Map

Here is the map:

https://onthegomap.com/s/805j1kln

Summary

Saturday 17th December

We woke up at 06:00 and after dismantling our tents and a quick breakfast, we stuffed the rest of our stuff into the barrels provided by the canoe hire place before going to the big house on the hill for the safety briefing. Not ominous at all. Johnno, the son, ran us through the safety briefing whilst we were handed free tea and coffee and fresh bread with butter. Not lying, this is the most generous family ever. They are apparently determined not to treat TA hikers like “dirt” like other places and just try and get as much money off of us as possible, which is just wonderful really.

Anyway, the forecast was looking good for today. It had been a little bit of off-and-on rain for the last week or so and there was rain forecast for later, but for now the river was looking good and not completely in flood so they were happy to send us out on it. Therefore, safety briefing done and no one at all nervous (seriously), we all hopped on the bus and whizzed on down to Whakahoro where we were launching from. We lost signal pretty much immediately and it would stay that way for me until we got back into Whanganui, four or five days that we had planned on. Easy!

The minibus had an air of excitement about it. I certainly was excited! Niv and Tomer were asleep on the other hand. The road all the way down to Whakahoro was bumpy and jumpy and turned from a sealed road to a gravel road and eventually to a mud road. Deep in the wild now! We really felt like a long way from civilisation! It was very reminiscent to the minibus that took my BES expedition up and over the Andes and into the Madre de Dios river basin in the Amazon.

At Whakahoro, we then proceeded to unload all the canoes from the trailer, as well as all the barrels, creating long daisy chains and clambering over the massive trailer to help get the canoes down and onto the bank of the river. We then spent a while sorting out which barrels belonged to who(m?). Johnno showed us how to tie them in, and I got stuck in. Bowlines, I remember them! Clove hitches, yep! Fishermen bends? Sure! But also, the classic, round turn and two half hitches, the easiest and most useful. It was like sailing again and I loved it, kinda back in my element. I was knee deep using ropes with a buoyancy aid jacket on, so so familiar. I would be keen to sail again in the future I think. I would love to get a big boat and sail around the coast of the Mediterranean or something one day. Hmmmm, that would be awesome!

I was also embarrassed though. Because Rob, Reid and I were a three and the canoes were for two people, then we had a single person kayak alongside us. However, the kayak couldn’t carry anything and so we had to stuff three people’s worth of barrels into the canoe, meaning that our canoe definitely was the heaviest. Johnno definitely commented on us, asking us how many beers we had! Well Rob and Reid had got a dozen, and I had bought myself a cake soooo… Yeah. Maybe over the top in terms of weight a little. Whoops.

Anyhow, Rob and I jumped into the canoe and Reid got into the kayak and we left the safety of the bank and into the current of the river! Here we go! Niv and Tomer were ahead of us, but they soon left us in their (very literal) wake. We were definitely lumbering along, a heavy behemoth, not really paddling but laughing and chilling and doing squat all. The beauty of having a river which was already quite high and swollen was that it was fast, meaning we could kinda float along and not do anything and we would still get there in half the time it would usually take!

It was amazing. The Whanganui river, under NZ law, is actually a living entity and abusing the nature around it is can be brought up in court (I believe, I ain’t no lawyer). This meant that up at the top of the river where we were, we were surrounded by the thickest bush on the North Island without a living soul in miles around. Cliffs towered up and over the river, trees overhung and birds of all shapes and sizes cried out and flew over us. It was magical. It was oh so sedate and oh so lovely.

We were soon very much last of the canoes with everyone else disappearing ahead of us, but we weren’t too concerned. The rapids that we were meant to come across didn’t exist due to the fact the river was swollen and so we just glided down the river. We only started paddling in earnest when it started raining… And the rain didn’t let up. It just kept coming down from the steel grey clouds ahead and everything around us became hazy from the curtain of water that hung around us. The trees overhanging the river bent under the onslaught and the slips which we were passing now had a perilous look about them, as if they might slip again at any moment, crashing into us and sending us into the water.

Paddling, we passed a whole bunch of campsites. We had booked the fourth, and furthest, campsite, Mangawaiiti and we eventually got there at around 16:30, last. All the other boats had already been drawn up and the barrels been carried up by the time we got there. Standing up in the pouring rain from the canoe, we were visibly shaking and shivering. OK, not good, time to warm up and get moving. The three of us hauled the barrels up onto land and then manhandled our canoe up the bank. We were told to tie it up as high as possible to something secure, but the landing at Mangawaiiti was so shh…ocking that the only thing we could possibly tie it to was a massive, fallen down tree trunk which was not comforting at all (since that may float away!). But in all honesty, we just wanted to get up and into camp and warm up. Plus, everyone else had tied their boats to the tree trunk so we figured it would be OK. Right? That’s how that works?

After tying the canoe up to this large tree trunk and then attaching the kayak to our canoe, we then started carrying all our barrels up the slope, up the stairs and into the campsite, all the while shivering and possibly a little blue. At least, that’s what Reid told me what colour I was. Apparently this was the first time he’d seen me look properly miserable, and I kinda felt it, I was frozen!

We pitched our tents in the pouring rain and then crammed ourselves under the tiny shelter. It was just a picnic bench under a roof, but there were seventeen of us in this camp soooo… Not much space. We cooked ourselves some nice food from our barrels and then I cracked out my cake and we took our spoons to that, demolishing it as a trio. Not gonna lie, that perked me up a little and I was slightly happier when I went to bed that night.

Oh, by the way, remember Rob’s phone that we went to great length to rescue on the Timber Trail? Yeah, it died in the rain, water soaking through the zips on his jacket, drowning his phone in his pocket. It wasn’t so bad this time though, he had managed to back everything important up so it wasn’t like he lost everything this time. Still, that is just so unlucky!

Sunday 18th December

It rained all night. Can you guess what happened to the river? Yeah, it rose. But it didn’t rise by like, half a meter or even a full meter. It rose by a full five meters, at least. Five meters! The image below is what we were confronted with at 06:30 in the morning, and it was still raining.

We couldn’t actually get to the boats without swimming, let along loading them up and getting onto the river safely. We had been told in the safety briefing that if the river rose, we shouldn’t go on it if we see branches, logs or dead animals floating down. We saw all three floating down the river whilst we all stood looking at the boats. Eek. Yeah, no kidding, it hits you how dangerous it is when you see a sodden sheep in rigor mortis floating down the river, legs sticking up in the air. Gruesome I know…

As a big group of seventeen, we resigned ourselves to a short and simple fact, we weren’t going anywhere today. No way, especially considering it was still raining. I guess it was time to start in on the tea and biscuits that we had brought with us. I also had my book which I could always fall back on.

Reid and I actually spent that morning fixing the water pump. When we had arrived last night, the foot pump to get some rainwater from the tanks behind the shelter was broken and so we spent that morning taking apart the entire pump system, reverse-engineering and figuring how it worked and what specifically was broken. In the end, it turns out there was so much mud and grit that a locking mechanism (why does a foot pump need a locking mechanism??) had been jammed and the foot pump couldn’t be unlocked, per se. A bit of wriggling about with a pen knife, some tent pegs and washing it in water finally allowed us to fix it and we reassembled it all and put it back. Good job us. And thanks dad for all the practical skills you’ve inadvertently taught me! Physics degree at work, woo.

We joked a lot about a Lord of the Flies situation, or what would happen if we were marooned here forever. Joked… Right? 127 Hours was also mentioned a lot, and other survival stories such as that Uruguayan rugby team and the plane crash in the Andes… It wouldn’t come to that, of course, we all had PLBs. But still, I find it funny how people immediately leap to thinking of extreme survival stories within half a day!

And, speaking of which, Niall had a PLB that allowed him to send messages to his wife (via satellite communication, vast abuse of what it was meant for but oh well, that’s why you pay a subscription!) and so he got a constant update on the football world cup final score. Lucas, one of the French people there, left the shelter and went back to his tent when we started to discuss – he didn’t want to know any spoilers. Still, I found once again that I don’t really care about football. Whoops, oh well.

Lunch passed, and I spent the afternoon in my tent reading and napping. The rain stopped around tea time as well which was nice and Niv, Tomer, Rob, Reid and I sat at another of the picnic tables, eating crisps and Oreos and chilling out altogether.

There was no need to stay up for too long though and so I headed to bed pretty soon after, looking forward to possibly getting away the next day.

Monday 19th December

Not much rain overnight this time, meaning that I woke up with hope that we could get away. However, yeah nah, we still couldn’t get to the boats. The colour of the situation (maroon) would continue. At least this time, the sun was out for the day, it was just that the river was still swollen. Therefore, we spent the day much the same, doing squat all. We played frisbee with a lid of a barrel at one point… I taught everyone ceilidh dancing… We ate a lot of crisps… Yeah, just trying to while away the time.

Anne and Jueren went down to the boats some time after lunch and we heard a big cheer. Turns out they were waist deep in the water, untying all our boats! The river was still dangerous with logs and branches and dead animals whizzing by but they seemed to want to up and go straight away… Not particularly wise in my opinion, but I think they were desperate to leave. We all came down and helped them lift the boats onto higher, drier land but then we convened a big meeting between all of us who were there to try and make a big decision on whether to go or not. It was quite buzzy, seeing people arguing/discussing about this. In the end, due to the river still being high, we decided to leave the next day early in the morning. It was funny seeing people employ their real world life skills into the equation too, such as risk assessment and how to conduct a big group meeting…

Therefore, having reached the conclusion to stay for another night but with the promise of leaving in the morning, a renewed sense of happiness and hopefulness entered the camp and we happily packed our barrels that evening, laid out the buoyancy aid jackets to dry and got ready to leave in the morning. Let’s hope there was no more rain!…

Tuesday 20th December

We got up early. Lessgo, no rain overnight! We were gonna get away today, finally leaving this purgatory that is Mangawaiiti. We packed up and then hustled down to our canoe and lined our barrels up beside our boat, along with everyone else doing the exact same. We then helped other people launch into the fast flowing river, passing them their barrels whilst they sat in their boats, tying them all in and scrabbling about sorting everything out. We hadn’t lost any paddles as well (which we had expected to since a few people had left their paddles in their boats for this entire time), so all was well with life! Launch followed launch, like the Apollo missions in the ’60s but with less aplomb. We were last. It was going to be me and Reid in the canoe this time, with Rob on the kayak. We tied everything in with Rob passing us all of our barrels and then Reid and I launched, followed by Rob launching in his easy kayak. Yes! We were away!

It was sunny as well, and we basked in the sun and floated our way down the Whanganui. Luxurious life on our canoes. I think I would love to do some hardcore canoe trips in the future, something like canoeing the Yukon or other big rivers. It is such a nice way to travel, granted that it is heavily dependent on the weather conditions for enjoyment. Still, some canoeing expeditions I would be open for. Maybe I could do the Great Glen Way again, but canoeing it this time. Hmmmm

Rob and Reid enjoyed their beers and we floated down the river, sometimes backwards, sometimes facing forwards. We passed over rapids which didn’t really exist, just a small bit of choppiness in the water, and made our way down the river quite content once more. However, rain once again came upon us and we were poured upon.

It rained all the rest of the morning as we approached Pipiriki where we were planning to have lunch. We guided our canoe in to the bank and Rob followed us in on his kayak just after us. We were met with everyone else, who had gone on ahead of us, in their hoods and rain jackets. They were clamouring around us claiming that the rain was forecast for the rest of the day and the next day too. They had all already taken their canoes up to the top of the ramp and unpacked them for they were all planning to walk on out of Pipiriki (where it was once again possible to walk instead of canoe) or to hitch on out. I think we kinda felt like they were wanting us to do the same and we made the decision to also walk out based on the fact that more rain was due. The end of the canoe trip, what a shame. We had booked the canoes all the way down to Whanganui but I guess it was just sunk cost, nothing we could do about it now unless we wanted to wait some more in Pipiriki, but our food was starting to look like not enough. In hindsight though, this was definitely a knee-jerk reaction based off of one piece of information that one person told us…

We hauled our boat up and stacked it alongside the other canoes and unloaded it, carrying our barrels to a shelter at the top of the road where they would be picked up and then eventually repacking our backpacks. Easy as. We then spoke to the campsite in Pipiriki and decided to stay there for the day. That meant I had a whole bunch of food that I needed to eat and I couldn’t carry out with me, being either in cans or impractical. Therefore, after arriving, I started feasting on all this food. Pasta and sauce, cans of beans, cans of peas, cans of fruits… Yeah, I was definitely representing gluttony at that moment in time, whoops. Lucas also watched the football final with earplugs in. We all felt really bad for him, watching him watch his country not quite win. Whoops… Sad

We pitched our tents up and settled down for the rest of the day. Time for another disaster though. Whilst we were packing up all our stuff in the shelter before coming to the campsite, Niv and Tomer had a drybag filled with both of their phones, Niv’s wallet and Tomer’s Garmin inReach (PLB) taken by a couple who walked past. This couple was also doing the canoe trip and had also bailed at Pipiriki but were neither TA hikers, nor part of the same company. They had a shuttle back to Owhango (of all places) and we assume that they took this drybag accidentally with them.

Still, this left Niv and Tomer without much anything. They wanted to get to a place that they could access a public phone from and make some calls and so after sorting their gear, they hitched right out of Pipiriki that afternoon towards Raetihi. We posted on the TA Facebook group for them, as well as made some landline phone calls (there was no phone service in Pipiriki) for them, trying to locate the bag and after a while, we managed to contact this other company and the couple and arrange to meet at the garage in Raetihi for them to pick it all up at. Story over right! Well, I found out later that when this other company showed up, they brought the wrong bag and Niv and Tomer had to go back to Owhango with them and pick up their stuff (which they found strewn about) from the actually company building. Niv’s phone was also damaged and so they then had to go up to Hamilton next to get it fixed… Pffffff, so much stuff going on, I felt so bad for them. I think it all worked itself out in the end though and they have both managed to continue on.

Wednesday 21st December

Rob, Reid and I had decided to walk out of Pipiriki and so we set off in the morning down Whanganui River Road which ran parallel to the river (rather than hitch out etc.) along with Niall. And you know what, it was sunny. Yep, we had jinxed the weather I swear, by deciding to pull out and walk the rest. I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious occasionally… Oh well, decision made, walking was nicer anyway, you were under control of yourself at all times with no need to rely on weather or anybody else, just you and your own two feet.

The road was super simple, just a sealed road for the entire way, easy. But also dull. We passed walked alongside the swollen river, seeing the occasional tree branch, dead animal or log float by. We saw no one on the river itself. The road followed the river so it was super twisty and windy, up and down over hills and sometimes all the way down almost to the level of the river itself. The sun beat down on us, making fun of our decision but we were steadfast and carried on walking. I mean, what else was their to do?

We passed a bunch of places along the way. There was a place called Jerusalem which was an old nun convent that was now closed, as well as places like Matahiwi and other small Maori settlements. In Matahiwi, we stopped by a small roadside stall run by a kid who sold us drinks and ice cream for actually very reasonable prices. That was fun and real nice. He seemed real excited to see us eat up his food and drink for sure! Reid and I also had some absolutely mean physics chat, all about special relativity (something that I actually suck at. Why I never did the Special Relativity and Fields module at university (PH4032)). I tried my best. Gotsta learn up the Lorentz factor derivation that I promised him…

We pushed on and I spent the early afternoon, after lunch, walking ahead of everyone. We passed the Flying Fox, the place we had been planning on staying at the previous evening if we had continued canoeing instead of crunching on down this road.

At one point, a car came past me and slowed to a stop. I was a little alarmed until I saw that Rob was in the front passenger seat. He had decided to hitch out to Whanganui since his legs were still sore from our couple monster days before the Timber Trail. Plus, he wanted to look for a new phone potentially. Fair enough, walking out along this road wasn’t the most thrilling thing to do ever.

I arrived at the free DOC campsite where I pitched up and Reid joined me before long. The last couple of kilometres were a bit worrying for me, my left foot was starting to just ache and be a bit sore and I had no idea why. I was kinda maybe guessing it was the nine days of no walking that I had done and then suddenly to crank out a 38km road walk… Yeah, maybe my body wasn’t the happiest with me. Still, give it a cheeky stretch and some rest and life would be great again, right?

Thursday 22nd December

Reid and I left quite early in the morning and within 10km, my foot was hurting again. Ah bugger. It wasn’t pain as such, it started out as me being aware of the ankle joint and just started aching some more. If I limped, the ache lessened, so I limped my way down the road and then up the hill at the end and to the viewpoint where we could look back up the Whanganui River valley. Last time I will probably see this sight, it was wonderful. On the way, Reid’s feet were hurting and we were just in bad shape really, as well as just tired really. We tried to have some fun chats along the way to take our minds off of our respective pains and it kinda worked. We had lunch at the viewpoint beside a family who were looking for fossils in the slips close by (and finding a whole bunch of stuff. I think the dad was a professor of archaeology or something in the States. He was certainly giving off professor vibes!).

We walked down from the viewpoint and onto SH4 which was quite quiet and we walked into Upokongaro where we had been recommended a café called Behind the Door On 4 by Niall who was ahead of us at this point. We had a whole bunch of teatime food here which was nice, before we hustled to the holiday park in Whanganui. Strangely enough, after sitting down and resting my foot for an hour or so, I was able to walk pain free once more for several kilometres! Really weird. I really dislike it when my body stops working as I want it to. Why?? Super frustrating, why doesn’t it just work?

We raced into the holiday park, some stiff breezes behind us and curtains of rain sweeping towards us. Sure enough, in the office of the holiday park, whilst we were paying for a cabin, the rain turned on and it came thundering down. How much rain can the sky hold, jeez! People think Scotland is wet, but I am starting to think that New Zealand is just as wet, if not wetter!

We spent that afternoon doing laundry, chilling out. Rob was there and so he and Reid popped into town to Countdown to grab some food and we had a BBQ that evening after it had stopped raining. The sun was setting and it was all very pleasant all of a sudden. My foot wasn’t sore at all. I fell asleep incredibly quickly that night for sure.

Friday 23rd – Sunday 25th December

Reid was leaving us today, his sister was picking him up at 11:00 at a place called Ambrosia’s and so after he had packed up, we all got on the bus and headed into town together. Hamilton won the “Second most beautiful small city in NZ”, Whanganui apparently came first in that contest, so Reid had a bone to pick. Also, I think Prince Edward did a couple terms of school in Whanganui once upon a time. I may be wrong on that.

Anyways, we got into town and browsed the main street, Victoria Avenue before heading to Ambrosia. It had a real hippy vibe and I loved it. The lady behind the desk, she asked us what we were doing and when we responded that we were walking the TA, she looked excited as she told us that her brother was also walking it this year! Real cool! In the bookshop next door I also bought a book and shipped it to myself back home in Alnwick. My parents will be surprised when they find a parcel to me some months down the line. They’ll have to wait to see what book it is though (unless, you know, they just open it anyway…)!

We had a bunch of food for maybe the last time with Reid before his sister, Alex, came and picked him up for a family Christmas and ten days off. If he re-joined the trail in Whanganui, he would be ten days behind Rob and I… Sad.

I had booked a physio appointment at 14:00 and so I headed there whilst Rob went to the cinema to see the new Black Panther movie. The physio was a super nice South African lady who was just like “Yeah, you’ve walked 1400km, it’s an overuse injury, here’s some tape and give it some rest”. It filled me with confidence that I could continue though for sure!

Back at the holiday park, I met some other TA people, specifically two brothers called Nathan and Jake who had nicknames of “Frodo and Sam” since they looked like Hobbits apparently. I am actually surprised by how little Lord of the Rings mania there is, I was expecting more. Little disappointed, not gonna lie…

Saturday brought much the same routine. I gave my Kindle to Rob so he had something to do whilst I went into town and watched the new Avatar film and went to the market. I also bought a Christmas cake and proceeded to eat the entire thing with Rob when I got back. I also gave him my phone so he could phone his family back home.

Sunday was Christmas! Yay! I phoned Grannie and Grandpa, Mum and Dad and Flora and some other friends too. I promised Grandpa that I would spend the day writing this blog but I, uh, ended up just reading the entire day. Whoops. In the evening, I phoned Duncan and Robyn as well as Cam and Tati. Spoke to the whole family! That was well nice. Rob had left today to hitch to Palmy to make the most of the Boxing Day sales so I spent the evening by myself where I watched a film. Yeah, a nice quiet Christmas. I was glad I stayed there as well since it gave my ankle some time to rest as well as guaranteeing that I had good WiFi to phone everyone with. However, I headed to sleep looking forward to getting back to walking on Boxing Day.

New People

• Barbara: German lady who didn’t know anyone else whilst we were stuck in Mangawaiiti
• Anne and Jueren: Dutch couple, Anne is a nurse.
• Wil: Elderly Dutch guy, Jueren’s father
• Paulina: Dutch lady who didn’t bring much fresh food with her on the Canoe trip, sadly.
• Maaike: Dutch lady who is a nurse too and had a serious case of shin splints
• Lucas: French guy. He was upset to miss the world cup final when we were stuck in camp for a while
• Hugo and Manon: French couple. Their air mats also blew up like mine whilst we were stuck! They hitched out from Pipiriki
• Kristina and Bernard: Elderly Kiwi-French Canadian couple who offered us accommodation once we got to Arrowtown on the South Island
• Nathan and Jake: Two brothers who looked like Hobbits. Jake’s tent was broken and he was well mad.

Status

• Physical: 6/10 – muscle on my left foot/ankle hurts from an overuse injury whoops
• Mental: 7/10 – will I be able to go on? But also, did not enjoy canoeing in the rain (but in the dry it was awesome!). But also, I am still positive overall!
• Distance covered: 1365km
• Most memorable moment: Canoeing in the rare patches of sun. Being stuck for three nights in a tiny camp.
• Toughest moment: Dragging barrels up into camp after being cold and wet and shivering. The last 10km into Whanganui.
• Burnt-o-meter: 3/10
• Random thoughts: What does bucolic mean? How would I act in a survival situation? Should I do some more canoeing and sailing?
• Number of times I’ve fallen: 10
• Jars of peanut butter finished: 9
• Oatly bars: 48
• Song suggestion: Going to Live; Cat Empire

What’s Next?

Next I will walk from Whanganui to Palmerston North (via the pun capital of New Zealand) where I will resupply before charging into the Tararuas and the mountains. Finally, a proper mountain range. I am really looking forward to that! But then, after that, it is Wellington and the end of the North Island! Crazy! It seems to have gone by so fast!