Buller River raft trips to be offered
Raft trips on the Buller River which will cost $230 for adults and $199 for children will be extensively advertised in Christchurch, Nelson, and the West Coast.
Customers will be taken from Westport to the start and will be returned to town three days later.
When Mr Dale Gardiner planned the raft trips some time ago, he envisaged running one each month from October through to April with two guides accompanying each tour. One would be in charge of the raft with the other guide driving ahead on the road and informing the raft of river conditions and any obstacles by two-way radio. Danes plan raft trips starting from either Lake Rotoiti or the Gowan River bridge, and ending at Berlins.
Although Buller River rafting is included in the company’s eight-day West Coast itinerary, this summer will be the first in which rafting will be available as a separate trip. Danes, owned and run by
Mr Dale Gardiner and Mrs Gardiner, established West Coast Adventure Holidays last summer and planned to include separate raft trips then.
However, circumstances prevented this but the company is preparing for a big season this summer. A Queenstown company will run three-day adventure raft trips down the Buller River this summer as well as its established eight-day West Coast Adventure Holiday Package. Danes Back-Country experiences has shown renewed interest in establishing raft trips as a result of approaches by the South Island Promotions Association.
Westport’s Coaltown Trust has, through the association, been encouraging tourist rafting companies to use the Buller River.
Mr Gardiner said his company extensively surveyed the route along the upper and lower Buller Gorge, both by air and land. Danes was the first com-
pany in New Zealand to run white-water trips in Australasia and has been running them for five years. Although safety had up to now been well protected, Mr Gardiner said he hoped to now have enough patronage to ensure two rafts for each trip. He considered the Buller River less treacherous than other rivers Danes had been running successfully on. The company’s eight-day, seven-night West Coast Adventure Holiday was introduced because Mr Gardiner felt there was a need for an ‘*off the track” tour through the region. He saw much potential on the Coast for such adventure tours not only for overseas tourists but also for New Zealanders and even West Coasters. Five West Coast tours are planned for this summer, beginning in November and ending in early March. Westport is included in overnight stops; and Seal Island, at Tauranga Bay, is the feature photograph in the company’s extensively advertised brochure.
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Press, 6 July 1983, Page 20
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440Buller River raft trips to be offered Press, 6 July 1983, Page 20
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