One of the 9 great walks of New Zealand is actually a great paddle, taking 5 days, and covering 130km between Taumaranui and Pipriki on the mighty Whanganui River.
We decided to do this one with a guide, partly because they bring along good food, beer and wine, but also to lead us through the rapids. These turned out to be a little bigger than Hannah was hoping for... More on this later.
The scenery was beautiful, with deep gorges, more tree ferns than you can shake a prehistoric stick at, and giant rata trees poking through the canopy. Some of the rata trees were in flower (unusual, as they should flower in December).
The river was much quieter than we were expecting, with only the occasional other canoeists and kayakers and a couple of jet-boats on the last day.
One of the interesting sights along the way was the Bridge to Nowhere. This is a road bridge in the middle of the jungle that doesn't have any roads joined to it. Very bizarre. It was built in the 30s (I think) before the depression ended the project and the actual road was never built.
We saw loads of wildlife, including deer, goats, pigs and various waterfowl including Hannah's favourites, the Paradise Shellduck.
Less welcome was the possum that did its best to keep us awake by scampering around on the roof of the hut. We thought that someone was outside stomping around on the deck. Who'd have thought that an animal the size of a rabbit could make so much noise.
So it turned out that Hannah and I are really good at canoeing.. We didn't fall in at all... erm.. honestly... Ok we did. On a particularly nasty rapid on the last day, Hannah decided that it could not be canoed, and it seemed better to bail out. Dave wasn't of the same opinion, but it turned out that this wasn't a democracy, so in we went.
On the plus side, the waterproof phone did turn out to be waterproof, and we justified the purchase of the camera drybag. We even managed to keep hold of our hats!
Luckily it was sunny, and we had dry clothes. We only had one set though, which made the rest of the day a little more intense, and Dave insisted on a vote before each rapid.
Though we enjoyed it, we're glad to be back on dry land, and sleeping in a proper bed.
How kind of it that the "choosing to enter the water" bit elected to wait for the last day. Might have been a bit of a trial if it happened every day.
ReplyDeleteI suppose we're not allowed to comment, "ooh it looks like the Wye Valley!" are we. And I'm sure Samuel will explain that it is in fact different, in some way. Fewer pubs? The trees definitely look different. And it doesn't seem to be raining.
You're welcome to comment that it's similar to the Wye, we did as we were going along. Fewer tree ferns at home...
ReplyDeleteOf course, we didn't post any photos of the rainy day! The weather wasn't brilliant but it brightened up towards the end of the trip.
Not having instant recall of geological maps of South Wales and New Zealand, I can't comment on how similar it is to the Wye Valley from a fundamental point of view. But, you're right, it does look rather similar!
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