Kayaking Kotorepi – Nine Mile Creek Waterfall, West Coast

Our address is Nine Mile Creek, also known as Kotorepi. The creek meanders down and around the side of our property in the form of a waterfall. It is not your standard waterfall but looks like is manmade – made from concrete. It isn’t though, is just a natural rock slide.

After some big rains the waterfall goes from often a gentle trickle to a raging torrent of water pouring down the slide.

Now this is a fabulous sight in its own right but for the young kayakers completing the Tai Poutini Outdoor Education Course in Greymouth it is like putting cream on your dessert – sheer joy.

Talk about a nice bunch of young people. While most people are hunkering down inside in the dry, these guys rock up here with the biggest smiles on their faces, filled with excitement.

They knock on the door to check with us that it is ok to use our private track to access the beach and check out the conditions of the waterfall – making sure there aren’t any big logs in the way at the bottom creating a safety issue. They are so polite and so respectful, they are a joy to deal with.

When they come back up from the beach, they are pumped with enthusiasm and give us the thumbs up as they head back out the driveway to get themselves organised for the kayak trip down.

Their enthusiasm for the rain is infectious and their thumbs up is the cue for us to get ourselves ready, throw on our rain jackets and head down to the beach to watch the “show”.

It is a pleasure to meet such lovely, polite and fun loving young people – well done team. See you next rains.