Abel Tasman Canyons are gearing up for the start of their canyoning season.
Sara Hollyman
chats with senior canyon guide Oscar Hadley about what it's like to jump, swim and slide the Abel Tasman for a job.
What is your official role with Abel Tasman Canyons?
Operations manager, senior canyon guide and instructor.
How long have you been with the Abel Tasman team?
Three summer seasons – this will be my fourth.
What does a regular day at work look like?
We meet our clients in Marahau for a meet, greet and brief where we give them all the gear and make sure everyone knows what they’re getting themselves into. It’s pretty committing once you get in there so we like to check everyone’s up for it.
Then we hop on the aqua taxis and take the half-hour ride into Anchorage Beach.
We then walk along the coastal track for an hour and a half which takes us into the inland part of the Abel Tasman where we drop down into the Torrent River.
We have some lunch and then get into it for some canyoning.
How did you get into the work that you do, what did you do before hand?
I did a couple of years of sea kayak guiding in the Abel Tasman so that was my guiding experience, but I’ve done a lot of white-water kayaking, rafting, rock climbing, and caving recreationally. Canyoning is a big combination of all those other sports.
Do you have to do much training?
There’s a New Zealand standard of outdoor qualifications. Abel Tasman Canyons is actually a NZ canyon school so we run recreational canyoning courses but on a professional scale you’re always upskilling I guess.
What’s your favourite thing about your job?
I really enjoy taking people into a place where they’ve never been, most people would never imagine what’s up some of the creeks and rivers that we go in.
On the Torrent trip we finish at Cleopatra’s Pool, which is a super popular summer swimming spot and yet no one would ever think 500m up stream is this awesome canyon to run around in. It's just such an awesome thing to show people, what’s there if you go looking.
What keeps it interesting is no two days are ever the same. When you’ve got a group of people you never know what they’re going to pull out.
I get a lot more enjoyment now from the people, I’m so comfortable in there now that I can focus way more on being a guide than looking after just safety. It almost becomes more enjoyable. You don’t want to get complacent with safety obviously, but pretty much anything that goes on in the canyon now I'm pretty comfortable with.
Is there anything you don’t like about your job?
Not really. Sometimes we run multiple days in a row or big hours and things like that but I always tell people, everyone always has to have something to complain about.
Sometimes I come out onto the beach and complain about the glare on the sand or how soft the sand is to walk on, silly things like that, so I have to stop myself sometimes and remember it’s a pretty awesome thing to call work.
What do you do in the off season (winter)?
I’ve done a couple of different things. This winter I’ve been hanging out doing lots of tramping, kayaking and lots of adventuring which has been awesome.
The last couple of winters I’ve gone to the states and done summer camps as a kayak instructor, this year I actually planned on staying in NZ to explore so my plans weren’t affected by what’s going on.
What advice would you give to people thinking of joining the Abel Tasman Canyon team as a guide?
Because canyoning has so many different skills involved with it, if anyone’s super passionate about climbing or white water for example and think they might enjoy the guiding scene get out and give it a go, or come and talk to one of us, like I said, it’s a pretty awesome thing to call work.
Abel Tasman Canyons are currently recruiting for 2020/21 guides. Applications can be sent to info@abeltasmancanyons.co.nz with cover letter, CV, Applicant Details Form and relevant logbooks (rock, water, ropes) by Friday the 11th of September.
