Advertisement
Published: April 5th 2005
Edit Blog Post
Me and the Canoe
Erez took most of the pictures in this trip (mainly on the river) so I'll have them only when I get home. I only have these 2 souvenirs - one with canoe, one from Bridge to Nowhere As you have probably noticed so far, I am doing here in New Zealand things that are VERY different. The last 3 days were probably the most different adventure I have done here. The Whanganui river journey, as it is called, is one of NZ "great walks" as they defined. But it's not a walk - it's a canoe journey. You pack all your stuff in water proof barrels, tie them to the canoe, take paddles (one each and one spare... just in case), put yourself and your partner on the canoe, and off you go. No guide, no group - it's just us and the river. In the season or in the weekend there are probably many canoes there, but the day we started, only one more English couple started too.
We got a very short explanation about stearing the boat and we relied on our kayaking and rafting short experience. It appeared to be insufficient. At the beginning, even in the smallest rapids we found it very hard to keep the boat straight, the stream turned us a bit, but we managed to keep above the water. Paddling wasn't easy at all. When not in a rapid, the water
was pretty calm and we had to paddle a lot to move on. And then we got close to another rapid, and there was a small branch in the water, and with our poor stearing abilities we went right on the branch and in a second found ourselves in the water... The canoe got full of water, all the barrels floated next to it, and we fought hard to push it to the shore (and not lose the paddle on the way) so we can arrange everything. Unfortunately, there were still 3 small rapids and the stream kept us always away from the shore, and after that we entered a canyon with no shores at all. We were desparate. We had no idea how to get all the water out of the canoe while we are floating in the water. There was no shore in sight. Erez was a bit less desparate that me and he started to take the water out but when we tried to sit back on the canoe it got full again. And then he saw our "salvation" - a rock in the middle of the river. We managed to swim and push the boat towards
it, and then it was pretty easy to empty it, put all the barrels bak inside and get going! We were totally wet and still a bit in shock, but smiling again. We felt we had a real challenge and we managed to overcome. Luckily, the first camp site alogn teh river was close, so we could get on shore, dry, change and continue a lot happier. The rest of the day we were doing much better, only paddling really hard to make it to the hut on time - the other option was to camp, but the warm hut was so much nicer! we got to the hut just a little before sun set and got a lot of help from the hut ranger (DOC worker that lives there for a week each time). We were totally exhausted, but happy.
The second day was much less eventful. In the evening we found out that the other couple was much more experienced - in fact the guy teaches outdoor stuff, including canoeing! So with better teaching our stearing was good and we got used to teh rapids and did excellently. In the middle of teh day we had a stop and a short walk to the "bridge to nowhere" - it's a nice bridge over a small stream that was built for a road they planned but eventually never built. The bush (jungle) took over the unsealed roads they had when they built this and only the bridge remained. It was quite nice. 2 hours after that we reached the second hut, while the other couple continued further on to camp. We had the place completely for ourselves (plus a rooster, some possoms and a small mouse...). When you get to the hut, you need to carry the boat away from the water which means a few meters up... not easy, and tie it - I felt like in the "girls scouts"... and carry all your stuff to the hut which is far up (6 barrels and the tent bag). One more part of the adventure we were not expecting.
So the hut - it's not a regular hut - there's also a Maori Marae (meeting place) there, and sometimes the Maoris come. So there's a lot more equipment and there was even a shower! Not a fancy one.. to say the least... and cold too, but it felt SOOO good to shower. It's not something you usually get in these adventures. We were much less tired and enjoyed our dinner (with a bottle of wine!) before a "good" night sleep.
Well the sleep was not so easy - my entire body was in pain, and especially the arms, and whenever I changed position it was a horrible pain, in fact I almost cried. Who says adventures are only fun?
But now I notice that I only mention teh adventure, I forget to tell you how great it was to be there, just us and nature. The scenery is beautiful, but it doesn't change so much in the 3 days. But the way you feel, the serenity - I can't even describe it.
In the last day there were a few bigger rapids we got warned about. We reached the first and mananged to go through just perfect, which made us very happy. So when we got closer to the biggest one, that has a simple bypass on the small stones (only need to carry the canoe 2 meters - very easy), we decided to give it a try. Well, we passed maybe a half of teh big waves before we were in the water again... but the second time is always easier. There were rocks very close and we managed to swim there, and in 10 minutes we were already back on the boat. We were a bit dissapointed that we didn't make it but it was fun!
An hour later we reached the end at Pipiriki, tired and very happy.
What can I say to summarize the adventure? I couldn't believe I'd become so accustomed to carrying the boat, tying it, jumping inside after I untied it without fear, paddling even when my arms sour so much. I couldn't believe what it was like to merge into nature, to enjoy the serenity. I couldn't believe the water was so clear and the sky so blue. It was hard - in fact if I had known I wouldn't have done that, but it was great.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.06s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 11; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0377s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb