Whanganui River Trip

An America, a Canadian and a Swed go on a river trip. That's not the beginning of a bad joke, I actually went on Canoe/Kayak trip with my friends Dan Harrison (Canadian) and Johnny(Swedish) on the Whanganui river in New Zealand. It is one of the "Great Walks" even though it is a river journey. And if you haven't already guessed, it's pretty awesome. 

After I finished the Tongariro Northern Circuit I went to the less than exciting city of Palmerston North so that Dan could pick me up on his way from Wellington. Dan managed park his car on the exact street that I was randomly walking on after I got lunch. He called me, I looked down to answer my phone and when I looked up Dan was 10 feet from me. It was pretty weird considering that Palmerston North is not your usual tiny town in NZ. It is pretty big, it has a university. Anywho, we went shopping then headed to meet Johnny in Raetihi. 

The pictures were all taken on Johnny's Go-Pro because I don't know have a waterproof camera. Thank Johnny :)

Pre-trip  Packing

This is how you paddle right?

The launch

We are lost. Well not lost, we are on the river we just can't read the map.

The first night we camped at a nice spot that had a few other groups. There was a group of friendly old folks that we would end up camping next to for the rest of the journey.

View from the second camp

The second camp we stayed it was Whakahoro (Pronouced, I kid you not, Fuck-a-hor-o). It was nice, we had some horse friends. The hut is an old school house. It rained the whole night we were there. Johnny booked to stay in the hut. Dan and I were suppose to sleep in the tent, but since it was raining and there was no ranger we slept in the hut, it was a good choice. It was still raining in the morning. Everyone warned us that the river can be dangerous when it rains because it can rise super quickly. The group of old folks that were also camping at Whakahoro decided to stay an extra day too be safe. Because of rain and peer pressure we also decided to stay an extra day. So our trip ended up being 6 days instead of 5. We spent the rainy day napping, reading, playing cards and we even went for a walk. And luckily the weather was great for the rest of the trip after our rain delay.

The hut is an old school house

Horse friends. Neigh!!

I got bored so I was doing some dancing

and handstands

Going for a walk, Yippie!

 

They made me steer... It went okay, hopefully I will never have to again

 

The hut

The last camp we stayed at is also a Maori village, unfortunately there was no Maoris staying there when we were there. It was a really nice spot though. 

Dan dropped the cards under the porch so he went to get them. Hahaha

Lieutenant Dan

Johnny and I tied the canoe and kayak up. Dan asked if we were confident in our knots, we were said "definitely not" so thanks for Dan for tying all the knots.  

Me kayaking + waterfall

Nice little waterfall and swimming hole. Way to cold to swim though

River life

We did a little walk to the "bridge to nowwhere" It was built in the 1930s when there was a community out there but the community failed. So the bridge goes no where and is in the middle of no where.

Dan fell out of the kayak while going through a rapid. Hahaha

The boys checking up on me

I would definitely recommendation Whanganui River Canoes to anyone needing gear for this trip because at the end when they pick you up they give you an ice cold beer! Cheers!