Whakahoro to Mangawaiiti

Day 53 (47 kms)

The day had finally arrived, it is time to start the Whanganui River Journey. The weather forecast was amazing. So glad I delay this part of the walk until the weather was better, and just as importantly, until I could do it with someone I would keep a shared memory with. This meant I was off the trail for over 2 months, but absolutely the right decision for me.

Our alarms went off at 4:30 am, which is obviously a very unreasonable hour. The drove from Pukawa to Taumarunui would be 45 minutes, and the canoe rental company wanted us there at 6am. This allowed us 30 minutes to get ourselves and all of our stuff into the car, make the journey and still have 15 minutes to spare. Tim and Jane also got up at 4:30am, as they would be our chauffeurs. Totally amazing. Once they dropped us off, they even went to the local McDonalds and got us a hot breakfast and coffee. While they got food, we packed our barrels.

The nice thing about barrels and canoes, there is lots of room and weight is not an issue. Usually walkers are obsessing over every gram they carry on their back. This was not the case for our canoe journey. Dehydrated food was only included for an emergency.

Once the barrels were full, the safety briefing complete and life jackets issued, it was time to board the mini-bus and head back to Whakahoro. Lots of activity when we arrived, the canoes and barrels were offloaded, we grabbed some paddles and our barrels, various ropes to tie down our barrels, and a canoe. Barrels were strapped in, and off we headed. It was time to paddle.

We were on the water around noon and had 47 kms to paddle. Our average speed was around 6 kms per hour, meaning we spent 8 hours in our canoe paddling. It was a tough first day. No time for any significant stops as the sun would be setting around 9:30pm. We paddled consistently to make camp.

It did not take us too long to work out how to work the canoe. The captain/navigator sits at the back of the canoe and controls the steering, while the second sits at the front acting as the engine room. I started as the captain, and after 4 hours we switched. We found our form traversing the rapids, heading straight into the center each time. Up-the-guts was our strategy. The Canadian style canoe was quite stable and got through the first day without us getting unintentionally wet.

The scenery along the way was stunning. There was lush and dense native bush on the right bank and exactly the same of the left bank. This is certainly wild country, and probably impossible to access on foot. Our little team of two was excited to be on the river and we did most of the first day by ourselves. I really enjoy the backcountry when you can have it all to yourself. There were probably 6 other canoes on the this section of the river, but we all managed to spread out a little and not see each other for most of the adfternoon.

We had no trouble finding our campground for the evening. Because the river can raise dramatically when in flood, the camping grounds are always up high on the river bank. This meant we had to haul our barrels up the hill before we could setup our tents. We had about an hour of sunlight to get organized and get some food into us. The water tanks at the campground were dry, so for the first night we went with a low water option of meatballs with bake beans. Epic first dinner.

Our barrels all packed up. We were allocated 4 small barrels and one large barrel.
Canoes stacked.
Whakahoro. Time to saddle up and depart.
Our first stop for the afternoon.
Camp for the night. Cozy. Water tanks in the background were empty.