The Mokau river is one of the best rivers I have paddled. There are heaps of rapids, lots of variety, and a few challenges. Lots of playing and very few flat sections. Always a blast.

The whitewater section of the Mokau river starts at the Mokau Powerstation. This is built on a natural waterfall. This is a total of about 20 metres and has not been paddled.

Stacey Verner paddleing the bottom drop of the Mokau Dam.

The river gives action very quickly with 4 grade 3+ weirs, and then Little Huka. Little Huka is shaped similar to its larger namesake. It is a steep 2 metre drop with a strong hole, leading into a roigh narrow channel. There is a powerful buffer wave on river right, which gives boof to avoid the hole. At high flows the buffer wave on the right can be very strong. The first time I paddled this rapid (2.8m flow) the buffer bounced me accross the channel so that I hit the rocks half a metre above the water, bounced back to the centre of the channel and got away without getting my hair wet.

Stacey Verner paddleing Little Huka.

The Tripple Weirs rapid is a highlight of the trip. It contains three consecutive weirs. The first two weirs are fairly small, and are large waves at high flows. The bottom weir is 2 to 3 metres with some nasty rocks in the bottom of it. There is an easy grade 3 line to the right. For the more adventurous there are multiple lines and the possibility of a good surf over the weirs.

Stacey Verner boofing the bottom of the Triple Weir rapid.

The largest rapid on the Mokau is Toroto Gorge (also know as Little Aratiatia). It is a steep churning seething mass of white water, which is easier than it looks, but with a hard entry, and a nasty hole at the right flow. The rapid is grade 4. and can look grade 6, but its deceptive. The first time I saw it I simply said no way. The portage is grade 6 and not worth it.

Kirsten Crawford in Toroto Gorge (Little Aratiatia).

The last rapid which we call Bottom Rapid (how original) is a boulder jumble with a central drop with a very sticky hole, with a buffer wave off the rock on the left of the following picture. A lot of people have spent a lot of time cartwheeling in this hole. The line is to either go straight down the middle, and hope for the best (this approach usually ends up with some down time), or do a powerful left hand boof (not a lot better, and if you do get caught, you get caugh worse). The are other lines but these have proven to be a bad choice.

Kirsten Crawford taking the centre line on the Bottom Drop.

Duncan Taggart on the Bottom Drop.