Thursday 1st December to Tuesday 6th December
Total kms covered this section: 185.96
Days 68 and 69: Wellington to Taumarunui via Whanganui
- Official trail kms: 1367 – 1374km
- Distance walked today: 6.5km
- Total walked so far: 1560.44km
- Time today: 1 hours 16 minutes
- Calories burnt today: 709kcal
- Total elevation gain today: 15m
- Weather: Fine for both days
- Happiness rating: 8/10 (Happy to be heading back to the river)
- Accommodation: Tent – Whanganui Holiday Park and Taumarunui Canoe Hire
The bodies were stiff and sore after our huge day through Wellington yesterday, so we had a lazy morning packing for the next few days on the river. Sammy had concocted a master plan to drive up to Whanganui via Palmerston North to pick up Jo and Quint and then leave the car at the end point of the canoe at the Whanganui Holiday Park. This meant we could complete the small section from there to where the bus dropped us off, back when we skipped forward around the river last month.
We left our place in Lower Hutt around midday and headed toward Palmerston North to reconnect with Jo and Quint who had just arrived after walking the 3 days across from Whanganui. They jumped in and we took them straight back. We pulled into the Holiday Park, set up camp and headed straight to the pub for dinner. It was such a novelty having a car to just drive anywhere we wanted to! We were all very keen for an early night, so we headed back to watch the sunset across the river and crawled into our tents not long after.
The next morning we were up and packed by 8:30am, ready to walk the 7km into town where we’d be catching the bus back to Taumarunui, which departed at 11am. Our packs were particularly heavy as we had added a few extra luxuries from home that we normally wouldn’t have with us. The walk along the river was pleasant, although relatively boring, with all of us motivated to get into town for coffee and breakfast. We stopped off at our favourite riverside coffee cart on the way and enjoyed hanging out in the sun for a while, before making the short walk to Mud Duck for breakfast and more coffee.
We saw a few familiar faces on the bus and picked up a few more from National Park – it seems like we’d be having a decent group for the river. Arriving back in Taumarunui, it was obvious how many people had been stuck waiting for the river to drop as the whole town was crawling with hikers, no where more so than the New World as everyone was there stocking up for the trip. The Canoe Hire place was alive with people when we arrived back there, with even more familiar faces – including Kate, Bec and Tom who were all joining us for the canoe. We spent the evening repacking the food barrels and catching up with everyone over a couple beers before retreating back into the tent ready for the early start tomorrow.
Day 70: Whakahoro to John Coull Campsite
- Official trail kms: 1215 – ?km (top section of river is considered a bypass)
- Distance paddled today: 36.00km
- Total walked so far: 1596.44km
- Time today: 5 hours 48 minutes
- Calories burnt today: 2293kcal
- Total elevation gain today: 1m
- Weather: Hot and sunny
- Happiness rating: 8/10 (Super fun being on the river)
- Accommodation: Tent – John Coull Campsite
It was an early 5am alarm this morning to pack down camp and transfer all our gear into the barrels to load up on the canoe trailer. Coffee was served by the amazing Taumarunui Canoe Hire team before we loaded up the canoes and piled into the bus to drive out to Whakahoro – the place we had been stranded last month due to the dangerously high river levels. The bus trip only took an hour or so rather than the 8 days we took to walk there via Tongariro National park. What started out a foggy morning, turned out to be a beautiful day and it had already warmed up considerably by the time we had got the canoes off the trailer and loaded up with all our barrels – everything we needed for the next 4-5 days. After a quick check to see if we could paddle, we were sent on our way with no more than a map and a good luck from the canoe company.
Fortunately, I had done the trip 13 years prior and still retained some memory on how to steer the long Canadian Canoe, as we were straight into the first decent rapid of the day. Jo and Quint had a bit of fun keeping the boat pointing down river through the rapid but managed to get through dry and upright. The same couldn’t be said for a couple guys in front of us who had hit a submerged tree and flipped with the canoe being wedged on the tree. Luckily we had managed to spot them early and paddled across to the edge of the river so I could jump out and give them a hand getting their boat free. It took a decent effort of pushing and pulling but finally we got it free and they were very lucky it wasn’t snapped in half by the force of the river which was still running relatively high. We left them to bailing it out as I jumped back in our boat and we took off again, keen to catch back up with Jo and Quint and Kate in her kayak, who had also passed us by then.
The rest of the day was a good mix of fun little rapids and cruisy fast-flowing straight sections and we arrived at camp in good spirits. Unfortunately, due to the nature of a rapidly rising river, the campsite was situated well up the steep side of the riverbank, which meant we had to drag all of our barrels up to camp. There were tents everywhere and we managed to pinch a site right at the top. We were all pretty shattered after a long day in the sun so as soon as dinner was over, we retreated into the tent, ready for a good sleep to do it all again tomorrow.
Day 71: John Coull Campsite to Ngaporo Campsite
- Official trail kms: ? – 1275km (top section of river is considered a bypass)
- Distance paddled today: 50.52km
- Total walked so far: 1646.96km
- Time today: 7 hours 02 minutes
- Calories burnt today: 2837kcal
- Total elevation gain today: 137m
- Weather: Hot and sunny
- Happiness rating: 7/10
- Accommodation: Tent – Ngaporo Campsite
Today was the Bridge to Nowhere day – the main highlight and our planned lunch spot. As normal we was slow to get out of the tent and most of the boats had left by the time we had packed up and was ready to go. We really didn’t see what the rush was as we were all ending up at the same spot at the end of the day, and personally I don’t see the appeal in sitting around camp all afternoon – we might as well still be on the water!
It was another beautiful day to be on the water and what started out to be a little chilly this morning, very quickly turned hot again. The morning started out with a few smaller rapids and picturesque waterfalls coming down the steep cliffs into the river. Before we knew it we had arrived at the landing to the Bridge to Nowhere. I had remembered the landing to be tricky from my previous trip, however, we arrived to a very hectic situation with boats everywhere, jostling for a spot to pull up in the fast flow. Sammy and I managed to sneak into a gap and Sammy jumped ashore with the tow rope to tie us off. Jo and Quint arrived not far behind us and we managed to grab their rope as the flow threatened to sweep them down river. Kate was next in her kayak and she pulled in upstream, however, another canoe came in beside her and knocked her off, into the river. She disappeared under the moored canoes as she was washed downstream but luckily she resurfaced with enough time to grab onto one of the last ones to save herself being swept away. It was a very sketchy situation and one that could’ve turned disastrous very quickly so she was very lucky! Eventually we got her back onto dry land, a little shocked but otherwise unhurt thankfully!
Once everyone had calmed down a little, we decided it was definitely time for some lunch before heading up the track to see the bridge. Spoiler alert, it goes nowhere. It was, however, nice to get out of the canoe and stretch the legs for a bit though! We took a couple photos and promptly turned around and left, purposely avoiding the tour group who had taken up residence on the bridge.
Once we were all safely back in the canoes it was smooth sailing all the way to Ngaporo. The campsite was situated up on a terraced bank overlooking the river. Once camp was set up, we were straight down to the river for a swim. The water was murky still and I felt what I thought was a stick brushing up against my leg, however, it followed me as I moved away, and I quickly realised I was being sized up for dinner by an eel! No one believed me until the cheeky bugger poked his nose out by the rivers edge.
We were treated to a lovely evening at the campsite and have retreated into the tent as the sun has gone down, pretty exhausted after a long day!
Day 72: Ngaporo to the Flying Fox campsite
- Official trail kms: 1275 – 1315km
- Distance paddled today: 40.01km
- Total walked so far: 1686.97km
- Time today: 6 hours 15 minutes
- Calories burnt today: 2612kcal
- Total elevation gain today: 56m
- Weather: Hot and sunny
- Happiness rating: 7/10
- Accommodation: Tent – Flying Fox Campsite
Today we said goodbye to Kate – at least until we hopefully reconvene in the South Island. She bailed out at Pipiriki which is the normal exit point for the 3 day journey, but first, we had to tackle the notorious 50/50 rapid – known for having a 50% chance of being tipped out. The problem is, I think the river had changed during the previous flooding so we weren’t actually sure what rapid it was! We flew through a number of bigger rapids with ease and before long we were pulling up along side the Pipiriki pier saying our goodbyes to Kate. She has a flight to catch back to the US for her birthday before heading to South America to board a cruise to Antartica. Only slightly envious!!
The river started to widen out from that point, with less rapids and slower water and unfortunately that also coincided with more paddling.
The Flying Fox campsite felt like a bit of false advertising as we never got to go across on the flying fox! Instead we had to lug our barrels a couple hundred meters up the bank. The owner was overwhelmed with 30 hiker tents set up in their orchid and it was all a bit chaotic. We made the most of a nearby cabin for a lovely hot shower, and then dragged over some outdoor furniture and set up a perfect snack table to hang around in the afternoon sun.
The goal for tomorrow is to get up nice and early in order to catch the outgoing tide for the paddle out to Whanganui. We’re hoping to combine the last two days into one as we’re getting a little over being on a slow moving river. The back up plan is to stay at Hipongo Park if we don’t make it in time.
Day 73: Flying Fox to Whanganui Top 10 Holiday Park
- Official trail kms: 1315 – 1367km
- Distance paddled today: 52.93km
- Total walked so far: 1739.90km
- Time today: 7 hours 43 minutes
- Calories burnt today: 2462kcal
- Total elevation gain today: 82m
- Weather: Hot, sunny and windy
- Happiness rating: 5/10 (the paddling got boring and tough towards the end)
- Accommodation: Home in Lower Hutt
The day started as yesterday left off with a slow meandering river meaning we had to paddle for 99% of the time.
After about 10km or so, the boredom and sore shoulders had really started to kick in. Thankfully Quint decided to up the excitement levels by running into a submerged log and flipping their canoe on the very last rapid of the day. They had both been a little anxious about getting wet the entire trip so it was a bit unlucky that they managed to tip on the very last rapid of the entire river! Once we had ensured they were both safely floating next to their canoe, we towed them over to the river bank so they could right it and bail all of the water out. Thankfully, it hadn’t been as bad as they had thought and we all had a good laugh about it in the end!
By lunchtime, we had reached the Hipongo Park pier and very quickly made the decision to continue on. It was clear that the recent flooding had destroyed most of the landing and covered the pier in silt. The campsite itself was about a 10 minute walk up the hill which was less than appealing, so after a quick lunch on the dock we were back in the canoes for the final 20km or so.
With Whanganui in sight, we paddled straight into a headwind, significantly slowing progress for the last 5km or so. Eventually we rounded a bend and saw the Whanganui Top 10 – we had made it!
We unloaded the barrels straight into the back of our car, much to the envy of the other hikers we had been paddling with, and set off back to Wellington. Well, not before some well deserved KFC. We dropped Jo and Quint back in Palmerston North so they could continue walking south and we headed home, just in time to fly up to Whakatāne for our friends wedding tomorrow! And then back to work on Monday. No rest for the wicked I guess!
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Good to see the blogs coming back in, I must have been at the flying fox a few weeks after you, we didn’t get a very good greeting due to what she explained as ‘appalling behaviour’ from TA walkers this year. Please do respect & look after future stays on the trail so the rest of us don’t get a bad rap.
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To be fair, I was using a bit of creative license about the Flying Fox, the owner was well aware of us using the facilities. It was more the fact we were sneaking around the other hikers who were using the campsite shower. We are always respectful of people’s property and are super grateful of the service that they provide us to allow us to do the trail 😊
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