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Published: January 22nd 2011
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Ilona>>>>
we caught the bus from Te Awamutu to Taumarunui, We had the last 2 seats on the bus! lucky shot..!
arriving 2 hours later we get picked up ( as arranged) by this lovely woman who owns the camping (together with her husband) we are staying at. we booked 2 nights and straight away we loved this camping, there were a certain atmosphere there.
we got good friends with the owners, and they were helping us booking canoes and driving us to the supermarkets etc,
again we are cursed with rain, drying our wash becomes a nightmare, and the canoe trip got delayed. due to heavy rain, the currents speed up al lot on the river. so we end up booking one more night in the camping, but this time we book a cabin, so we can dry our gear out before river trip. the owners invite us to go 45 min up the road to some hot springs and mud bathing! so in 1 hour or so we will be on our way, everything turns out for the best!
Richard>>>>
Taumarunui is a dying town, a little bit of a town in struggle, it has 2
restaurants, 1 Mc donalds 3 supermarkets, and 1 sport bar which we avoided at all costs as it is an elephants graveyard.... on the door it states "no gang colours or motifs"
Taumarunui was a town that was full of saw mills and fabrication yards and the railway, giving the local people work. This all closed in the early 80s. However it is the gateway to the whanganui river, having two companies which hire kayaks with maps and equipment. The campsite we are staying at and these kayak companies are the key to getting this run down town back on its feet. Phil and Helene Draper run the site and cannot do enough to make the stay enjoyable, this town needs a steak house and a decent bar, to get the tourists in, and the money back in to the towns economy, it is situated in a beautiful area.
we are currently cabined up due to ridiculous amounts of rain that is falling, there is a severe flood warning at the moment and we are 30 metres away from the river, the river we intend to kayak for 5 days when it eventually does stop raining!!!! looks like we
quality!
we planned on getting a train, but looking at this bridge we are not going to bother...... will be dodging drift wood and the kayak company reckons we will do the 5 day trip in 4 due to the speed of the river, that is when they let us go on it, at the moment there is no chance!!! in fact maybe in a couple of hours we can go to the supermarket in a kayak!!! it has rained now non stop and very heavy for 15 hrs, and another 8 cm is forecast this afternoon, and as the area we are in is quite mountainous the river is set to rise quite a lot! we can only hope it stops tonight or we will have to sit it out another day or so...............
update.......
we sat out another 2 days, a group set off a littl to early on the river and ended up with one snapped canadian canoe and a helicopter ride to the hospital with hypothermia!!!!!!
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Jamie
non-member comment
Rain
Despite the rain looks like things are turning out well for you. Laughed so much at your stay with the mad women - suppose these are all experiences that make a trip memorable, good and bad! Good luck with the river trip, weather looks like its gonna be ok from tomorrow afternoon. Take care.