Details
Funyak Safari
Dart River, Queenstown
[Incept's C44T Trapper touring canoes]
- by Jonathon Booth
6 December 2008
On Saturday, we headed into town for an action packed adventure on the Dart River at the head of Lake Wakatipu.
Meeting at the information centre in Queenstown at 7.40am, we caught the Dart River Safari Bus with four other punters. We were off to our next main stop, Glenorchy where the safari’s are based from.
Halfway to Glenorchy we stopped at a lookout with amazing views over Lake Wakatipu. The Dart River flows in at the head of the Lake with the Mt Aspiring Mountain Range towering above the river. As you can tell, we ordered a fine day, and bingo, we got the best day in two weeks! Yay for us.
We had about 45mins in Glenorchy to don the gear and get the rundown for the day, before going down to the jetty where the Jet boat was waiting…
A quick photo by the crew, and we were off down the lake with the odd 360deg spin, heading for the Dart River mouth.
The Dart River was murky from the glacial flour (ground up rock from the spring snow melt). You could only see about 8 inches deep, which gave the illusion that the river was much deeper than it actually was. We only graded the base of the river a couple of times with the Jet boat…
We got dropped off about 1km up river from the start of the Dart Walking track, where the Beansburn River meets the Dart River.
The trip up on the jet boat took a bit under an hour. With the easy bit over, it was now time to get setup for the trip back down the river. With some quick instruction we had the boats unrolled and inflated.
So into the Funyaks we go and after a quick practice we group together like one raft to give extra stability as we enter into the main flow of the Dart River. The water clarity of the Beansburn River was crystal clear, which lasted for about 5mins till we hit the Dart River. A beautiful spot.
We dragged the Funyaks up about 100m of the Rockburn River, till we could paddle in the slow moving water upstream. We paddled upstream and discovered a chasm!
After the morning's activities, we were hungry and it was time for some lunch. A short stroll through some Beech trees at Rockburn we found a nice sunny clearing, perfect for a picnic (except for the odd sandfly wanting a feed also). We were pre-warned and came prepared, and for the most part avoided becoming the meal.
The peacefulness of the area is just magic. It’s been a relaxing way to get away from civilization.
We were enjoying the relaxing paddle down the Dart, it was sad to think it was all over. We spent 2 hrs in the Funyaks all up, but the time seemed to pass quickly.
We rolled up the Funyaks, packed up the gear and it was back to Glenorchy on the off-road “four wheel drive” bus via the gravel river flats and farm roads.
We stopped at Glenorchy to get changed and find a café for a coffee. A good chance to chill out for a bit in the sun before heading back to Queenstown. We arrived back in Queenstown at 5pm, a full day of adventure...
The Route Map
We followed the green dotted line to Beansburn, then floated to Rockburn for lunch, before finishing the float at the end of the red dotted line. We then did the “Scenic Back Boad Tour” back to Glenorchy.
The river was an easy Grade 2 paddle, and everyone managed to stay upright which is a wonder as there was one couple that was a bit of confused on which way to paddle to keep the funyak going straight. There were a few rapids run backwards, due to the funyak nosing into the bank. They made it down in one piece, with big smiles on their faces.
This trip was a fun 9-hour day’s worth of activity of fantastic value, experiencing via many different activities the wonders of South Island wilderness. A special thanks to Dart River Safaris for putting on a great trip.
