Holiday Update #3: Canoeing the Whanganui River

After my Rarotonga adventure, it was time to enjoy my last few days in the North Island.  One of the things I hadn't got around to doing in the past six months was a canoe trip down the Whanganui River.  The whole trip is 5 days and 145 km, but it's more popular to do the shorter 3-day 87 km trip.  I didn't even have to twist my Adventurous American pal Amanda's arm to come with me--- she was as equally excited about the trip!

Let me tell you, New Zealand makes organizing adventures like this *super* easy.  All you have to do is pay a company (a completely fair amount of) money, then they take care of the rest!   We met at the canoe hire company, they provided barrels, dry bags, lifevests, paddles, Martha (our canoe), and the all important milk carton baler (for the likely event of a tip!).   They suit you up, drive you to the river, give you some maps, and say "See you at the bottom in three days!"   And that's that!    

Here's the company's truck that transported us to the river.  Martha's on top :)

 There she is!  Isn't she a beaut? :)

Here's Amanda packing up our goods (ie some clothes, LOTS of food) into the barrels.

 Rolling up the dry bag...

And we're off!   Smiles (and dry clothes) at the start.



The company's website claims that anyone can do this trip, even if you've never canoed before.  Amanda had done a little bit of canoeing in the Everglades, and my extent of canoe experience were 30 minute paddles around Sky Lake in junior high.  The instructions and maps told us how to do just about everything.... EXCEPT...

What to do when you tip your canoe!!  Which happened in the FIRST TEN MINUTES of our three day excursion.  First rapid experience and we were toast.  We floated with Martha down the river for about 50 meters, then we decided to flip her over and start bailing her out.  Then we learned that bailing out your canoe in the middle of the rapids is downright impossible (because she just keeps on filling up with water again!).  We got her to near the shore and put the baler (aka milk jug) and accessory baler (aka Amanda's hat) to work. 

 After our tip/bale debachery, we paddled on, and a few hours later found a nice beach with a trickle waterfall to enjoy some lunch.

 The sandstone bluffs along the river bed were gorgeous scenery to pass the time of paddling...

Many cool waterfalls, all of different shapes/sizes...

 A heron sorta thing.  It was blue.

 Some more ducks on the shore.  There were hardly any other boats on the river, so we were happy to see other living things every now and then :)

37.5 km later, we reached our home for the night- John Coull Hout.   There's a volunteer hut warden (ie park ranger) there overseeing all the canoers/campers.   Talk about a small world--- she was a Penn State grad!!!

The view from our hut for the night

Our romantic candlelit dinner (we didn't get to the hut til late, so sun was down by the time we were cooking!)

Day 2 we paddled on!  From John Coull hut, we had a mid-afternoon stop at Mangapura landing, where we docked our boats and hiked to the Bridge to Nowhere.   It's a must-see, so *EVERYONE* canoeing that day (aka two other boats besides us!) stopped too.

The 40 minute trek after the landing takes you to the "Bridge to Nowhere", a 30 meter long bridge over the Mangapurua Gorge.  It was built as access to a town created for those New Zealanders returning from WWI as a place to settle and farm.  The intention was to build roads to it, but because of difficulty with access, unsuitable land for farming, and finanical hardship, it never happened.  The project was abandoned, the settlers left, and all that's left is a bridge with no roads to it (only hiking and biking paths).

 Here's the bridge!  On the other side, nowhere :(



After the hike, it was back to paddling!  We tended to get our best photographs in the evening, when the sun was hitting the water to make beautiful reflections...

I absolutely love this picture with those two fern trees just popping out of the side of the bank!

After 29 km's of padding and the hike to the Bridge, night #2 was spent at a special sort of hut, the Tieke Kainga Marae.  A marae is a sacred meeting place for the Maori community, where they commune for special occasions/cereomonies/events, but this one also is jointly used as a campsite/hut for the Whanganui canoers.

Such spectacular scenery for the the tent campers!  (we chose to stay in the hut instead of pitching a tent)

Amanda showing us the hut and the cooking facilities.  She looks happy.  Maybe it was the goon talking :)

Did I mention Day #2 was Valentine's Day?  Here we are, enjoying a nice alfresco romantic V-day dinner ;)

Someone tried to crash our dinner!  I only caught a pic of its backside, but it was a pesky possum!  Cute, but definitely a pest by New Zealand standards...

Day #3 proved to be very challenging.  I SWEAR the wind was blowing head-on for the whole 20.5 km's!   It made for some strenuous, frustrating paddling and steering.

We saw some beautiful cliffs, and had some fun (and managed to not tip at all!) over some fun rapids.

Later that afternoon, we arrived to a bright yellow "Blazing Paddles" canoe trailer on the Pipiriki shore, welcoming us to the end of our journey.  We did it!  (and only tipped once!)

Two gals, one canoe, 87 km, 3 days, ZERO showers, loads of memories.  Thanks for an awesome trip, Amanda!