Outdoors: A top dip and jump

By COLIN MOORE

The Pararaha Valley is the wilderness of the Waitakere Ranges at its best. It exits on to the sands of the West Coast between Karekare and Whatipu through rugged battlements of eroded volcanoes and cliffs of conglomerate pushed out of the sea.

Down the stream in the valley floor rushed thousands of kauri logs to feed 19th-century sawmills. Flax was harvested for rope-making from wetlands near the beach, and the lower reaches were farmed.

But the remote valley, its regenerating native bush and its catchment streams are now a favourite haunt of trampers who can follow a network of tracks that lead through the Pararaha's rocky portals to the coast.

In the headwaters, a tributary stream, once dammed so that pent-up water would carry logs to sawmills, is now carrying modern adventurers.

In his native France, Julien Senamaud was a keen mountaineer until he and his climbing mates started jumping, swimming and abseiling alpine streams on the way back from a climb.

Eventually, canyoning became a more consuming passion than climbing, so Senamaud did a guide's course at the French School of Canyoning.

When he came to New Zealand seven years ago it was to climb mountains and to teach French and rock-climbing. But when he and his New Zealand wife, Rewa Paewai, decided to stay he looked for somewhere to set up a canyoning operation.

He scoured the topographical maps of the Waitakere Ranges and checked out many streams without finding the right mix of slides, waterfalls and deep pools to jump into.

A tramper suggested Cowan Stream in the upper Pararaha Valley catchment. The stream was just what Senamaud had been looking for - a canyon adventure on Auckland's doorstep.

The mid-week group I join to tackle Blue Canyon are mostly young backpackers from Britain and the United States. We are fitted with wetsuits, safety helmets, abseil harnesses and lifejackets, and tie it all up so it makes a load we can carry on our backs for a the 30-minute walk to the stream. Senamaud operates under a strict environmental impact regime from the Auckland Regional Council, and asks us to keep to the track, and the mud, so the trail is not eroded.

If you had to design a stream suitable for canyoning at all levels you would likely come up with something like Cowan: a gentle beginning with slides and waterfalls that build confidence.

In a pool before we set off we are shown how to float on our backs and given abseiling instructions. Then we make our first jump over a small fall into a deep pool. The water is not cold but it rushes into my sinuses when I ignore our guide's advice to hold my nose.

At each slide or jump we are given a brief instruction on how to tackle it.

At the first abseil site, Senamaud sets up a safety line to climbing bolts secured in the rock. We clip on and abseil the falls one by one, resting at the bottom.

Three hours after first jumping into Cowan Stream we leave it at Sunny Pool, so named because it always catches the sun, and we can warm up before walking back to the track and carpark.

My companions have had their share of thrills and spills while in New Zealand, and rate canyoning in the Waitakeres high on their list for its mix of bushwalking, scenery and excitement.

Senamaud also takes the group for a beer and sausage sizzle at Karekare. Not a bad day out for $135 including transport, equipment and food.

* Contact: Canyonz

Tel (09) 357 0133, 025 294 7724, 0800 422 696

E-mail: info@canyonz.co.nz

* colinmoore@xtra.co.nz