12, 13, 14,15 November 2009

Leader: Tony Gibson

The Whanganui river trip was off to a great start with everyone arriving safely at Slalom Lodge on Thursday night. Some of us were a little intrepid about having to put one’s entire pack contents into 3 plastic barrels, but everyone managed and we even had spare barrels to give to another group of “river-rats”.

We were a neat little party of 8 club members who assembled at Rarimu (where an impressive feat of kiwi engineering spirals the train up onto the Ruapehu plateau) on Thursday evening. The group was led by Tony and Janet who has now completed the river journey 5 times, and also included Ron and Judy, Carol and Steve, and also Bevan and I. Everyone shared two person Canadian canoes except Ron and Judy who transported down their own sea kayaks.

On the river the party is probably exposed to less risk of injury than in our everyday life. But the consequence of an injury, or even a simple capsize, can be much more serious. There is no handy medical advice, transport or hospital treatment available for three days. Thus everyone was equipped with plenty of warm clothing and even some wetsuits.

The river water was shifting an object at 5km an hour and it was not swollen or moving very fast, the weather was warm and dry, so we were looking forward to a good experience.

There was plenty of time on Friday morning to take a look around our accommodation. Slalom Lodge is home to the largest wooden table and chair set in the southern hemisphere and also a life size tyrannosaurus made of drift wood. Followed by a quick bus trip down to Whakahoro where we fitted our life jackets and launched our canoes into the river. A few minutes down the tributary from our entry point we took a left turn onto the Whanganui River. As happened over and over on the journey we took our first stop only to discover that 5 minutes further down the river was the Mangapapa Camp Site. Tony and Steven saw a large trout but no one in our party had a line and lure so we missed out on fresh fish. Secretly some capable fishermen told me that a gold and black lure will hook many a good trout – and they had fish to prove it.

1 hour after lunch we gleefully observed a man in a wave rider capsize in some rapids. Almost 45 minutes after watching the capsize we came across his leather hat floating down stream which illustrates how fast the water can shift an object down the river. We paddled 37.5 Km to arrive at the John Coull hut which was safely elevated on a hill away from the river. The wardens were strict about conserving water, keeping equipment together and cleaning up. But to compensate that had two nice little budgies.

There were plenty of jokes in the morning about snoring and considering others by avoiding make undue noise. We left early and almost immediately Bevan and I hit a huge tree trunk and were almost swamped by the raging river. The morning weather was mist and cold but the sun soon shone through revealing the majestic beauty of the shear faced cliffs and covered with a dense primordial forest. We had two morning tea breaks; one on a shingle river bank – where everything is covered in a finely alluvial sediment. The second morning tea was up a steep staircase cut into the edge of the cliff face. The DOC shelter at Mangawaiiti was nestled into a sheltered clearing. No thanks for locking me in the loo Bevan! – 30 minutes down the river we arrived at Mangapurua and lunch. This was on the opposite side of the river to the bridge to nowhere. The “bridge” is an easy 30 minute stroll through dense regenerated manuka. We spent some time taking in the solidly constructed concrete bridge and then Carol led a side expedition to the remains of the Morgan Family house. Back on the river we paddled 11 more kilometres to the Tieke Marae. At this point the countryside opens up to a more ruggedly undulating landscape. 29km in total covered today. And what a relief it was to arrive at the very well appointed hut at Tieke with an impressive Maori carving outside the Marae too.

I couldn’t believe it was only 8.05am and here we were back in the water. The countryside changed back into steep cliffs and dense primordial forest again. Waterfalls were particularly impressive especially those the careered over the cliff face. Bevan and I took the opportunity for a water fight while Steven, Diane, Ron, Judy, Janet and Tony G snapped pictures of the scenery. For over 2 hours there were very few suitable places to rest – although we did explore a large waterfall inside a huge cave. A few more minutes further down the river and we had morning tea on a pebbly beach. Everyone put on more clothes as the overcast sky was cooling the air temperature on the river. I swapped into Steven’s canoe and we raced through the last rapids together. Steven was an expert helmsman. Two smaller rapids and we arrived happy and quite hungry at Pipiriki, to await the bus back to our waiting cars and home.  

Tony Hubscher