Start – Jerusalem (St Joseph’s Convent)
Finish – Hipango Park
Daily Distance – 53 km
TA Distance – 1377 km
My last full day on the Whanganui river. I hope to reach town by lunchtime tomorrow in order to have
time to run errands (and watch the new Star Wars film!) in town before continuing the walk on Monday.
Wanting to arrive in town at a reasonable time is why today was a long push to cover as much ground as
possible. 10 hours of paddling was a tough, but achievable, target. The effort was aided greatly by large
quantities of cheese, coffee and my luxury item for the trip, Wild Turkey whiskey. These items may help
to explain why I have been in such a contemplative mood today. The river here is all but devoid of human
traffic, leaving the gentle splashing of paddles and singing of birds as the only sounds breaking the
companionable silence. A final day of appreciating the water’s mirror shine in the morning light and how
each stroke of the paddle creates a tiny whirlpool that in turn slowly fades away. The towering stone
walls, which have for so long been in attendance are now gone. Diminished to lightly forested hills with
goats and sheep shyly standing guardian on the banks. The rapids, which were such a feature of our
earlier days have all but passed now, the current grown slack with our proximity to the sea. Tomorrow
marks the final hours to our destination. As always, I am excited for the next new trail, but shall
nonetheless be sad to leave the river. I have greatly enjoyed the serenity, beauty and companionship of
this part of my journey.
I had no desire to travel faster. In this way, there was time to notice things – a grasshopper under
a bush, a dead swallow on the ground, the tracks of a hare, a bird’s nest, the shape and colour of
ripples on the sand, the bloom of tiny seedlings pushing through the soil. There was time to collect
a plant or to look at a rock. The very slowness of our march diminished its monotony. I thought
how terribly boring it would be to rush about this country in a car.
Sir Wilfred Thesiger, Arabian Sands
