Key Details
- Duration: 3 Days (1 day warm up, 2 day expedition)
- Hiking Difficulty: Challenging but not long or difficult terrain
- Paddling Difficulty: Grade III-IV
- Options for catered or self catered
- Options to provide your own equipment
- Fully guided/instructed by world class guides
- Summer Months only
- Day 1: Training Day, 6-7km hiking, 6-7km paddle
- Day 2: Expedition, 9km Hiking, 3km paddle
- Day 3: Expedition, 3km Hiking, 9km paddle
OVERVIEW
We've teamed up with Alpacka Sponsored Paddler, Ryan "Baby Bird" Lucas to deliver our highest level of Packrafting Expedition to date.
The Whataroa has traditionally been a heli rafting/kayaking run, but with the steady increase in the price of flying in, it has become one of the most seminal packrafting missions on the Wild West Coast of New Zealand.
On this Expedition, we start with a warm up day on the lower Whataroa to start to gel together as a team and setting expectations of how we'll be operating on the river. The Next day we'll set up a base camp and begin our first run down the breathtakingly beautiful drops of the Whataroa. You'll be under the expert tutelage of Ryan and other Packrafting Queenstown crew as we break down the river into chunks and pick it off rapid by rapid. We won't be trying to cover huge distances on day one as we help you polish your boof stroke at every drop and take our time to set safety as a team. On our third and final day we'll hike upstream from our basecamp for a final joy lap before breaking camp and paddling down the fluffy grade III goodness back into civilisation.
This is our most advanced packrafting course or expedition we offer. Suitable for paddlers who are super comfortable in Grade III+ and who run some Grade IV. Maybe you've always held the ambition to push yourself further or to test yourself on a river like the Whataroa but you've never been able to line up the right crew. This is your chance.
Who It’s For
This course is designed for confident Grade 3 paddlers who are ready to progress into more technical and powerful Grade 4 water. You don’t need to be elite—but you do need to be solid. You should be comfortable in moderate whitewater, with previous experience on multi-day trips, and ready to learn through challenge and coaching.
Ideal for:
- Recreational paddlers building toward tougher rivers
- Aspiring expedition paddlers or adventure racers
- Those preparing for trips like the Landsborough, Perth, or overseas runs
- Anyone wanting a big leap in confidence, safety, and control
What You’ll Learn
This is a hands-on, high-coaching clinic. You’ll learn:
- Advanced paddling techniques to move with power, precision, and flow
- Line planning, scouting, and portaging in real backcountry terrain
- Reading and running technical rapids with improved judgment
- Safety systems, rescue scenarios, group dynamics, and risk management
- Expedition packing, self-sufficiency, and rapid deployment
- Navigation using topo maps and route-finding in the mountains
We blend on-water coaching with terrain-based decision making, debriefs, and practical learning. You’ll get individual feedback, video analysis where possible, and support from some of the most experienced coaches in NZ packrafting.
Itinerary
Day 0 (Arrival day)
This is our arrivals day. We've got a shared house accomodation in Franz Joseph where we can get together, go through plans for the expedition, gear check and have a full briefing in the evening, including some insights as to how we plan and some "digital scouting tools" you can use for more serious trips.
Day 1
Before we commit to the upper gorges of the whataroa, we'll spend a day together working on some team work. Refreshing some rescue and self rescue skills and polishing some of our paddling skills.
This will take place on the lower reaches of the Whataroa river without anything committing or harder than grade 3. For expeds like this one, it really is a team game and every member of the team is expected to contribute so this is our first chance to get to know each other and how we'll need to work together to safely achieve our objective.
Day 2
Departure day. We start our hike into the Whataroa and establish our base camp.
We can drop some of our heavier hear at our base camp and continue our hike upstream to our put around Scotties Beach.
Our paddling objective on day 1 is Scotties Beach Gorge and Reynolds Gorge.
We'll camp out under the stars, river side tonight.
Day 3
We have some flexibility in our the plans on our final day in Whataroa Valley. One option would to be head back upstream and run the upper gorges again, pack up camp then paddle the lower gorge before heading to the take out. Another option would be to explore the lower reaches of the Perth before heading to the take out of the Whataroa for a full debrief and heading off in our separate directions home.
BOOKING PROCESS
The Whataroa is an advanced trip, designed for paddlers who are already solid Grade 3/3+ and ready to push into Grade 4.
We know self-assessment can be tricky, so we ask all applicants to answer 10 quick questions to help us understand your current skills. Please be honest — your answers help us plan and keep everyone safe and stoked.
Don’t worry if you’ve taken swims or haven’t paddled Grade 4 yet — those aren’t disqualifiers. Honest answers just give us a clearer picture of your experience.
Our goal is to build a strong, capable team — and avoid anyone feeling disappointed if they end up portaging more than expected.
What's Included
- Transport to and from the River
- Camping and land access fees
- Fully qualified and experienced guides
- Pre-Trip Accomodation
- Pre-trip support with packing list, reminders about where and when to meet etc.
What's not included
- Food
- Travel insurance
- Tips or gratuities
What can be included if needed
Transport to and From Queenstown/Wanaka
Demo Trip
A commercial trip like the Whataroa takes a great deal of planning and years of work with our partners at Doc and Adventure Mark. This first expedition we'll run is not a commercial trip, none of the guides are getting paid and nobody is making a profit. This is to test our systems and fine tune our plans. This is a rare opportunity to join our expedition at a vastly discounted rate. The price is set to cover shared costs, much like a peer to peer trip. However, in order to test our systems, we will be treating it like a real commercial trip in every aspect.
Spots are limited and we anticipate interest to be high. We also need to ensure everyone's safety and as such we are accepting applications to join. The team on this expedition will need to be ready to step up to paddle consequential grade IV rapids. As a result of this, our screening questions have been set up to ensure we're not taking anyone on a trip that might be dangerous at their current stage of development. Not every application will be successful and if you are unsuccessful this time, we will of course refund any money you might have paid. Just because an application is unsuccessful first time around, that does not mean applicants will be ineligible for future expeditions.
