So you want to paddle the Landsborough?

The Landsborough is regarded as one of the best advanced packrafting trips in New Zealand.

It is a brilliant multi-day trip packed with challenging whitewater, dramatic landscapes and strenuous tramping. A trip to this special place is considered one of the classic South Westland wilderness adventures for advanced packrafters.

There are a few reasons why this river has such a mystique and reputation:

• Widely regarded as one of New Zealand’s most scenic and wild rivers.
• One of the longest technical rivers on the West Coast in the III/IV range in suitable flows.
• It has a vibrant history and glowing reputation as a multi-day commercial rafting trip.
• Unlike many Southern Alps rivers, the Landsborough parallels the main divide for many kilometres, making for an eye-catching line on the map.
• There’s no easy walking access: the simplest approach takes several days, beginning hundreds of kilometres by road from the take-out.

Many rivers in New Zealand have some similar qualities to the Landsborough. However, the combination of those qualities (at a grade that is serious without being extreme) means it is on the bucket list for many aspiring packrafters.

Who is this page written for?

This page is written for those who are on the cusp of having the right skills and experience for the trip. It is an attempt to demystify the journey and encourage more informed self-reflection before planning a trip. Let’s just say that if you’ve done a few West Coast New Zealand grade IV packrafting trips, then you’ll already know most of what we’re about to say…

Our thanks to the contributions of many. Original write-up in 2020 collated by Martin Robertson, with additional information from Chris Muse, Nick Ozard, Hugh Canard. Substantial edits and updates curated by Dan Clearwater in 2024 and 2025, with updated information from Huw Miles, Megan Dimozantos and David Stephenson. Additional peer review and feedback from Dave Cassaidy and Deane Parker.

We’re always open to improvements and discussion: get in touch if you can help make this page better.

A few nuggets of advice

In low to moderate flows, the river’s flavour is continuous class III with some class IV sections in two main gorges. Even outside the crux sections, there are long, continuous rapids with real hazards. You must be paddling well enough that a swim is unlikely. But if that were to happen, they have been anticipated, safety has been set and the rescue skills of your team are lightning fast and reliable. Although it’s heavier, respect the river by taking a proper whitewater PFD and helmet.

In higher flows, things become more pushy, and some of the gorge rapids become class V. Study the flows and the weather forecast very carefully before choosing to begin your trip.

The trip requires a solid team. Being capable to paddle the rapids or making individual moves does not qualify you to undertake expeditions like this. Every team member on the trip should be capable of making meaningful contributions to group safety. Sitting in an eddy simply waiting for you turn to paddle the next drop does not cut it on this kind of river. You should understand the needs of the group and allow it to influence your positioning on the river, have a sharp throw bag throw and boat-based rescue skills. We are all in between swims and as the water gets harder, so do self-rescues. Even world-class paddlers need help on swims so “reliability” of self-rescue is irrelevant.

The trip is committing and remote. Even the ‘easiest’ walking approach takes several days, crossing a 1600m pass. For most of the valley, the lack of walking tracks means there are no easy escapes. A swim and loss of a boat could be very serious: carry some basic survival gear plus a distress beacon on your person (inside your PFD, or better yet, inside your drysuit) rather than in your bow-bag..

The trip needs thorough planning. That means a comprehensive understanding of the recent and forecast weather, the recent and trend for the flow of the river and what that all means for conditions when you expect to be in there. The weather is notoriously fickle in this part of the world. Aim for a stable weather window, but have contingency plans and be prepared to stay longer should weather or flows become unsuitable. Consider taking spare paddles and extra food.

There are periods of very low flows. Although it usually rains heaps here, there are also occasional ‘drought’ conditions. However, it doesn’t take much rain to bump it up to full seriousness. The Landsborough is no place for the inexperienced or paddlers gambling on a marginal weather window. At least three people have drowned in the Upper Gates gorge.

However…

Everything is portageable, unless in flood. Some sections are easy to portage, others are more strenuous scrambles over larger boulders. Everything is portageable at or near river level. There are no ‘compulsory’ rapids or serious rapids within sheer-walled bedrock canyons.

In low to moderate flows, it’s totally possible to do the trip as a solid ‘grade III team’. By avoiding the higher gorges and portaging the major rapids in Upper Gates Gorge, you can still have a great trip to the Landsborough. Obviously, this plan relies on the ability to consistently notice when bigger rapids are approaching and total reliability in eddying out beforehand.

You can join a guided trip. Packrafting Queenstown offers fully-guided Packrafting trips on the Landsborough. This isn’t for new paddlers: it’s a chance for competent paddlers to access the knowledge and leadership of packraft guides who are familiar with this river.

Possible itineraries

Although fly-in groups often complete the trip in a weekend, a walk in via the classic Broderick Pass route requires a minimum of three days of travel, or up to seven if you want to paddle from higher up or make a hiking side trip to the spectacular Zora Canyon.

Here’s an example of a trip done by a fairly fit hiking group, who described themselves as a ‘very competent grade III group’ who chose to avoid the higher gorges and portage in Upper Gates Gorge. This trip was run at 85-100 cumecs at Roaring Billy (ie, fairly low flows)

1. Shuttle & Hike – 2WD road end to Monument Hut / 8km / 3hrs
2. Hike – Monument Hut to Broderick Hut 17km / 630m ascent / 6-7hrs
3. Hike – Broderick Hut to Creswick Flat Hut 12km / 860m ascent / 7-9hrs
4. Hike – Creswick Flat Hut to Dechen Creek 18km / 340m ascent / 7.5hrs
5. Hike – Side trip to visit Zora canyon and back 11km / 250m ascent / 5hrs
6. Paddle – Dechen Creek to Creswick Flat Hut 18km / 4-5hrs /II+ with some III
7. Paddle – Creswick Flat Hut, Upper Gates Gorge to Harper Bluff 16km / 5.5hrs / IV with portages
8. Paddle & Shuttle – Harper Bluff to Clarke Bluff take out / 15km / 2hrs / II+ with some III

Getting to the river

Flying in

For decades, the Landsborough has been a helicopter-accessed commercial rafting and private kayaking trip. These parties fly from the take-out to Kea Flat. This is the upstream limit of air access, due to the boundary of the Hooker Landsborough Wilderness Area, where landings are generally not permitted.

Packrafting ethics is beyond the scope of this page, but helicopter advocates note the ability to paddle the river within a smaller weather window, take better food, or provide access to people who are good paddlers but who aren’t able or willing to do the walk.

Hiking in

One of the original pioneers of Packrafting, Roman Dial, paddled the Landsborough in 2010, which was probably the first walk-in packrafting through trip on the river. His blog makes for entertaining reading..

Roman chose to hike in via Broderick Pass to Creswick Flat, and this route has become the ‘classic’ start to a Landsborough Packrafting through-trip. From Creswick Flat, it is relatively straightforward to travel upvalley, so keen packrafters can hike upstream to reach the higher put-in spots.

Groups skilled in packrafting and trans-alpine tramping have approached the head of the Landsborough using Douglas Pass (a complex and difficult route). Other groups have approached via Elcho Pass to access the middle reaches more directly.

View Larger Topographic Map

The Broderick Pass hiking access route

The shuttle

With 260km between the Lake Ohau road end and the Landsborough/Haast confluence at Clarke Bluff, the shuttle is lengthy. Unless you have very helpful friends, consider leaving a car in Wanaka and hitchhiking the rest.  There’s plenty of traffic on State Highway 6 beside the take-out, and Wanaka is the next main town in that direction. Again, there’s one main road towards Ohau from Wanaka, so hitching to the Ohau turn-off shouldn’t be too hard. There’s little traffic headed up the Ohau road: it’ll be outdoor people or lodge guests. Either way, the traffic is light, so hitching may be challenging.

For those on a tighter schedule, a combination of public transport and local shuttle companies may be a solution. Either way, it is a logistical challenge.. Good luck!

Day 1: Shuttle to the road end and walk to Monument Hut (3hrs)

With a bit of luck you can hitch all the way to the Temple Stream turnoff beside Lake Ohau. From here it takes three hours to reach Monument Hut on foot. A good 4WD could easily make it all the way to the hut door, which is what quite a few hunters do… The hut was refurbished in 2020. It has 6 bunks, and there’s plenty of camping nearby. With an early start on a long summer’s day, some parties may be able to complete the shuttle and then continue past Monument Hut to the next hut.

Remember to pay your hut fees and/or consider a donation to the Backcountry Trust. Without the people who use the huts helping support their maintenance, they become at risk of becoming degraded and ultimately being removed.

Day 2: Monument Hut – Brodrick Hut (6-7hrs)

Follow the well-marked, track up the Hopkins valley and into the Huxley. Once over the Huxley swing bridge, in low water the river bed can occasionally be followed for more direct travel. 3 hours walk through beautiful mountain scenery brings you to the Main Huxley Forks Hut (6 bunk) which was refurbished in 2021 and 2022 by volunteers with the Backcountry Trust. Next door is the compact neighbour “Officers Hut” (3 bunks).

Remember to pay your hut fees and/or consider a donation to the Backcountry Trust. Without the people who use the huts helping support their maintenance, they become at risk of becoming degraded and ultimately being removed.

The track then heads up the Huxley River North Banch. After crossing the swing bridge to the true right, the path up valley suffers from quite a few wash outs. With the river low, stick to the river bed on the true right with several channel crossings and boulder hopping. Watch for loose boulders on the slips. Follow the cairns, you can ignore the orange snow poles for the most part.

When you reach the last creek/tributary before the hut head up the true left of the creek about ten/twenty metres where a cairn marks the point where you rejoin the original track. Climb up the steep bank to come to an orange snow pole at the top then follow the markers through bush to the hut.

Brodrick Hut is a cosy six bunker, a short stroll from mind-blowing views of the upper Huxley Valley.

Remember to pay your hut fees and/or consider a donation to the Backcountry Trust. Without the people who use the huts helping support their maintenance, they become at risk of becoming degraded and ultimately being removed.

This leg took 3.5 hours, including stops, bringing this up to a 6.5 hour day. 

Day 3: Brodrick Hut – Creswicke Flat Hut (7-9 hrs)

The climb up the pass followed by the steep descent into the Landsborough makes this the biggest walking day of the trip. From the hut, head uphill slightly and follow markers and cairns across deep creek beds and along the valley floor towards the foot of the pass.

Orange and white markers, snowpoles and cairns lead the way up and over the pass. A fit party might take two to three hours from hut to the top of the pass.

Just over the pass the markers end and a couple of cairns lead you down steep snow grass and patches of scree to the top of a cliff.  This could be hazardous in wet weather.

Head northeast until the cliff eases into the top of the Mackenzie Creek. From there follow the creek down across patches of scree and alpine grasses.

There are sections of boulder hopping and occasional necessary crossings, which were not a problem in dry weather.

The next step is the navigational crux of the trip. It is relatively simple, but very important to get on the informal marked route.

The creek steepens and crosses the scrub line and a small slip becomes visible on the true left. At the upstream base of the slip a strip of orange tape and a cairn mark the start of the climb onto the spur you must descend to the Landsborough. From the pass to the slip takes approximately 2 – 2.5 hours.

Follow the cairns to the top of the slip where you come to a good camp spot with space for a couple of tents. Follow orange tape and Permolat against all logic in a direction steeply uphill onto the top of the spur. A short detor onto the top of the ridge above the bushline will reward you with marvellous views of the lower river and the Solution range. Its a great place to rest up before the descent.

A well-defined path marked with orange markers descends the spur steeply. Even in bone dry conditions this is slippery as hell. Just above the creek descending west of the spur, the tree-rooted track grows steeper before dropping through a patch of ferns to the true right of the creek. Allow at 2-3 hours from the slip to the creek.

Cross the creek to the true right and follow orange markers down through open mossy beech forest until the creek fans out as it meets the Landsborough.

Cross back to the true right and follow the bush line round until you see the hut. This is a solid day of 7-9 hours for a fit party. Creswicke Flat Hut was built in 2016, from a bequest from Christchurch geography teacher & avid hunter Barry ‘Bazza’ Smith (1940-2014). It replaces the old “Fraser Hut” which was fairly run-down before it was replaced.

Creswicke Flat Hut is comfy and well-insulated, with 4 bunks and epic view up the valley.

Remember to pay your hut fees and/or consider a donation to the Backcountry Trust. Without the people who use the huts helping support their maintenance, they become at risk of becoming degraded and ultimately being removed.

Day 4: Creswick Flat Hut to Dechen Creek (7-8hrs)

Although you could head on down the river, most parties will want to get more paddling, so they head up-river as far as time, skill and motivation allows.

The route up valley alternates between the river bed and, occasionally, the well-defined and marked trapping route up the true left. The line on the map is indicative only: use your own navigatory discretion. The good news is, you can put on anywhere if its taking too long or its later in the day than ideal..

Day 5: Dechen Creek to Zora Canyon (2-3hrs one way)

Zora canyon is spectacular, and well worth the visit, even if you choose not to paddle back to camp (IV gorge). The travel beyond Dechen Creek becomes more strenuous and depending on your route choice, could involve exposed scrambling along unstable banks.

Either retrace your steps to your Dechen Creek campsite, or pick up the river description that starts below at Zora Creek.

Packrafting the Landsborough

Zora Creek to Dechen Creek (III/IV)

The river has been paddled many times from Zora Creek (and others have probably started even higher).

Just below Hinds Flat, expect class III and IV features in the colourfully named “What the f#ck are we doing here?” gorge. This gorge is more continuous, consequential and steeper than the Upper Gates Gorge, with abundant siphons and other hazards.

We don’t have a good time estimate for this section: we’d imagine allowing 2-4hrs depending on flows and amount of portaging/scouting needed. Let us know if you can help with better information.

Check out Mark Oates’ video below, which shows some of the paddling from below Zora Creek, but not the most technical parts of the WTFAWDH gorge…

Dechen Creek – Creswicke Flat (II/III+)

The water from Dechen Creek back to Creswicke Flat is a mix of continuous class II rapids, class III boulder gardens, large wave trains and occasional class III+ rapids.

For this stretch allow around 4 hours for read and run paddling at low to moderate flows.

Creswicke Flat to Upper Gates Gorge to Harper Bluff (III/IV)

From Creswicke Flat Hut, the water becomes consistent class II, between stout class III boulder gardens.

The Upper Gates Gorge, located between Golden Point and Harper Bluff, is a serious undertaking. The gradient gets a little steeper and the river a little narrower, with large angular blocks forming grade IV rapids, and plenty of sieves. (One rapid called ‘stoat trap’ forces you into one of three gaps, none of which are inviting)

Several of the rapids become V in high flows, others become impassable sieves at low flow.

In early 2025, there were about 4 significant rapids: but remember it floods a lot here, boulders move and rivers change….

Allow around 4-6 hours for this section, depending on flow and amount of scouting/portaging.

Portages

It’s helpful to know, that unless the river is in flood, you can scout and portage everything at river level. There’s no need for ‘high routes’ or crazy bush basing up and around bedrock canyons.

Generally, portages are easier on the true left, but are usually possible on either side. Be warned that some of the portages can be fairly strenuous. Depending on the water level, you’ll be clambering up over and around large boulders and unstable rocks. This requires good strength and agility whilst carrying a loaded packraft: slips and falls whilst portaging are probably the most common packrafting injury!

As mentioned in the nuggets of advice, plenty of ‘solid grade III’ teams have had successful trips at low to moderate flows where they portaged all the grade IV in the Upper Gates Gorge.

Harper Bluff to Strutt Bluff (II/III)

After clearing Harper’s Bluff, the river eases into read and run Class II/II+ water with a couple of class III features to keep you on your toes.

Allow around 45mins at low to moderate flows for this section.

Strutt Bluff to Clarke Bluff takeout (I/II)

Below Strutt Bluff, the river is braided, with a few minor rapids to catch you if you aren’t paying attention.

A word of warning: the afternoon valley winds can come in pretty strong here. They can easily be strong enough to make down-river progress difficult, or even blow boats away… Treat any building headwinds with caution.

Allow around 1.5 hours for this section at low flows. Less in high flow, more in strong headwinds.

After the confluence with the Haast at Clarke Bluff, continue another 400m to take out on a gravel beach. You should be able to spot the vehicle track that heads down from the highway (and the tourist vans stopped at the “Haast River Viewpoint“).

If you’re after the source to sea experience, you can carry on down the class I/II Haast River, but watch out for those headwinds… The Hard Antler Pub in Haast is a great place for a well-earned drink and feed, plus there’s usually fuel available at Johnson Motors, a few minutes beyond the pub.