Day 54 (43 kms)
Today was a little shorter at 43 kms paddling, but we also wanted to visit the Bridge to Nowhere, so time had to allotted for that side-trip. Since we were away before 9am, we thought we would have a much more relaxed day. This did not prove to be the case.
After 90 minutes of paddling we found the landing at Mangapurua, where we tied off the canoes, put on our boots and headed up the trail. I realized how nice and sustainable it is walk through the bush, especially without a backpack. The bridge was a cool piece of engineering, given it now serves no purpose other than a tourist attraction. Farmers attempted to settle this area after the second world war, but conditions were just too tough. One by one they left the land. The only real sign they were ever here is this remaining bridge.
We stopped for an extended lunch, only to discover it was already 1pm and we still had over 30 kms to paddle. Better get back to the canoe.
This next section has no walking track, the only options are either canoe or water taxi (aka jetboat). Again the scenery was just stunning. It was hot, but the river helped keep us cool. I did a good job on the sunscreen, but my lips were getting fried. Alex was doing an amazing job as captain, and was good at holding a straight line, much better than me. In the later afternoon we had a head wind, which slowed our forward progress a little.
We had two tricky obstacles, both at the very end of the day. The first was a fast moving rapid with a very inconveniently placed rock in the middle of the rapid, our objective was to do anything other than hitting the rock, and we managed this successfully. The second obstacle was the 50/50 rapid, which is reputed to capsize 50% of people passing through it. At the current water level, apparently these odds rise to 70% of canoes getting capsize. We managed through the rapid without tipping over, but we took on so much water that we sank. A bit strange to have our entire canoe under water with os still sitting upright. We stayed like this for a short while, but we did eventually capsize and got swept into on of the eddies. Our newly made river friends waited for us to empty our canoe and get back on the water. We knew this rapid was coming, so we had proactively strapped everything down, and this meant we did not lose anything. Another canoe in our little flotilla also capsized, and we waiting for them to recover. Another 5kms and we made it to our campground.
Pipiriki is nice. The old school has been converted into a super nice campground. The hot showers were quite the treat. We sat in the kitchen and common room until late night, just enjoying sitting on chairs. The tents from all the walkers were packed in tight, but we were all happy and slept well.
