Are The Goal Posts Moving Again? Operating a business such as River Valley is one in which the goalposts are constantly moving. This is certainly true of the last four years. Two years of COVID, Cyclones, A summer without a summer, A Cost of Living Crisis, and a giant slip into the Rangitikei River on [...]
Do You Like an Exploratory Bike Ride? Over the years of being a river guide, I have always felt excitement and anticipation when on a new river. It did not matter too much whether that was on an easier graded river or something more challenging. What lay around the next corner? How difficult were any [...]
Seasonal Outlooks Over the years, I have listened to so many seasonal forecasts. I distinctly remember attending a concessionaires meeting in Spring 2022 and being told that the outlook was for drought the coming summer and that we should gear up on that assumption. Of course, what did eventuate? The wettest summer in living memory. [...]
Against Expectations, Whio! Going into this Winter, I did not have great expectations or hopes about the success of the Whio or Blue Duck breeding season. The easterly weather patterns since last Winter had brought regular flooding, and the continuation of these patterns meant that the primary breeding streams in the Ruahine Ranges were experiencing [...]
Guilty by Association As many readers will know, following Covid, we have taken River Valley in a different direction. This different direction involves purposefully dropping the availability of accommodation at the Lodge. In particular, repurposing the space that was backpacker dorm rooms to a lovely big open meeting room, the development of new ensuited accommodation, [...]
Humpty Dumpty – Can it Be Put Back Together Again? It is a shambles. No floor, no ceiling cladding, no wall cladding. Old pink batts. The main lodge floor piled up with kitchen equipment, container after container of kitchen “stuff”, ovens and dishwasher sitting forlornly in the lounge area, and finally, load after load of [...]
Can Tourism Help Small Communities? Here are a few thoughts and observations regarding the effects of tourism on small communities after having just ridden the Alps to Ocean Cycleway. The Alps to Ocean Cycleway is one of New Zealand’s Great Rides. It starts at either Aoraki/Mt. Cook or at Tekapo. Over the following days of [...]
Fresh Eyes: What a Fantastic Country We Live In Some friends recently stayed at home with their motorhome for a few days. From Taihape, they journeyed south to explore Cape Palliser, Castle Point and Riversdale Beach, all on the Southeast Coast of the North Island. Amongst the messages, I got from them was this one. [...]
The Return of What Was Missing In one of my last posts, I recounted Cyclone Gabrielle's effects on one of our trap lines. Roughly one-third of the traps are gone, with the Rangitikei River reaching heights not seen for decades and certainly not since most of the traps were initially installed some ten years ago. [...]
Gabrielle, The River, and The Birds Last week I spent a day checking the Stoat trap line we have downstream from River Valley Lodge on the Rangitikei River. This particular line of about 40 traps consists of a mix of DOC 200 single and double, kill traps. The primary target species are stoats, but we [...]
Пин-Ап КЗ pin up kz
Speak to one of our friendly adventure consultants who would love to help you out.
thelodge@rivervalley.co.nz / 0800 248666
