Loading up at the Holy Lodge and heading to the bus
Loading up the bus for Sukute BeachAt Sukute Beach next to the Sun Kosi On the water working on skills before heading downstream
Hasilla after her first day on the river
One of the many bridges we paddled under on the Sun Kosi
Lunch stop day 3
Team USANZ (kiwi's and americans) in our hotel Hakapur the biggest rapid in the river, this is just the end of it
Some of the Nepali Girls on the raft with Sita guiding under the watchful eye of Anna Bruno
On our way to the Trisuli, only 18 hours to go
Babu, a local paragliding in to the festival in his kayak.

I'm off on a tramp now but more photos in a week or so and lots more updates.

Thanks Sophie

Lots of Updates

Well where do i start.................................................. since our last update time has just flown by.

Our plan was to leave for Sukute beach on the 13th of November but there was a road block as a villager had been hit by a motor bike and the village involved wanted compensation from the government. So we were delayed a day which was okay as it was great to have another day working on paddling skills and rolling in the Kathmandu police swimming pool.

Malaika showing the girls how Buoyancy Aids work.

Radha loving it. Unfortunately she gets super dizzy after rolling over a couple of times, so she couldn't work on her rolling as it made her chuck up. But above the water she was super happy.The girls working on their rafting up skills

The girls worked super hard all day and we pushed them to the max, so with red eyes and looking like drenched rats we called it quits and went for a nice feed of Dahl Baht with the Nepali Girls and Inka. All the girls came back and stayed at the Holy Lodge with us for the night as they had already left their homes for the trip and weren't super keen to return. We also meet Susmita and Sita that evening, who were also joining the training programme (2 girls Inka worked with last time she was here).

All of us at the Kathmandu Police Pool

Early the next morning we were up packing gear, putting it on Rickshaws (3 wheeler bikes with big carriages) and making our way to the bus that was taking us to Sukute Beach.

Hester, Hayley and Anna sorting gear for the trip.

We made it almost all the way and then about 15km out from our destination we hit the road block, so we grabbed everything we could carry and started walked. 4-5km later we were on the other side of the road block and a truck had come to take us the last few km to Sukute Beach.

We were super eager to get an afternoon of paddling in with the girls so after meeting Mona (the Nepali Woman who worked with Inka to make this happen) we had a quick lunch, set up camp on the beach, dug a toilet hole and then decided to go back and walk through the road block again to get kayaks so we could get on the water.

Pasang begged a few of the locals to please let us through and told them the project story but they wouldn't budge so off we walked. We got to the bus and heard they were going to unblock the road so after an hour and a half the bus was moving and it raced through the road block to Sukute Beach with half of us on the roof. The boats were coming loose and we were on top of them and the bus was gunning it so it was pretty exciting and super scary at the same time.

Emi, Malaika and Hessie waiting on the roof for the road to be unblocked.

It was almost dark by the time we got back so no paddling for the day but we had a great evening by the fire and some amazing Nepali food cooked by the girls.

Next day we were on the water with the girls working on paddling straight, then moving on to sweep strokes then edging and carving, and then eddy turns. The girls were looking great. Some also spent a bit of time in the pool working on rolling. We also had two 15 year old local girls Comola and Susilla join us. They have been doing some kayaking with Mona and we helped them with rolling for the day.

We had another great evening around the fire and the Nepali Girls really came out of their shells showing us how to dance Nepali Style. It was a great evening of bonding and heaps of giggles.

Here's a breakdown of whats been happening for the last couple of weeks, if your not into reading then some lovely photos are following and I'll try and get some more up once we are back from our walk.

16th, the day of our departure down the Sun Kosi.

We were up early on the river with the girls having our last eddy turn session before the rest of the crew turned up.

At 12:00 two buses arrived packed full of the crew and it was all go from there. We meet the crew of girls and also had some great reunions with friends we hadn't seen for a while and then got to it. Our aim was to be on the river at 2:00 which didn't leave us long to have lunch, pack and load the rafts.

A quick team chat and some yummy lunch, then it was boat sorting time. I ended up in a pyrhana prozone which was an interesting boat, but actually got quite attached to it by the end of the trip.

All packed and ready to go we had a few speeches and blessings, and a super special moment between Inka and Mona, the two Women who are behind this whole project. Then 38 people departed Sukute Beach for 10 days on the Sun Kosi River.

The first couple of days the Nepali Girls stayed in the raft learning about how water works and getting comfortable with the river. On the afternoon of the second day we got to camp at four and had a great little kayak session with the Nepali girls.

Then on day three Radha and Sam Bovhi got in kayaks for their first whitewater kayaking experience. They did so well and even paddled a couple of grade three rapids, Radha went into a hole and calmly surfed out of it looking nothing like a beginner. After lunch we swapped over and Rama and Anita got into kayaks for the afternoon. The following day Pasang, Hasilla and Camola got in kayaks and had a great day. Camola stayed in the kayak all day and did do well, she was exhausted when we rocked up to camp at 5:30 but was absolutely loving it.

The next few days the girls were back in the raft as the river got a bit too challenging for them, but they had heaps of fun rafting. We got to paddle some super exciting rapids including the famous Hakapur which definitely got the adrenalin going.

Emi Earle and Kelly Blayney were in kayaks most of these days too. They sure didn't look like beginners as they charged down the massive wave trains, dodging the huge holes and powering across the big eddy lines. We were extremely proud of these two girls who were looking super solid.

After a few days of bigger rapids such as dead mans eddy, rhino rock and the jungle corridoor, the Nepali Girls were back in the kayaks. All seven of them were on the water and the ratios were great. One Nepali girl with two instructors. It was a big day on the river for all the girls and they did extremely well.

The following day all the girls were back in the raft and Sita was keen to guide, so with Anna Bruno helping her out, she guided the girls for the morning. We got to camp after only a couple of hours and got to chill out in the sun for our second to last day on the river.

The 25th was our last day on the river and all the Nepali Girls were in Kayaks except Sita, who again guided the raft. The Girls did so well in the kayaks and we had a nice big wave train to finish off with.

So arriving at the finish we had only an 18 hour bus ride to go ............................................

The bus drove us through the night to the Trisuli River, where the festival was held. We arrived early in the morning, set up camp then had a day to chill out and recover from the long night on the bus.

The 27th we decided to take the girls down the Trisuli run where the competition would be held. We had heard from lots of people it was grade two run with a couple harder rapids. Malin and Lena set off with Sita and Susmita to practice the slalom course as these two had been kayaking longer than the other 7 Nepali Girls. Once on the river we discovered it was definitely not an easy grade two so the Nepali Girls got off the river and a few off us carried on paddling down, pleased the Nepali Girls weren't with us as it would have been a long long day of walking around lots of rapids.

Because the Trisuli was harder than expected, only Sita and Susmita could enter the kayaking part of the competition. But Anita, Hasilla, Rama, Radha, Camola, Sam-Bovhi and Pasang entered in the raft race with Mina (a Nepali Women who has been working in India) guiding them.

It was a fantastic event and for the first time ever Nepali Women competed. There were three Nepali Women (Sita, Susmita and Anu) and 17 International Women, the most to ever compete in the Himalayan Whitewater Challenge. Sita walked away with a paddle, drytop and helmet and Susmita ended up winning a paddle, a drytop, a helmet and .............................. a brand new kayak.

So after a fantastic weekend of kayaking and fun we said goodbye to the Nepali Girls for a few weeks and got on the bus to Kathmandu.

Right now they are on the Trisuli River with Churmani and Manish who are working them hard with their rafting skills. We will see them in a couple of weeks and some of us will join them for the last week of their rafting and kayaking on the Lower Seti River.

Most of the Kiwi crew are now heading out for 8 days to the Annapurna Basecamp.

Thanks for reading - There will be updates on the rafting in a couple of weeks and hopefully some more photos in just over a week.

Cheers, Soph