Whanganui River

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Set of bright an early for our 3 days paddling down the Whanganui River.

It was definitely the most relaxing trip in New Zealand. Didn't see anyone else for the whole day and just basked in the sun while drifting down the river to John Coull Hut. Relaxing evening waiting for the glow worms to appear around the hut.

The next day was much of the same, not quite as hot but still nice. Broke up the journey with a stop at the 'Bridge to Nowhere', a massive bridge in the middle of the forest, very bizarre. More slow paddling down to Tieke Hut, but nearly missed it as the jetty had been washed away in recent floods, met my first sandflies of my time in New Zealand, I will meet an awful lot more before i go! The Maori warden was very nice and fed us dinner and breakfast the next day, saving our $2 meals for another night!

Sadly the final day paddling was less pleasant as the rain had well and truly come to stay, we put our heading down a powered through to Papiriki landing to meet the guys from Wades landing and go back for a warm shower and meal.

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