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Published: April 25th 2007
Mt. Ruapehu at dawn
As seen from the campsite at National Park Now where were we..? Oh, yes...t'was the day after the Sevens and the boys were on a road trip or should I say a river trip. We were heading up north to canoe down the Whanganui River.
After rehydrating and generally getting in shapes for the journey, we stocked up on supplies and began the 5 hour drive. I took McLellan (aka Radar as per last blog) in our Golf and Morrison (aka Padre) and Johnston (Klinger) hooned it up the road in the Padre's Audi - German cars to the fore and we were in the urban sprawl of National Park in no time. NP is actually more of a small gathering of hotels/hostels, bars and a few houses about a half hour drive from the Whakapapa ski fields on the north eastern slopes of Mount Ruapehu. It borders the World Heritage Tongariro National Park and is a popular base for people doing to Tongariro Crossing as well as the Whanganui River and the ski fields.
We camped up and headed for a small bar that had a roaring fire, cold beer, great pizzas and NZ v Aus one day cricket on the TV. Yes, I did
say fire as despite being in the heart of summer it was fairly baltic outside as NP is at altitude - I haven't been able to find out how high but the 2900 metre Mt Ruapehu looks like a bit of a squashed pancake when you see it from the village (see the first photo) so we must be about 800 metres or so. Well that’s my uneducated guess anyway.
After a fitful nights sleep caused largely by the obvious discomfort that goes with camping but also the noise of passing trucks and trains throughout the night, we got up on a glorious morning just in time to catch the sun rising over the 3 volcanoes - the aforementioned Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe (which doubled as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings films) and Tongariro. A spectacular sight indeed.....
We then drove to our canoe providers, the magnificently name Blazing Paddles, via a peachy wee cafe where top notch coffee and muffins were acquired. After packing our stuff into our dry boxes and dry bags, we headed off in the van towing the canoes behind on the hour or so drive to our staring point. A quick show
of the ropes and we were off - I was paired with Radar and Padre with Klinger but who would capsize first?
The weather on the first day was very good - dry was really all we were hoping for and we got our wish and more as the sun baked down for all 3 days in the end. It turned out to be a very easy first day with not too much paddling and we were quiet relaxed about the rest of the trip now. Lots of chilling out and letting the current take us down stream. Not representative of the next 2 days as we were soon to discover!
The campsite for the first night was reached on schedule and the tents were duly pitched efficiently so we could get on with the vital task of getting a feed on and getting stuck into the boxes of red wine. After scaring off an ex-pat English couple we played cards until well after dark, did the dishes and headed off for some kip, fighting our way through the unbelievable clouds of mosquitoes.
I proceeded to have an interesting night of it... I just couldn’t sleep at
all. I was so un comfortable and the tent was so warm and stuffy and smelled of mosy repellent - about 1am, I just had to get out and get some air as claustrophobia was officially setting in. I found it was a beautifully clear night - not at all cold and the sky sported the most amazing starry sky ~I’ve ever seen. We were literally in the middle of nowhere so there wasn’t even a hint of urban glare or whatever it’s called.
I then crawled back in the tent and lasted about another 5 minutes before I was out again this time with my mat, sleeping back and improvised pillow. I slept outside..... And what an experience it was. To awake and look up at that sky, in the total silence and then just doze off again was brilliant and I was already looking forward to doing a Ray Mears the following night as well.
Day 2 turned out to be a bit more like hard work as the river really flattened out and we got sod all help from gravity. Suddenly, our shoulders were aching from the paddling - well, perhaps not Radar’s as he
was on the vinegar strokes, which was my excuse for us constantly, lagging behind Klinger and the Padre.
The highlight of day 2 was undoubtedly the spectacular capsize makeover performed by Klinger and Padre who were soon to be dubbed laurel & Hardy after their effort. They claimed they were done in by the awesome power of nature but really it was because they hit a tree that was sticking out the water. Muppets. They very nearly sank actually as when they righted their canoe it took on a lot of water and they just carried on down the river in mid-sink before going ashore. V. amusing for Team Radar/Hawkeye but our smugness was to be wiped of our faces the following day in spectacular style.
We did also manage to stop for the walk to The Bridge to Nowhere, which has an interesting story behind it but not one that I can remember well enough to tell now.
We ended day 2’s paddling with a complete fresh air of the campsite which to be fair, was difficult to spot - you really didn’t know it was there until you were past it. As you can appreciate,
its kind of hard to stick your canoe in reverse and go back up the river but we both managed it after some very hard work, some improvisation and, of course getting wet.
The campsite was more interesting than the previous nights mostly because of the roaming animal life that we had to share it with. The cows were especially not shy and the ducks were radges. I was concerned - could I really sleep outside and risk a cow either crapping on me or even worse, sitting on me? When I was told they’re pretty blind in the dark I decided - no Ray Mears for me that night. I would have to brave the tent and hope that how tired I was and the amount of red wine I drank would mean I would sleep.
Err, no. I managed about 40 minutes before the tent walls closed in again and I was off to find the hut at the top of the hill that you were supposed to pay extra for. I’d checked it out earlier as my plan B and I headed up there in the pitch black with only the moonlight and my crappy
wee lamp to guide me away from the cowpats.
It was empty and eerie and I was contemplating heading back as I started to convince myself that there would be ghosts ands that perhaps I should take on the cows, ducks and ever present possums. But, no - a decent bed with proper pillows was too tempting and I stuck it out.
Slept pretty well in the end and I was sure glad I was in there rather than in a flimsy tent judging by the freaky noises that filled the air throughout the night. There was one particular howl that made me well nervous especially the second time when the second time it sounded like it was right outside. However, I figured unless it had opposable thumbs it wasn’t going to negotiate the door handle but could probably get in a tent easily enough...whatever the hell it was.
Thankfully, the next night was to be spent in my own bed and I was very much looking forward to that. I still don’t know why I freaked like that as I’m a fairly experienced camper - possibly a sub-conscious concern over Radar’s questionable tipping policy? I guess
we’ll never know....
Anyway, I awoke to another beautiful morning with the rising sun burning off the mist from the hills and I headed off down the hill to wake the boys up as we had to get going soon if we were to make it back in time to get picked up and bussed back to our waiting cars.
The last day was also hard work and we had a bit of catching up to do after leaving a tough day. Radar’s vinegar strokes were staring to come good and we were rocking on the last day - we were even ahead of L&H for a while which was why we were dumped in the drink instead of them.
We were dunked at the second of 3 fairly healthy rapids. There were instructions on how to tackle each rapid and the strategy with this none was to take the rapid straight on and then turn right sharply before you hit the eddy but I didn’t quite manage to make the run in time and we were in. Luckily everything was strapped in and was still there when we righted ourselves - well, apart from our hats
Plenty of mist but no gorillas
The early morning mist burns off and sunglasses and mine were my good RayBan’s as well. Bugger!
Now clearly, our capsize WAS due to the awesome power of nature....and perhaps a little but of average steering from yours truly and, of course, having benefited from watching us make an arse of it, Laurel & Hardy sailed through unhurt with smug grins on their faces. It finished a 1-1 draw in the capsizing stakes.
We made it to the end pretty much on time and a lot more on time that the nuggets that we waited for an hour for before leaving them to find their own way back.
After being dropped off back at our cars, we all made pleasurable use of a propose flushing toilet before packing up and moving out. Radar and I headed back to Wellington and Padre and Klinger went back to National Park to pitch their tent again before taking on the Tongariro Crossing and the ascent of Mt Ruapehu over the next few days - top effort boys.
It was a fantastic trip and one that I’ll remember for a long time. Beautiful wildrness scenery, great photo opps (slightly spoiled by the smudge that appeared on
my lense half way through that I didn't notice until I got home) and outstanding banter. It was great to see Andy at the Sevens and on this boys' trip. I loom forward to the next boys’ road trip immensely! Like that’s going to happen after September....!
Until next time, folks....
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