Start – Taumarunui (Canoe hire company)
Finish – Ohinepane campsite
Daily Distance – 21 km
TA Distance – Off-trail
At last! Day 1 on the Whanganui river. It’s an odd thing that one of my most eagerly awaited parts of this
walk is the part where I don’t actually walk anywhere. I do love kayaking though and have been
considering taking a break from walking for my next long trip and embarking on a river or coastal paddle.
No doubt after 7 days on the river my legs will be recharged and raring to continue the walk though.
A quick aside while I think. The “TA Distance” covered won’t be increasing for the next day or two
because I have joined the river farther North than the official TA route. It is logistically far simpler and
significantly cheaper to set out from Taumarunui, rather than farther downstream as the official route
dictates. The other benefit of this approach is that the majority of the rapids are just south of Taumarunui,
so are bypassed by the TA route. Having not had the chance to do any white water canoeing before I have
been looking forward to trying it out.
That brings me nicely to the first game of the river so far; the capsizing leaderboard. It’s really rather
simple. 1 point is awarded for each incident of being hurled bodily from the boat and splashing
unceremoniously into the water. Naturally, unless you like drinking river water and spending 10 minutes
bailing out your boat with a milk jug, a low score is preferable. The current leaderboard is headed up by
the unconquerable team of Jasper/Marjon with a perfect unblemished record. Giving into sour grapes for
a moment though it is worth noting that they cunningly used Chris and I as a guinea pig on some of the
more dubious looking rapids, just saying. Slinking in with a share of last place is Mark/Austin and Chris/I
with 1 unplanned swim each. Both incidents were amusing and heroic at the same time. Mark and Austin
somehow both surfaced with hats and sunglasses still in place and the all important beer supply
unmoistened. I had the task of frantically trying to hold the canoe, my paddle and rescue Chris’ hiking
boots, which were making a bid for freedom. In an admirable adherence to the “Leave no trace”
principles, he was endeavouring to recapture his empty beer bottle while this struggle was playing out.
Unfortunately, because of all the white water frolics, there were no good opportunities to take photos
today. My camera has narrowly avoided death by river water once this trip, so I’m a little reluctant to risk
it again. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little calmer and I can get some good shots.
