Intermediate Canyon Day Trip

Steeper and deeper! Exciting abseils in strong water flows take you into and behind spectacular waterfalls.

A longer day with many abseils, jumps and slides – you get a lot of everything! A big day of hands-on action with enormous amounts of fun!

Robinson Canyon is deep and dramatic without being too gnarly, the emphasis here is less on jumping and more on abseiling – start small and finish big! A committing and spectacular trip with a real taste of wilderness canyoning.

The trip begins with a moderately steep walk through lush New Zealand rainforest, with amazing Beech trees and sphagnum moss, which normally takes about 15-25 minutes.

Robinson Creek has a good variety of challenges, with some spectacular scenery. Up to 8 abseils (rappels) to 25m (75’) high, including the amazingly scenic ‘cavern rappel’. There are some optional jumps from 2-5 meters (6-15’). The canyon involves some challenging scrambling through the water flow, several short swims, plus one challenging swim out across a turbulent pool. The canyon walls start out relatively shallow, then get deeper as the trip goes on. The rock is deep grey schist, with amazing veins of quartz. The scenic highlight is the ‘cavern rappel’ where you abseil 25m into a huge gouge in the earth. At the bottom you almost can’t see the sky; almost everyone is left speechless at the beauty. The pools are spectacularly deep blue. You’re usually in the canyon for 4-5 hours, and you’ll need a good level of fitness, agility and be a confident swimmer.  You don't have to have abseiled before, but it helps!

Big Nige is the upper section of the Niger canyon. Making for a longer, more technical and challenging day. The walk is  steep, taking about 35-45 minutes. Big Nige has 4 abseils (rappels) up to 24m (70’) high. These are in the full force of the water, and are more exciting and challenging than the abseils in Niger Stream. There is a 2m jump and 4m slide. All trips finish down the Niger Stream.  The trip is a max of 4-5 pax, so you travel as a small group at a faster pace.  You’re usually in the canyon for 4-5 hours, and you’ll need a good level of fitness and be comfortable following instruction and enjoy swimming. You don’t need to have abseiled before, but confidence with heights helps.

Mill Canyon

The trip begins by fording the mighty Matukituki River. If flows are a little high, we might even have to put our wetsuits on and swim across, surrounded by views of the glaciated peaks of the Matukituki valley, as we walk for about 20 minutes to the canyon. Next, we hike up relatively steeply through Beech forest, to the start of the canyon.

Mill Creek is unique, in having a real ‘big’ canyon atmosphere, at an intermediate difficulty level.

Up to 6 abseils (rappels) to 27m (80’) high.  Some massive optional jumps up to 14 meters (42’)  An optional technical slide of 10m (30’),  Some swims in swift water up to 15m (45’) long.

The pools are huge, blue and seemingly bottomless, allowing for some jumps for those with confidence and agility.

The river crossing and longer approach, adds to the day and the adventure of the trip usually 4 hours in the canyon.

This trip is generally available mid Jan onwards, group size is a min of 4 people.