Te Araroa : Raetihi to Wanganui

KM this section : 118
KM completed : 1366

So, I get the tent up at Raetihi - pole still behaving - and notice plenty of canoes around.  Why yes they do hire them, all booked up though.  Dammit, I am not giving up on this.  The guide makes it clear this is one of the highlights of the trip, I even wrote to my niece that I'd be doing it... all I need to find is a company willing to take a boat to Pipiriki for me.  And in fact the second I call will... not loving the two hundred and fifty dollars cost but what can you do.  Of course they say, you can join a group that left Whakahoro yesterday, so if I'd got any signal... Sigh.  I can at least paddle for eighty kilometres or so down to Wanganui the city (no 'h' - yes they are talking about changing it).

Just keep it pointing downstream, easy.

Well, the walk to Pipiriki is easy enough, good thing as the canoe company want me there at 2pm to take charge of what turns out to be a kayak.  Well, given it is chucking it down I am happy to not be walking in the afternoon.  Next day I 'portage', or carry the kayak down to the river - it is very heavy - and stuff my things into the supplied drybags, including my socks and zip-off trouser legs, I am expecting to get wet here.  In fact I get into the boat and move off without trouble, except that a veritable swarm of midges has turned up to feast on my exposed legs.  I frantically paddle towards the middle of the river, simultaneously slapping at the horrid things, eventually most seem to have gone, either squashed or sated, I itch like hell though.  Hmm, was supposed to join a group wasn't I?  To be honest, the guy who gave me the kayak wasn't sure when they'd arrive, or even that they were expecting me, so screw it.

Me, in a kayak, on the river.

Paddling along proves easy - it's twenty years since I was last in a kayak, but I recall it being simple enough.  What rapids there are don't trouble me, it is hardly white water, and I even manage to park the thing and put my legs back on.  This is rather fun I must say, the perspective on the landscape is new, and the Whanganui gorge is certainly impressive.  I could consider a longer trip in one of these.  This is supposed to take three days, according to both guide and hire firm.  Predictably I'm approaching halfway by 4pm, I reckon with an early start you could do it in a day.  Instead I camp by a nice little beach and proceed to build a large fire.  An Italian girl I met at Whakahoro paddles by, seems she found the two Americans she was joining there, and indeed a Canadian.  They're travelling at a more relaxed pace than me, still hike your own hike and all.  No sign of the big group I was meant to join.

Not the most accessible campsite ever.

The paddle goes well the next day too, must say it is nice not to have my pack on - light as it is after a long day the straps start to cut into me.  The morning flies by, soon enough I've only got ten kilometres to go, the only difficulty a section where a strong headwind made progress difficult.  I spot the group from yesterday moored up, really should say hi.  Except... how, and indeed why, did they moor here?  The riverbank slopes at about forty-five degrees, getting a foot on dry land is tricky, I just manage it then spot my paddle floating away, oops.  Step back on the kayak to grab it and, double oops, the boat capsizes and I'm in the river.  Joy.  They helpfully tie the thing up while I dry out, but that causes trouble too... stupidly I try sitting in the kayak when it's time to leave, but that makes it slide down the slope, the rope is too taut to untie, and the front of my boat is filling with water...

I get going in the end, but the thing is not the same, paddling forward it won't go in a straight line.  Of course this is because the front luggage compartment is full of water... OK, I manage to progress by turning the kayak around and paddling backwards, this gets me as far as a proper mooring where I can sort things out.  I catch the group up just before we reach Wanganui holiday park, time to get the tent up, find some beer and fish and chips.  My fellow hikers are going to camp on a Maori family's lawn, apparently this will be free.  Again, HYOH.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.