The Fellowship Lives On...

See below for details of the report.

Thanks, Andy









28 December 2010

survey results

The info's all here, but how I get it 'there' is something I'm still working on!  What does it show? 
  • That the West Coast has an amazing density of high quality rivers (as defined by their scores in the WCWKS2010)
  • That - other then the Buller Earthquake section which is more commonly associated with Murchison - the most popular rivers are in the central West Coast area. The Kakapotahi, the Hokitika and the Arnold are the most commonly visited here
  • That wilderness trips are popular in northern Buller (Oparara, Karamea, Mokihinui) and South Westland (Landsborough and Waiatoto but also Burke, Waipara and Cascade with the few who've paddled them)
  • That the West Coast is commonly seen as the pinnacle of kayaking in NZ and rated highly amongst the world's kayaking destinations.  It is valued in general for diversity of whitewater challenge, spectacular scenery, clean water and for the added interest of using helicopters to access many rivers
  • That kayakers come to the West Coast from all over the world (28% from overseas) and more Cantabrians paddle here than West Coasters.  They tend to be university educated.
I'll try to work out how to post graphs etc.  It's most likely though that the survey and my work from this year in general will be kept by DoC in Hokitika as well as by me, and be available in full or part on request.