‘Ko au te awa. Ko te awa ko au’
‘I am the river. The river is me’
Māori proverb
Day 45 to 48
- Day 45 – Whakahoro to Mangawaiiti ; 47 km paddled
- Day 46 – Mangawaiiti to Ngaporo ; 32 km paddled
- Day 47 – Ngaporo to Koriniti ; 9 km paddled and 31 km hiked
- Day 48 – Koriniti to Whanganui ; 38 km hiked
Total hiked (and paddled): 1376 km
What happens when you put two sailors into a canoe for three days, tosh them down a river, throw in some rapids for good measure and give them a constant headwind… an adventure to say the least!
On a delightful sunny morning I met Dad, our canoe, five barrels and two paddles at Whakahoro to start the Whanganui River. After our river briefing and an initial delay getting maps from the company we were ready to set off. Due to how popular the Whanganui River is as one of ‘New Zealand’s Great Walks’ (more like paddles) the closer camping sites to Whakahoro were already booked which meant we were setting off late for a predicted 8-9 hour paddle.
What a day it was! A constant headwind, scorching sun and the on-going time pressure of trying to get to our campsite before it got dark with enough time to set up the tent made the day hard. I don’t think dad or I rested once during the first half of the day, constantly paddling, myself at the front with him at the back, our heads down trying to keep out of the wind and constantly, constantly paddling. By 3-4pm we were both exhausted. Our palms had started to blister, upper backs ached and our arms felt like jelly. Trotting had not prepared me for using any of these muscles. The soles of my feet may be tough but my previously soft palms were now being torn apart 😦
The last three hours paddling to camp were hard, both of us trying to yell words of encouragement, gone was our well timed strokes instead replaced with feeble attempts at just putting the oars in the water and not rocking out of the canoe in the process.
And I haven’t even mentioned the rapids! Fortunately most of these were in the earlier part of our paddle when we still had energy, could try lining up the canoe and power stroke through. But later in the day our uncoordinated bodies just focused on bracing against the rails and letting the rapid take the canoe wherever, just hoping we wouldn’t end up in an eddie and have to do too much extra paddling afterwards.
Exhausted and sunburnt we fortunately located camp just before 7pm and carried all the barrels up the hill to set up tent and eat a well deserved and very needed dinner, having both skipped lunch to make it their on time!
The next two days on the river went much better. Ironically, exhausting ourselves on the river the first day meant our gusto and limber muscles to paddle were gone and we were content to float where possible and reserve energy for when the headwind picked up, rapids emerged or to avoid floating backwards (unfortunately this happened a lot). The rest periods were great!
As the river saying goes “sometimes it sweeps you gently along and sometimes the rapids come out of nowhere” which dad and I can completely attest to. We developed bat like hearing during our three days on the river, attuned to the sound of rushing water and when we needed to prep ourselves for ‘river rapid readiness – butts back, knees braced, canoe aligned, power strokes at the helm’. I’m quite proud to say that during our entire paddle on the Whanganui River and with no previous rapid experience dad and I managed to not once fall in or capsize the canoe. We even successfully navigated the renowned 50:50 rapid which given what we witnessed claimed far more than 50% of its riders 😛
During our windy river rendezvous, on multiple occasions, comment that a headsail would have been much more effective than whatever we were attempting to achieve with our limited paddling prowess.
Is it a plane, is it a car; no it’s a jet boat! At the beginning we were briefed on what to do when jet boats sped through, but after confusingly staring at each other the first time wondering what that ever growing loud rumble was we were both very surprised by the amount of wake generated from the jet boats and subsequent water displaced from the gorge sides. It was actually quite fun and later kept hoping all overhead plane sounds were jet boats instead.
Some campsites like ours on the second night provided excellent rivers views of all other canoers, jet boaters and the many wild goats that frolicked the gorge edge.
Arriving at Pipiriki on the third day we were sad to leave the canoe behind; but I was definitely pleased for the future blister relief to my palms, bruising relief to my butt and that my arms hadn’t fallen off. Though the back ache was truly tested as we loaded our hiking packs with all food we hadn’t yet eaten and began our slow trot along Whanganui River Road towards Whanganui. Now the headwind having previously exhausted us was a welcome company from the ever blazing sunshine and we began chatting about the best films, songs and television shows of all time.
The trot from Pipiriki to Whanganui passes through numerous small towns including Hiruharama/Jerusalem, Ranana, Matahiwi, Koriniti, Atene, Parakino and Upokongaro. All with their own history, quirks and wild goat population it provided lots to marvel and ponder at. But I’d drive it if I were to do this again, there were a few big hills to climb and not a lot of shelter.
On arriving in Whanganui we were sweaty, weary and dehydrated; but we had had an eventful five days and I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with anyone else.
Thank you so much for paddling and trotting with me Dad! While both of us now complain about back pain I wouldn’t want to share this ache I mean experience with anyone else 😉
GC Chronicles 
Well done both of you, excellent reading and the videos as usual – perfect
LikeLike