangawhero River which was said to be at a good flow to hit up some nice falls. With 2 cars loaded up we set off and about 3.5hrs later we made it only to find the gauge was far from correct and the river was a meer stream.

- Driving to the river - Photo Josh Neilson

- The Crew with the waterfall in the background...Low - Photo Josh Neilson

With closer inspection the main drop was definatly too low to run but we found a smaller one just up stream to hit up since we had driven so far. We all had sweet lines and B even stuck a sweet free wheel before Ryan took it to the next level and swam it.

- Brendan Bayly having a go - Photo Josh Neilson

-All the way from the building sites of OZ, Corey Kelly on the lip - Photo Josh Neilson

- The flying Fox - Photo Josh Neilson

- Ryan lucas forgets his kayaking gear but goes anyway - Photo Josh Neilson

After that we made our way home for some more laps on the Kaituna and then off to Taupo for New Year celebrations and a couple more Huka runs. Perfect weather meant lots of burnt bodies over the few days drinking and swimming in the lake!

- Breakfast banquet on the 2nd - Great times! - Photo Josh Neilson

Back in Okawa bay now finishing off some film stuff and then the reality of the much needed dolar sets in and its back to Hawkes Bay for me to get stuck into editing the film and back to earning for the next trip. We shal see how things go and keep coming back to see where 2010 takes me!
Cheers
josh

Back to Tree Trunk

2009-12-15T22:28:00.000-08:00

-In the car park gearing up - Photo Josh Neilson

Almost 2 years to the day from my last mission to Tree Trunk I found myself standing on the bridge again scouting the lines! This time we had a team of 6 keen to fire it up! As this is such a sick place for footage and photos and a pretty difficult place to run safety we decided to split into two groups and 3 go first and the others runs saftey and media and then swap round.

-Setting up safety in the gorge - Photo Will Martin

Once we had scouted from every possible angle Brendan, Trent and I geared up and headed to the top. With the flows looking rather burely B and I opted for the seal launch entry while Trent ran the guts. Ask him about how this went down...!

-Trent Garnham firing up the crux - Photo Will Martin

-Brendan Bayly going first on the biggy - Photo Tyler Fox

At the top on the big one we circled round a few times before B rolled off the drop..... Boom....."yeaaaahhhooooo" (muffled by the sound of rushing water) and we guess he made it good!

-Trent following suit - Photo Tyler Fox

Next up was Trent... BOOM(even bigger sound)... and another cheer which signaled my time to roll of the sweetest lip into the canyon. about 30ft of freefall then a 10ft reconnection and into the pool!

-Josh Neilson rolling off the big one, with the coolest view! - Photo Will Martin

-Josh from above - Photo Tyler Fox

In the middle of it we re gathered and Safety and photos moved down to the next drop for us. As the light came out it lit up the last drop perfectly as B boofed off (if you want to see the shot of this you will have to ask Tyler really nicely or keep a look out in the Mags as it was the shot of the day!), Another cheer from below and Trent and I followed suit till we were making our way out of the slot canyon in one piece! Stoked to have made it through again!
-Josh getting air on the bottom drop of the gorge - Photo Tyler Fox

With a bit of bush bashing we made it back to the car to fire up the next group and get in place for safety and footage. Sophie opted to coordinate the safety side of things in the gorge and due to a recent broken back Ryan was behind the lens. Soph tied Ryan and I in and we hung off to gorge wall to get in position for shots while the others set up above. With a quick game of paper, scissors, rock deciding that Tyler would go first we gave the signal and he was off. In the same fashion as our run Tyler, Sanga and Wils all had sweet runs and made it out!

-Will taking the sickest line of the day - Photo Ryan Lucas

-Wils with a hole in the chin! The best type of battle scars! - Photo Josh Neilson

Unfortunalty somewhere in Wills perfect line off the big one he managed to connect with his paddle and come out with a hole in his chin!
So with everyone back in the carpark safe and excited we peered over the shots from the day and shared all the stories of epic landings and airborne time in the gorge. With the gear loaded ther was just one last thing to do... in true athlete form we headed to Turangi Burger King to re-fuel the bodies before we went our separate ways for a bit. I am back in the bay for a few days, B and Soph headed South for a few days and the rest of the crew headed back to Okawa Bay for some more Kaituna action. Cheers everyone for a super sick day! Keen to hit it up again next week!
Chur!

P.s Footage from this, Aratiatia and the rest of the world trip this year coming soon...

Getting into summer!

2009-12-14T16:02:00.000-08:00

- Mike Dawson Huka at 180 - Photo Tyler Fox

Sanga on Mothers Nightmare - Wairoa - Photo Lou Urwin
- A few of the crew at Ohope - Photo Josh Neilson

-The Crew After a few summer drinks - Photo Someone

Alright guys and girls heres whats going on! Since arriving back from a savage few months in Africa its back to another summer and its going good so far! Finally got myself a car and headed to Lake Rotoiti where we have a sweet house in Okawa Bay! People coming and going every day and the river a few minutes away! Not to mention a bunch of sick runs a short drive away! In the last few weeks we have been out filming for the upcoming film and have ticked off some classics! We now have on film some Aratiatia action, Huka at a savage high flow, and the notorious Gnarley Gorge on the Kaituna was opened up for summer with no new wood in it by Brad, Ryan and Trent. The next mission is off to Tree Trunk Gorge to see if we can get this one again before Christmas.
- Sanga on the rollercoaster - Photo Lou Urwin

- Sam Royal flipping the whale - Photo Me or tyler?

- Sam Pre-Whale practice - photo Josh Neilson

But its not all business and serious stuff here in Okawa! We have just welcomed B and Soph in over the weekend and hit up a big party at Sophs batch in Ohope to mark the start of a sweet summer!
keep an eye out for more shenanagans!
-Superman one hander whale Grab - Photo Lou Urwin

- Sun! YEAH - Photo Josh Neilson

-Back Flipin the whale - Photo Lou Urwin

You!-Photo Josh Neilson
chur

Uganda, Africa in less than a page!

2009-11-22T21:16:00.001-08:00

Murchison Falls - Photo Josh Neilson

Alright so it has been a while since the last real post but the African internet speeds just were not inviting enough to slog over the computer in order to get the story out!
So now after spending 4 months living in Uganda on the banks of the White Nile i am back in New Zealand and enjoying the luxury of good food, fast internet and the joys of buying a car!
After being home a week I have sorted through hours of footage and photos to bring you a quick update from the past few months.
- View from my room, Uganda - Photo Josh Neilson

-In the local Jinja Market, Fishy - Photo Josh Neilson

-View from the deck - photo Josh Neilson

So it started off in usual NRE (Nile River Explorers, the raft base we lived at) fassion with a good welcome back bender weekend which would turn out to be the start to the down fall of my body! not only the hard partying but about 10 days later the mosquito that bit me on those early nights turned into yet another bout of Malaria! So for a few days i spent my time in a fever, feeling sick, tired, bored etc, generally feeling like S#&*T. After that i decided to give up the preventitive meds that have failed me a few times now and decided to take on the malaria mozzys head on with just my positive thinking! And it worked! No more malaria for the remaining 3 and a half months!

Me on Kalagala Falls - Photo Ben Jackson

-Ben filming and Berno running Kalagala Falls - Photo Josh Neilson

- Will freewheeling into Bujagali Falls - Photo Anna Bruno

Ben Jackson - Kalagala Falls - Photo Josh Neilson

Kirk Hollis, melting in! Photo Anna Bruno

Sam back on the water after many months recovery! Photo Anna Bruno

So with 4 months in Uganda and a very very low budget and a fast growing bar tab i decided to do a bit of rafting which was a great time! Good mates out on the river each day causing trouble and smashing the clients!
With Anton (who did the rafting videos) leaving and Davey (owns the video production company there) also going home for a month I took the job and spent the next month or so paddling every day, editing the film at night and selling the videos. Was a awesome experience for the editing and made a bit of coin to bring home!

-Our Safari Camp in the delta - photo Josh Neilson

-Sneaky Leopard in the trees - Photo Josh Neilson

- Wandering Giraffe - Photo Josh Neilson

Once that was all over I got into some of my own kayaking and filming which was good fun. Got all the necessary shots for the up coming film which was slightly last minute but all good! Ben Jackson came over from NZ for the last month and that was a blast! We went to the market and kitted our selves out in safari suits and headed to Murchison Falls National Park to check out the animals! Was the highlight of the trip with an abundance of Hippos, Elephants, Lions, Giraffes and even a sneaky Leopard in the trees!

-Morning elephant- Photo Josh Neilson

-Me standing by Murchison Falls - Photo Ben Jackson

- Filming with a boat boom, look carefully - Photo Anna Bruno

Once back from safari it was into the leaving benders! Halloween was a crack up which lead into my birthday(thanks Jack for not actually killing me) and then the next day was the makeshift Nile Festival where we loaded up the rafts and kayaks and headed out to the day 2 section of the Nile! What a memorable few days! Thanks to everyone who was there! definatly a highlight!
After that i just had a week left to paddle, rest and film the last things before i embarked on the 60hr journey back to NZ! Almost missed the first plane as the car broke down half way! Luckily i had a similar problem on my car 8 years ago and i knew how to fix it! hahaha!

Bujagali Falls, Where the lake from the dam will drown to! - Photo Anna Bruno

- Me at the Equator - Photo Liss Raymond

So now im back in NZ and its good to be home! Still got a few things to film before i can get into the edit for this years film but its underway! Hanging out to get over to the tuna to catch up with the crew there and go kayaking again!
There will be a few photos up on here as I find them from the last few months!
Sorry for the long delay in Updates and the briefness of this one! If ya wanna know more ill tell you when i see you!
Cheers
Josh

Still alive

2009-09-25T02:48:00.000-07:00

Alright everyone so last time I wrote I was in Norway and on a fast track to the white Nile with no money just trying to get by for a few more months to stay out of nz for more of the winter! Since ariving here I've worked most days and have decided to stay on till mid November after the last Nile river festival! In a few weeks I'll b done with work making raft videos and will have some time to chuck up some pics and some clips from a wee project I have been working on! Till then, don't stress I'll be back online again soon! See ya then

Over the Fijord and far away

2009-07-08T01:43:00.000-07:00

With a day off to nurse the hangover and do a bit of board surfing on the local wave it became apparent that my time here in Norway was almost over! I could fit in one more trip but where to go?? Then i heard a knock at the door and Dag ame up and asked if i wanted to head across the Hadanger Fijord and up to to mountain tops to run a river with some cool slides on it and camp the night. My time here in norway has been Hot, and ive been in a house every night so the thought of getting a camping trip in was top on the list! We loaded up the cars and headed South toward the fijord. After a few hours of driving and a quick ferry ride we were at the river.

-Everyone sheltering from the rain at our camp by the road - Photo Josh Neilson

-A Clear patch in the night enough to get a fire going and warm up the feet! - Photo Josh Neilson

- The darkest point of the night at about midnight - Photo Josh Neilson

Through the trees we could see glimpses of slides in the distance which we knew we would see closer the next day! At the top on the mountain where is flattens out (Vida) which felt like the moon or some foreign planet, we set up camp along side the river and the road and settled in for a nice dinner, fire and good sleep! Early next morning we got up and drove a few Kms up the road and hiked across the Vida towards where the river was.

- Making our way across the barren landscape - Photo Greg Dashper

-A quick shortcut across a lake on the hike in - Photo Greg Dashper

- I can see the river valley in the distance but its not getting closer! - Photo Greg Dashper

A few hours in and we could see a nice gorge and a sweet drop to start us off!

-Drop number one on the river, a good start - Photo Greg Dashper

- Greg Dashper having a go too - Photo Aril

It was not long and we were back at our camp spot and where we needed to portage round a section dry from a dam! After some lunch and a quick drive we were bck on the river below the dam. From here the river was slide - lake - slide - lake!

-Dag going left on a nice slide! - Photo Greg Dashper

perfect way to end the norway trip! In the pools we chatted about our summer and other missions and then every few minutes we had to fire ourselves up and run the slides! The biggest one on the river required a bit of thought! You had to roll in, hit a pool, push right on a shallow but fast ledge but not too far right, then boof off a drop onto a slide and pillow then come out down the slide and off a kicker into the pool!

-Josh Neilson at the top of the big drop - Photo Greg Dashper

-And again on the kicker at the bottom, Sweet drop! - Photo Greg Dashper

-Dag coming out the bottom of the big drop - Photo Greg Dashper

-Greg showing us the way on the last big one - Photo Josh Neilson

-Aril going left about to take a paddle to the face - Photo Greg Dashper

What a sweet drop! stoked with this trip and would recomed this river to others for sure! At the bottom we were stoked and loaded up and headed back to Voss! A quick ferry and short drive and we were home sweet home!

-This Drop is downstream of our take out and what looks like a sweet section below too - Photo Josh Neilson

Well temporary home at least! One more day here to sort my things and then back to Uganda! Im really looking forward to being back there and seeing old friends! The Blogs from here may slow down a bit due to the internet speed etc in Africa but keep coming back and reading! Ill update as much as i can!
PEACE

Tunnel drop and kittle Breaker

2009-07-06T03:53:00.000-07:00

For a while there my trip was all consumed with traveling, racing on controled sections of water and the party scene around the races. While this is fun it does lack the adrenalin hit required to run this human being! With a now limited 4 days left in Norway we knew we had to get some drops under our belts! At the end of the last post I was rushed out the door and off to check out Nosebreaker, the Tunnel drop and Kittlebreaker falls. At Nosebreaker we were met by a huge flow and no one that keen to follow in IG's footsteps and run it to the bottom!

-Sam Sutton in the light before the darkness of the tunnel - Photo Will Clark

So back at the car we headed 5 more minutes up the road to the Tunnel. This is an interesting drop because it once used to be a waterfall but the train needed to go over it so they dug out the river above and made a tunnel for the river to go through and the train now goes nicely over where the waterfall once did! Last year i was in a self inflicted bout of sickness and didnt get to run this drop but this year was fired up to get on it! standing at the top it was about double the flow and far more intimidating! Sam and Dylan went first right after each other to act as safety for each other on the other side if one was to break a paddle etc. Dylan lost part of a blade and did the bottom bit upside down but all sweet!
Next up I ran and the boys set up cameras and safety at the bottom and top. I was a little left than planned but came down the tunnel at full speed and out the bottom into the hole and backwards into the pool! good fun times!
Will took it next and got his paddle stuck inside the cave which got ripped out of his hand and ran the rest paddleless! A nice hand roll at the bottom and all was good!
Next up was Kittlebreaker! From the tunnel you have about 100m then the water falls down a rolling drop with some kickers to keep you on your toes!

-Sam Sutton about to stomp it! - Photo Will Clark

-Dylan tucking for the plug - Photo Will Clark

Sam landed flat and soft, dylan followed with a nice plug and then i folowed with a similar line but had a hard impact. Somewhere in there i hit rocks, my paddle, my boat and lots of water. Im not sure how long i was stuck in there for but I am very happy for the autonomous skill of rolling!

- Josh Neilson coming down the tounge - Photo Sam Sutton

- Going round at the bottom not knowing I was Kayaking - Photo Sam Sutton

Without knowing what I was doing I came out rolled and then tried to figure out what i was doing! Ok im in my kayak, there is a waterfall, i must be kayaking.... "Josh, Josh, Josh" I could hear from Sam on the rock above me. "Are you ok?".......... "I guess so, Shit, Im kayaking arnt I?''. My paddle was backward and I was a bit dizzy but all good! Todays injuries were a fat chin, smashed nose and a throbbing head! not too bad! I got out and waked round a bit then filmed Will coming off with a sweet line!

-Will Clark in the meat - Photo Sam Sutton

Jamie decided to fire up the bottom slide with a sweet line but the rest of us were too beaten to carry on today! This time we were home in time to get in a few beers and a BBQ on the beach! great way to end the day!
As i write this I am once again being dragged out the door on another mission! This time the kayak stays at home and we have surf boards on the roof! Off to a wave at the end of the lake here in voss where it drains into the river. Sunny day on the river bank doin a bit of surfing! enjoy!

Jordalselvi, Voss, Norway - Beautiful!

2009-07-04T02:57:00.000-07:00

Michelle Ramazza getting air about to smash the ribs- Photo Josh Neilson

Right now the NZ dollar is worth about 4NOK Norwegian Kroner. And for that 4NOK you can buy....... nothing. and if you double it...... still nothing! If you want a liter of gas your looking at about 12NOK or $3nz!!! We all need gas to get to the river and its worth it when you get to paddle these amazing rivers in the sun! The weather has been great for over a week reaching 40deg yesterday, so when you get off the river it would be nice to sit down and enjoy a cold beer.... Well if you want to take that option for the evening you are looking at the cheapest beer possible for over $50nz for a 6pack! And for some reason if you decide to do this after 6pm your out of luck because after then you can not buy alcohol! So as you can imagine this has not often been the direction of our evenings! Instead we have drunk a lot of cuts of tea!

-Dylan trying to get out from the falls - Photo Josh Neilson

Due to the low NZ dollar and expensive living here in Norway the back account has taken a battering! Plans were to go up to Sjoa festival in a few weeks and compete in 1 last race for the year then head out to africa at the end of the month or possibly try find some work then head to africa in September. But a quick look at the account it became apparent that this was not going to be easy or possible at all really!
So after hours of tying to book cheap flights online and it never working out I waited till 11.30pm here when NZ was awake and at work and called Graci at the flight center in Hastings and she sorted me out! within a few hours we had a plan and I was off to Africa. The plan now is to spend 3 months in the pearl of africa, Uganda to kayak and film a segment for the upcoming film and take the money from the last film to the clinic!

- The first drop on the river, Jamie Sutton - Photo Josh Neilson

During all this flight booking mahem we have whipped out a fe times and yesterday we got on the Jordalselvi for a late afternoon bomb down the goods! The run starts off with a sweet little drop above a nice 10 or so meter waterfall.

- Michele feeling good but not for long! - Photo Josh Neilson

The flow was close to double what I had done it before and the boil at the bottom was looking juicey! I had a sweet line but the imapct hitting the boil was a hard one and spat me right out into the wall.

- Josh Neilson on the main falls about to impact with the boil at the bottom the the wall! - photo Will Clark

Michelle had a good one but hit his ribs on the side of his kayak and possibly broken ribs and the rest were all good too! we made our way further into the gorge and ran out of camera battery but everything was good! we had one portage which was definatly runnable but a very long and fine line! right after that was another sweet 8-10m drop and then we were pretty much done!
Happy days out! we took off at 9m and home in time to cook dinner by 10 and bed by midnight!

- Jamie Sutton running a small version of Troutpool Falls! styling it obviously! - Photo Josh Neilson

I have a few days more here in Norway so hope to get a few more posts up of this amazing place! The boys have just arrived to pick us up and go kayaking, sounds like tunnel slide and maybe some other falls so see ya later!

- This is Sam running a drop over the fijord from here that they did a few days ago - Hes small in there! -Photo Will Clark

Voss Extreme week and beyond!

2009-06-30T10:33:00.000-07:00

-Trying to get a boof in tired from racing - Arnstein Karlsen

Hey where have I been and where has the last few weeks gone!!!??? So since the epic mission in Italy I caught a cheap and somewhat dodgy plane from a small airport east of Milan to a small airport out of Oslo, Norway where a friend, Val and I drove a few more hours to her place in a cool little ski village called Geilo. We spent a bit of time relaxing after out Italy partying and one day trip to germany! Once we had slept and eaten enough we were hankering for a bit of solid whitewater! (solid as in difficult not frozen!)
We ran the Zambezi section of a river possibly called the Dagalli but possibly I just dont remember!

- Brandseth race - Photo Kjell Håkon Larsen

Anyway that was awesome and had some nice big holes in it with a solid flow! Just what the doctor ordered!
Then it was time to get to Voss to see Mike and Margis and pick up Will from the airport in Bregen. Back at Margis and Mikes was awesome catching up with them and also Greg and Kristy who were out here last year too! Next up was preperation for Extreme sports week! An epic week of racing, partying and long day with even longer nights! We also set out to make a film for the film cometition but once all shot and ready to edit we couldnt get the footage off for some reason!
- Josh Neilson racing on the Brandseth - Photo Marit Stensby

By the thursday we were ready for racing! The Brandseth River is home to the time trials and teams race and this year it was a good flow, the sun was pumping, there was a jazz band on the side and we were feeling good! First runs were good with Sam taking an early lead but then Mike Abbott came back with a 4 second faster run! Once they made the cut down to 15 I had made it through in 10th and knew I had to go fast to hold that position! Overall i gained 3 places and came in 7th with Michelle Ramazza from italy just beating Sam by split seconds!

- The waterfall on the Brandseth - Photo Marit Stensby

Over the day the sun was scorching and the snow was melting! all the teams for the teams race headed up to the top to run the steeper higher section and it was going off! I have to say it was the scariest race ive ever been in! I ran everything big backwards and got smashed in every hole to where i thought i was going to swim! luckily i didnt and we came in 4th with kiwi team, Sam, Brad and Dylan in 2nd and Mikey Abbott's team once again taking 1st place!
The rest of the week was partying and gearing up for the head to head! I didnt know the lines because I was late due to my kayak being left in town and didnt make it through to the next round but once again this year Kiwis dominated with Sam Sutton in 1st, Mike Abbott in 2nd and Jamie Sutton in 3rd! We done boys!

- A perspective of some of the race - Arnstein Karlsen

Once that was over we heard that one of the best creeks in Norway was running and we had to check that out! we missed it 3 times last year but not this time!
The tiegdale is epic! Driving up the river the road switch backs its way up the valley and as you look down you can see the little village well below you!

-Josh Neilson on the Upper Slide, Photo Will Clark

-Upper slide on the Tiegdalen, Sam Sutton givin'it - Photo Josh Neilson

-Sam Sutton sliding high on the Tiegdale - Photo Josh Neilson

-Dylan Thomson on 'Notter Drop', he Styled in but to most its not a drop!- Photo Josh Neilson

It starts off with some sweet manky rock gardens into the first gorge! Drop 1 is a 8 or 9m S-bend waterfall with a nasty pocket at the bottom! Jamie decided to check it out with an epic swim out but luckily he was all good! the gradient picks up as slide after slide you make it to the bottom! we havent documented the river much due to putting on round 6pm each day as this is when its at its highest from snow melt!

- The best boof in the world, land flat then get ready to fly - Josh Neilson - Photo Dan

- The second of the double - Josh Neilson Flyng - Photo Dan

- The Famous and real 'Double Drop' Sam Sutton letting go! - Photo Josh Neilson

- Ian Garcia showing kiwis how to fly! - Photo Josh Neilson

The last drop is where its at though! the famous Double Drop is a clear favourite and the pictures speak for themselves!
Over the past few days we have been sessioning this river over and over while its round and its awesome! from here we are off to Sjoa so keep an eye out cos there should be some more drops coming soon!
Cheers

-Lake to lake on the Eksigndalen - Josh Neilson - Photo Dan

-Lake to Lake middle drop - Josh Neilson - Photo Dan

Italy Mountain Games, Ivrea, Val Chiusella

2009-06-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

Race Day 1 - Footage: Olaf Obsommer, Gauthier Grollemund, David Arnaud
Editing: David Arnaud

-Honza Lasco on the Extreme Race Day 1 - Photo Arnd Schaeftlein

After 26hrs stranded in Milano Linate airport I had a break through and next minute I had a friend of a friend yelling out from his car getting my attention, quickly loaded the car and before I knew it I was on the motor way heading for Ivrea! Kees Van Kuipers was on his was and running a bit late so was on time to call in and save me from my spell in the airport! Within a few hours we were up in the hills but unfortuantly just missed the down river extreme race but good news was already out with Bliss-Sticks, Honza Lasco in 1st and Mike Dawson in a close second!

-The View from my tent the morning after 26hrs in the airport! Happy to be here! - Photo Josh Neilson

That night I got to catch up with the crew and hear horror stories from the race that day! The course is steep and technical and over the day there was broken ankles, ribs and other various injuries from running the Gnar at speed!

-Sam Sutton rolling off the start ramp - Photo Arnd Schaeftlein

Early the next morning was the Teams race! This was the first part of the overall World Championship title! Team Switzerland was missing a paddler due to the day before's incidents so i paddled for them which was an experience running the whole race blind without ever seeing the river before! I got in behind and kept close and rolled off every drop in the same place as who ever was in front in hope they stuck their line so i would too! At the bottom I was stoked to be down, uninjured and back on the river!

- Brad Lauder flying off the upper drops at full speed! -Photo Arnd Schaeftlein

- The Upper Gorge - Photo Arnd Schaeftlein

- Over all 2nd Mike Dawson navigating the upper race course - Photo Arnd Schaeftlein

Team kiwi (Mike Dawson, Jared Mehan and Sam Sutton) took the days top time taking them into the second round 15seconds up on the France!
The races now moved into town down the hill to a beafy slalom course where the boatercross, downriver sprint and the second round of World Champs for teams would be held!
I got a 7th place in the down river which was cool and only 2.6 second behind Italian Filippo Brunetti!

-Mike leading the pack in the boatercross - Photo Josh Neilson

-Louise Jull Coming from the back of the pack to win the Womens Boatercross - Photo Josh Neilson

-Louise Jull keeping focused and winning the womens extreme slalom - Photo Josh Neilson

To split up her slalom tour in Europe, Louise Jull who is traveling round in a truck with Mike Dawson, came to the race and dominated. Unfortunalty she didnt have a kayak to race in for the Val Chiusella race which means she couldnt be eligable for overall winner but she did cleanly win the slalom and Boatercross which was awesome to see!
Next up was the Teams Slalom which I moved down the pack to 27the out of 46 as this is definalty not my specialty but it was a fun race.
The next big event was the teams slalom. This was the second part of the World Champs for teams racing. With some very strict rules of missing a gate a 50sec penalty and also a touch of a gate 50 sec penalty it meant that if any team had even a touch they would be out for sure!

-A touch of NZ in Italy, this flag flew for the kiwi mens world champion team! -Photo Josh Neilson

Team NZ was last to run and with the French having clean and fast lines through the course! This meant that if NZ touched a gate they would loose the title right there! Mike came through the course clean followed by Jared..... Sam was the last to come into the last gate and also hit it clean! NZ took the title for World Champions for teams racing which is awesome!

- Team NZ (Jared Mehan, Sam Sutton, Mike Dawson) World Champion team racers - Photo Josh Neilson

The overall times for every race were added up to find the title for the Teva Cup and Mike Dawson took 2nd place which was another great result for NZ's Extreme racing crew!

Teva Cup Overall 2nd Place Mike Dawson - Photo Josh Neilson

Right after the event I loaded up a car with Valarie Bertrand from Norway and headed on a bit of a mission over night to Germany where she picked up some new kayaks then straight back to Italy to pcik up our kayaks we had left with Filippo.

-On our way to Germany we camped by the river to find this sign early the next morning! -Photo Josh Neilson

We went out for pizza itallian style and then a tour around Verona, Italy! A town we easily passed by on the way but stoked we got to check out! We walked around the city til 3am looking at castles, statues, arena from the Roman time and even checked out the place where Juliet lived and saw the balcony where Romeo stood below! An amazign town rich in history and very beautiful!

-Panoramic view of Verona, our last site before heading to Norway - Wikipidia

-1 of 12 bridges into Verona - Photo Wikipidia

-Verona square! beauty! - Photo Wikipidia

-One of many Castles along the way - Photo Josh Neilson

-Following Team Italy home from the race in Ivrea - Photo Josh Neilson

Straight from there we drove 1.5 hrs and caught a plane Olso Norway and then a 4hr drive to where i sit right now! Back in Norway and looking forward to the next chapter in the 09 mission! Tomorrow we will be back on the river here in Norway and getting ready for Voss Extreme Sports Veko next week! Lets go!

- Hanging with team Italy pre party on saturday! -Photo Josh Neilson

Airport trip to italy comes to an end!!!

2009-06-11T03:29:00.000-07:00

I am about to leave the airport for the first time in Italy but for a while there i thought i was not going to see any of it! me and my boat came on an expensive holiday so i thought it was the least i could do by taking it round some of the airports sites to see what Italy had to offer in case we didnt ever leave! All up we spent 25hrs here but thanks to good friends out there we have been saved and wil get to do some more things and see some of italys real attractions!
Enjoy these for now till we get out to the goods! Thanks to all for your conversations while we endured the Airport hostage situation!
Cheers, Josh and boat! Unfortunatly Paddles are MIA still!

- Checking in and paying the ridiculous fee for my boat!

-Taking Mystic to see some sights within the airport!

-Some of the night life here at milan linate Airport!

- Casual feed of Mc D's after town!

-Sleeping in the food court with our homeless friends - these guys are true to it homeless, They come in at dark and leave before the chaos hits. Warm, Dry and free washing up! perfect!

Mtn Games and a touch of partying

2009-06-08T21:48:00.001-07:00

-Mike Dawson Giving it hard down the race - photo Anna Bruno

-Sam Sutton making up time on his second run - photo Anna Bruno

-Lou right before total destruction - photo Anna Bruno

- Me in the middle section - Photo Anna Bruno

So after a good few runs down the course it was time to race. My first run down is always my best so decided to attack race day with no warm up run! Off the ramp i was feeling good and had sweet lines through to top of the course. With most of my nerves being about hurting my shoulder again rather than wanting to win I focused on clean lines rather then speed. I wanted to come through the course clean and that would be enoughfor me at the bottom. 60 men rolled off the ramp over the morning and down the course. The decided the cut to the finals would be 23 and after a few minutes the times were up on the board. I had clean lines through the middle and bottom of the course but lost one hand off the paddle on the second to last drop loosing me a few seconds. Other than that i was stoked with my run~

- Me on the lower sweet drops - Photo Anna Bruno

As i made it close to the time sheet I could not see my name at the bottom of the list and slowly skimmed down the pack... 27 no 26 no 25 no 24 - Josh Neilson! i couldnt believe it, I had missed the cut by 4hundredths of a second. While i didnt mind not making the next round earlier to have missed by that little was kinda gutting!
The rest of the day was sweet chilling out watching the second runs and doin a bit of filming. Sam had the fastest lap time for race two but with a slower first run was not able to bring it back. Mike Dawson had consistant lines and took the prize money along with Nikki Kelly on the womens podium! Very proud to be a kiwi on these days on the road!
The rest of the weekend we checked out a few of the other events and hung out by the river.

- The Play hole in the middle of town - photo Ron Fischer i think

I caught up with Thatcher and Joe who i hung out with in Africa and Cali with over the past years and partied hard with them like there was no tomorrow! We had the Retro Under the Sea Ball and the First Descents party over the weekend which were a lot of fun!

- Two of the best guys out! Cheers Boys!

- Vail downtown during Mtn Games

Ron Fischer looked after us this weekend putting us up in his super styley room at 'The Lodge' with nice spa pools, heated swimming pool and right in the middle of town! Cheers Ron, See you in Norway in a few weeks!

- Tyler immitating The Ron Fischer - photo Ron Fischer Proper

- Nikki and Mike on the number 1 podium

So we hung out after Mtn Games for one more night and the next morning got a message from Mike saying he had missed his flight to Italy! We slowly made our way to pick him up and now Rush, Anna, Mike and I are chilling in a hotel in denver. Rush flies to Iceland Tomorrow, Mike to Italy and I have to get up at 3am and drive to Colorado Springs to fly to Italy too. Thanks Bruno for the pick up, drop off service! So for now its airplane food, stop overs and long flights til i touch down in Milan ready for the next Mtn Extreme Outdoor Games starting on thursday! Keep an eye out to hopefully see more kiwi domintaion in Italy and norway the following week!
Peace
Josh

- Bruno and Thatch dressed up for one night of partying

- Me and Bruno getting to know the cops early in the night - Photo Mike Dawson

- Ship captain Rush at the under the sea ball

Check this out

2009-06-03T10:02:00.000-07:00

www.louiseurwin.blogspot.com

A new Blog for everyone to spend more of their work time reading!

I am on tour with Lou right now and its been awesome! Check out the posts below for our Quebec mission and some practice runs on the Homestake creek race course.
Chur

Vail Mountain Games training

2009-06-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

-Downtown Vail - Photo Ron Fischer

Sweet so we are up here in Vail, Colorado after a sick mission to Quebec and a 3700km drive across USA to a small but nice Ski town. We arrived and met up with Ron and went to check out the race run at Homestake Creek about 10 minutes from downtown Vail! So the deal is stay upright, stay straight and wear as much body protection as possible! The run is short and tight with about 3cubic meters of water going down it!
We have done a few practice runs so far and its hard! Also because we are at 9000 feet above sea level, breathing becomes a bit hard and by the end of the 2-3minute run you are stuffed!
So here are a few shots from the paractice and will have more of an update as the races begin!
Cheers

-Josh Neilson, Homestake creek race training - Photo Anna Bruno

-Josh Neilson, Cold and tired in the mank - Photo Anna Bruno

-Sam Sutton avoiding the rock right in the middle of the drop! - Photo Anna Bruno

-Ron Fischer getting in some practice - Photo Anna Bruno

-Sam Sutton in amongst the rocks! - Photo Anna Bruno

- Relaxing at the flashest hotel ive ever been in! Cheers Ron - Photo Ron Fischer

-Lou Urwin dropping into the gnar - Photo Anna Bruno

- One of the nicer drops in the race - Photo Anna Bruno

- An old mining town below the race run on Gilmans Gorge - Photo Ron Fischer

Thanks for the photos from Anna Bruno and Ron Fischer

Quebec exploration

2009-05-28T16:44:00.000-07:00

A few days ago we were introduced to a guy called Pat Levesque who lives up on the Saguenay River in a town called Chicoutimi. Pat invited us to stay at his place and on his days off he would show us the area. Over dinner on our first night Pat showed us his extensive research he had done on the area over google maps. Hundreds of pin points on the map all in a relatively small area area of bush north east of the town. This was one of the most amazing areas of whitewater potential Ive ever seen from space! The river that caught all our attention was the Bras Pilote which from space we could see it had some cool canyons and one stand out waterfall which looked massive but possibly runnable! At the put in we knew we had about 4 sections of big drops including the BIG one and some other fast moving bouldery stuff too! Right off the bat the bouldery stuff was bigger and faster than we expected but I guess anything looks small when you have scouted it from thousands of meters above the earth!

-Pat Levesque and I on the slide before the big one - Photo Tyler Fox

After an hour of sweet bombing down fast drops we came across a gem. It was a sweet 15foot clean drop which was a nice change from boulder gardens.

-Josh Neilson on 'Take Off' - Photo Pat Levesque

-Pat Levesque on 'Take off' - photo Tyler Fox

-Josh Neilson Below 'Take Off' - Photo Tyler Fox

Not long down stream after a slide looked like the edge of the earth! Usually horizon lines on rivers make kayakers excited at the potential over the lip. But when you are in the eddy above and can not see anything but sky out over the horizon then its a bit different. With a quick scout on the right and a peer over the edge it was apparent we were definatly portaging on the left. The height was possibly managable with a bit more flow but the entry was tight and too hard to clean a line over the lip.

Pat and I above the big one! - Photo Tyler Fox

-Tyler and Pat peering over the edge - photo Josh Neilson

-Me looking contemplating the possibility - Photo Tyler Fox

-Pat and I at the bottom feeling the power - Photo Tyler Fox

This was our first experience with a bit portage in quebec and all I can say is its hell! The trees are bunched up there is snow making caves to fall in and its steep! at the bottom looking up it was definalty an amazing place to be!

- Me portaging in the snow - Photo Tyler Fox

From here it was more class 3-4 bombing down to the bridge and take out near the confluence of the St Margarete.

-Tired bodies at the take out - photo Lou Urwin

The rest of the day we drove around in the park area scouting potential new first descents. The plan was hatched there and then for the next few days kayaking...

-Scouting Ulrich, Not fun! - photo Josh Neilson

Early the next morning we got up early and made our way into the park again. This time we were headed for Olaf Creek which flows into the St Margarite. At lunch time we made it to the put in and we were off. Tyler and I made our way across a few lakes before the gradient showed its face. When it did it did so fast!

-Josh Neilson on early drop on Olaf - photo Tyler Fox

Once we were a few small drops in we came across the first big land mark on our google map beta. A sweet slide but no exit point before a certain death gorge. The decision was made to portage high on the river left which took us about 1 and a half hours. It was brutal! By 2pm we were around the gorge but thinking hard about what was to come! We knew there was 8 more land marks we could see like this from the google map images so knew we had to keep the pace up to make it out before night! We put in on a ledge right below the last mank drop and ran it out. From above it looked like small holes but turned out they were huge and some big boofs needed to get out! From here the Olaf dropped consistantly and steeply all the way to the confluence to the St Margarite but with little time on our hands we didnt stop to document any of the drops. Definatly worth while though even with the portage in there!!!

-Some nice fun stuff in between the Gnar - Photo Tyler Fox

Here we paddled into the St Maragarite which now trippled the water we had on the Olaf and we knew there were some big drops ahead! Luckily the first was runnable! A sliding ramp into a big hole at the bottom! Tyler flew through it and i had a bit of a stall out in it but all sweet!

-Josh Neilson in Beaver Dam Falls - Photo Tyler Fox

- Josh Neilson below Beaver Dam Falls - Photo Tyler Fox

The Images from google shows a lot of flat water in between big drops but with this flow and more rocks than we expected there was some quality read and run rapids in betweens the big ones! There were only 2 portages in this bottom section and they were MASSIVE! Even if we felt like stepping up on the day these were still portages! maybe at low water they might go but not today!

- Portage of BIG holes and Gradient! - Photo Josh Neilson

- Another steep - Photo Tyler Fox

- Amongst the trees in the last portage of the day!! - Photo Josh Neilson

Soon after we were on the home stretch to the bridge right above the confluence of the Bras Pilote from the day before.

- Lou cooking in our new shelter at the Ulrich Drops - Photo Josh Neilson

-Put in for Ulrich at the lake - Photo Josh Neilson

That night we set up camp on a viewing platform next to some drops on Ulrich Creek with the intention of waking up and running 8km of that creek from the lake down. Tyler and lou ran shuttle and then we were on.

-Josh Neilson on an fast fun one - Photo Tyler Fox

Right away the river made its way down but we were soon met with a portage! Hopefully this was not going to be the theme for the day!

-Only Portage on Ulrich, might go lower flows... Photo Tyler Fox

We soon realised it was not and it got better and better! This was to be the only portage of the day and the drops were all classy! Sometimes boofs, sometimes melts, sometimes boulders sometimes slides... The real prize came near the end where we got a cool 4 foot boof into a pool then an easy sloping drop into a pool! It was so good I even went back for a second go!

-Josh Neilson above 'Pinacle Falls' - Photo Lou Urwin

-Dropping in - Photo Lou Urwin

- Lou taking the First D - Photo Tyler Fox

- Tyler Following orderly - Photo Lou Urwin

-An easy slide towards the end - photo Tyler Fox

The river kept dropping all the way tothe take out above a section of possibly runnable slides and drops but more water would be nice for these.

-The bottom part of the bottom section, more stacked on top of this! - photo Lou Urwin

So huge thanks to Pat for showing us this area and setting us up with 3 sick sections of whitewater to explore! Unfortunatly he couldnt come on the last 3 of 4 first descents but he now knows he has some classic runs in his back yard for the future! Exploration trips like this are a lot of work and preperation and Pat did a lot of this for us! With all the Driving, Scouting, Portaging and runnable whitewater in mind I have to say Im definalty coming back to this place again soon! All worth while!
We are now back in Chicoutimi thinking about plans for 1 or 2 more runs then the big haul down to colorado for Mtn Games. See ya soon!

-Lou Urwin- Photo Tyler Fox

For more info on rivers up here in Quebec contact Pat Levesque at www.centretorrent.com or info@centretorrent.com

Quebec Update 2

2009-05-25T17:42:00.000-07:00

Here is just a quick update on today. We had a day of updating everyone on the net and then Tyler and Lou decided to whip across town and park and huck this sweet little drop in town. This drop is called Chute de la HaHa.

-Tyler Running the entry drop- Photo Josh Neilson

-Tyler on the main drop - Photo Josh Neilson

- Lou immersed in the curtain at the top, spot her paddle.. - Photo Josh Neilson

We are now getting ready for a mission tomorrow and now have another first d lined up for Thursday or Friday too! Too much to choose from! So little time...
Stay tuned