LANDSBOROUGH
The Landsborough River is one of the most beautiful rivers in the South Island. Located in the Southern Alps it flows southwest out of the Hooker Range eventually converging with the Clarke River to become one of the main tributaries of the Haast River.
Rafting the Landsborough River is one of the greatest ways to see one of New Zealand's most untamed, remote, and stunning backcountry valleys. It is a breathtaking river with a backdrop of the snow-covered Main Divide, lush West Coast vegetation and bright-blue glacial feed river water. It truly is the trip of a lifetime.
The Landsborough is classed as a grade 3 / 4 technical; pool drop river. The main section of white water is called the Upper Gates Gorge. This includes some of the more notable grade 4 rapids; Triangle Rock, Stout Trap, and Hellfire. All of these are assessed on the day by the guide team and can easily be portaged if the river levels are too high. The rest of the gorge is all highly enjoyable grade 3 rapids. The whole rafting section can be navigated in 7-8 hours. This includes 4-5 hours in the main upper gorge section, followed 2-3 hours of grade 2 water, finishing at Clarks Bluff.
The Landsborough is one of our main and favourite multi-day raft trips we offer. You can choose to either Helicopter into the rafting put-in, or hike over the Broderick Pass to the put-in and have the helicopter fly the river gear in to meet you.
PRICES
Single-day options start at $1150, Multi-day options from $1980.
See below for trip options. Contact us for detailed pricing and group options.
TRIP OPTIONS
HELICOPTER IN, RAFT OUT
If you choose the Heli option, we meet in Makarora at the Wonderland Lodge to start the trip. At Makarora we will carpool and drive 45mins over Haast Pass to meet the helicopter at a location called Clarks Bluff. This is also where we will end the raft trip. The Helicopter ride is about 15 mins up to the raft start point which differs between Toetoe Flat and Creswick Flat depending whether you choose to do 1 or 2 nights on the river. This is generally how the trips will be run; however, we can be flexible with all the pre-trip organization.
HELI-RAFT OPTIONS
DAY TRIP
Starts with a Helicopter flight into Creswick Flat and then raft out to Clarks Bluff. This includes lunch on the river and about 8 hours total of rafting
TWO DAY TRIP
Starts with a Helicopter flight to Creswick Flat, a day of rafting through the main upper gorge and then a night at the Harper Bluff camp site. This is an incredible camp, sitting at the bottom of a 100m sheer canyon and on a stunning sandy beach. It is a camp spot seen by few and loved by all! Your guides will provide and cook all your food for this trip. The second day includes a relaxing 2–3-hour raft trip out to Clark's bluff.
THREE DAY TRIP
Starts with a Helicopter flight into Toetoe Flat Camp. This is where you will spend the first night it is another stunning campsite with a beautiful back drop of the Harper Mountain range and Glaciers. The second day then involves rafting through the main upper gorge and then camping at Harper Bluff. The third day is then a relaxing 2-3-hour raft trip out to Clarks Bluff.
All multi-day trips have three meals and snacks per day fully catered for by the guides
WALK IN, RAFT OUT
There is also an option to hike into the Landsborough River over the Broderick Pass. The Broderick is an intermediate level hike that covers varying terrain, including on and off-track conditions. If you are a keen hiker and want to tick off a proper New Zealand back country hike crossing the Main Divide, from the East to West Coast, this is the trip for you! For this option, we usually meet our customers at the Lake Ohau Lodge. We suggest to our customers that it is a good idea to stay at the Lake Ohau Lodge the night before the hike, as we like to get going early on the first morning.
DAY 1
We aim to leave the Lodge at 8am. The 4WD trip from Ohau Lodge to Monument Hut takes close to 2 hours depending on track conditions. The hike starts at Monument Hut and follows the riverbed up the Huxley Valley. The Huxley Forks hut is a good lunch spot for timing and location. From the Forks hut we will head up the north fork of the Huxley River towards Broderick hut where we stay for the night. This first day of hiking will take between 4 and 6 hours and is mostly low mountain valley and riverbed terrain with a steady gain in altitude along the way.
DAY 2
The second day begins with your ascent up to Broderick Pass. From Broderick Hut to the top of the pass is 600m of altitude gain taking between 2-3 hours. From here you will drop down into Mackenzie Stream and follow that until you reach the trailhead. From the trailhead you will descend into the Landsborough Valley, finishing the hiking leg of the trip at Creswick Flat. This Day takes between 8 – 12 hours, so an early departure from the hut is key!
The rest of the guides and all your rafting gear will be flown into Creswick Flat by helicopter. From here you can choose to raft out to Clarks Bluff in one day or two days with a night at the Harper Bluff riverside campsite.
