Whanganui Journey - 150km kayak
New Zealand offers great adventures and one of the cool lists to do is a the so called 10 Great Walks. Working on completing this list at some stage, the only "walk" which is only paddle-ble follows the great Whanganui river.
The guide suggests it is a 3-5 days trip but I was training for Coast2Coast so it was good opportunity to get a long training session in. Good to have company in like minded crazy people with Maciej inspiring us to try to do this in one go. We are limited by the 14-15 hour daylight opportunity in the end of November. The river doesn't have much of rapids but you don't want to pass them in the dark (ironically the rapids are in the beginning and the end).
We were closely monitoring the weather leading into the trip, acknowledging the only realistic chance of doing this in a day will be with a good water flow. Original Maciej's plan was to do it in 2 days but the hut midway was full and I suggested to aim for a single day mission.
Luckily it was raining two days in a row with a good forecast for the D day.
Logistically we had to leave one car at Pipiriki with a hope it is going to be safe there. It is still a bit to drive (almost 3hrs!) to the start at Tamaranui. We decide to start as early as possible to buy as more time. Had to wait until the eyes with comfortable with minimal amount of light after the dawn.
First couple of kilometers feels very good, fast water, no tricky stuff , not until Maciej hits a rock which he didn't see. Luckily, no consequences. It does get brighter as we reach the first series of rapids, mostly wave trains. One rapid was a big white boil but there was plenty of the water/space on the left to avoid it.
We are managing a descent pace around 4min per km, we get a first stretch stop 2hours in the paddle ( going forward I will need a stop every hour to stretch by arse/back!)
Maciej is looking a bit faster -slightly lighter/faster boat and he is taking less stuff with him following his minimalistic alpine style packing approach. I prefer to have a an emergency camping gas and sleeping bag in case we get in trouble.
Once we sun got up we could spot the real color of the river - muddy brown, it was floooooowing!
First big stretch stop is around 56km when we reach Whakahoro - this is an alternative starting point as this is where the real gorge starts. The day was absolutely majestical!
90km in we stop for a lunch break in the Hutt (Around 1pm!). WE ahve a nice talk with the DOC volunteer, she even gets us some hot tea! I indulge myself with RADIX yummy stuff! Just before lunch we passed a group of people (already drunk!) heading into the Hut, to be fair this river must be a bit boring if you are paddling it in a slow canoe for 4 days!
But for one day the scenery is stunning, I find it more beautiful that the Rangitekei valley - this is where the majority of Coast2Coast training is happening for the Wellington based multisport folks.
As they day progresses we are getting more tired..I feel like more stretching and Maciej's shoulder (turned out to have a problem as had a surgery a while back) is giving him grief. He is ok to stay in the boat and just float whereas I don't mind paddling but need to berth every now and then for a stretch.
We met a whole bunch of MTBers at Mangapuna landing - they were waiting for the boat shuttle, this is a place of some good mountain biking. We were tempted to go to Bridge of Nowhere but in the end decided it wll be a paddling only day.
FKT - we had this aspirational goal of trying to do this under 12 hours as this is the only Fast Known Time we could find only and before the lunch we were doing great (thanks to fast moving water!). However after lunch with forced stops our pace dropped, however our moving time was 12 hours and overall time was just slightly over 14:30.
Another long stop at Tīeke Kāinga, near a beautiful Marae. Only 21km left to go but it felt like eternity( took us 2:30 for this last stretch including stops!).
It was a bity funny how on the last section of the gorge the jet boat which was going back and forward shuttling bikers was asking us if we knew what we are doing and if needed a ride, accommodation. The guy was definitely trying to sell his services :)
With 10km to go the biggest rapids yet to come but with so much water they don't seem to be a problem!
Finally we see Pipiriki and the sign 1km to go! We made it before dark! While we change and pack I put my camping gas on to boil some tea straight from the Whanganui river. A true spirited adventure through time!.
PS. The list of the great walks - some more adventures coming, I'm sure!
- Lake Waikaremoana, 46km: RUN in a day
- Tongariro Northern Circuit, 43km: RUN in a day
- Whanganui Journey, 145km: KAYAK in a day
- Abel Tasman Coast Track, 60km
- Heaphy Track, 78km: BIKE, 3 days
- Paparoa Track, 55km
- Routeburn Track, 32km: HIKE
- Kepler Track, 60km: HIKE
- Milford Track, 53km
- Rakiura Track, 32km
- BONUS
- Old Ghost Road : 84km Run in a day
- Queen Charlotte Track: 70km Bike in two days.