Adrian Tregoning

It’s a mad rush to gather all the gear, not forgetting vital things like helmets and throwbags. Grant decides to do the weir at Bunyan Street first. We check it out and decide it’s good to go. Safety being conducted from the safety of my boat and the left bank by Val and another chap, I forget his name. The rather large catfish jumping back onto the weir at the bottom don’t appeal to me and standing in the water doesn’t seem like a good idea.

Adrian and Grant at the bottom of the Bunyan street weir.

Grant is up first and runs the weir no problems whatsoever.

My run is also fine and we both do it again.

Val runs it too, getting a little sideways but no problem.

The weir at this level is not too dangerous as far as suck back at the bottom is concerned but at higher levels it will be lethal.

After this warm up, we move to Homestead Dam to tackle the weir there. This little bad boy will be smaller but a little dodgier. We talk about safety and get that all sorted. Grant goes first followed closely by me towards the right hand side when facing the highway. We make it through successfully and immediately go into the channel on the right. This takes us under the highway and into the darkness. With the adrenalin pumping we fly through the underground cavern and see the light as we round the first bend to the left. The channel turns further left and taking a small dip we drop into the main storm water drain. At high speed we travel down alongside the highway for about 200 hundred meters and into the next dam. Mission accomplished and back to work for the others for the remainder of the day.

Unfortunately this is the only picture of the weir. Our camera man didn’t deliver the goods when we ran it.

It rained that day again and the following afternoon it REALLY came down.

This is Grant outside his house with the water running down the road!!! And the road is pretty steep.

So this time we get ready at the same time and rush down to Homestead. Heaps of water are pouring into the dam and provide us with several choices.

Grant goes down the narrow chute next to the sub station at full tilt…

…and enters the dam in fine style.

I do some of that run using Grant’s helmet…

…and try to surf the hole at the bottom.

Climbing back into my with all my gear I quickly drive home to fetch my helmet. We play with the jet of water entering at Kei road and move on up.

With the aid of 2 volunteers Grant shoots another inlet.

I try surfing another small hole.

We move on to another large storm water drain next to Mercury Street. I shoot this with the aid of another 2 volunteers. The hole is sucking back into the pipe but they push strongly and this one is nailed. Good old Homestead Dam down the road has provided us with some amusement for a little while. Until we can make a plan to go on another trip…

BY: Adrian T.

Photography courtesy Grant Morshead.