A Dangerous Business

Date: 22nd December 2023

Start: Flying Fox (km 1313.9)

End: Hipango Park (km 1347)

Distance Travelled: 33.1 km

Total Distance Completed: 1301 km

Song Currently Stuck in Head: Last Christmas by Wham!

Headwinds, What Are They Good For: absolutely nothing (except helping planes take-off)

I’m probably going to say this a few more times throughout this and tomorrow’s post: I’m glad to have gotten a break from all the hiking, but I’m also glad that I only have to paddle for 5 days total. The river has been beautiful, but it’s hard work, more so than carrying a pack all day.

So what does today’s paddle have in store? The lower reaches of the Whanganui aren’t in national park so I’m expecting to see more farmland and the animals that call it home, more sounds of civilisation, and less native wilderness. Still very pretty and still very isolated from the rest of the country.

Our prayers for the hill we were on becoming much less high sadly went unanswered, so we all had another morning of lugging our barrels down to the river, casting off a bit later than the last couple of days due to the lower distance we needed to cover. With the river becoming less intense, the vibe in the group was that were wasn’t as great a need to roughly stick together, so everyone left as they pleased. Nil and I were the third last boat to depart, with Team Camera and their respective partners staying behind a bit longer. For the most part, Nil and I were alone. The boats ahead of us were faster than us and the two behind us never caught up surprisingly. Combined with the still river and that neither of us are particularly chatty, the morning was rather quiet, the only interruptions coming from various birds in the area.

One of the downsides to this is we couldn’t deduce when the group ahead was planning on taking a break. For the most part, they didn’t take many, which didn’t bode well for me as I began to tire nearing on two hours of paddling. So, I made the call, pulling over to the shore where I was joined by Team Camera a few minutes later.

I really don’t have a lot to write about for today. The rapids were few and far between, nor were they particularly strong. All we could do was paddle, my mind struggling to come up with distractions to keep me entertained. Even the prettiest views risk becoming boring if you stare at them for too long which was what was happening here. For four days now I had been looking at a dark blue river with rock walls and tree-lined cliffs on either side. This wasn’t helped by the semi-regular headwind gusts that would come rushing up the river to greet us with open arms that none of us felt like embracing. They just make everything harder, good for nothing except annoying people trying to get places.

Since leaving Ngaporo the river hasn’t done that much meandering, sticking to a relatively southerly course with a few turns along the way. That all changed with a few kilometres to go, with a sharp right turn to now take us north. Spotting the bends is pretty easy, particularly when the river is lined with steep banks covered in pine trees.

This close to the sea the river starts being affected by tides, although we couldn’t really make out whether we were at hugh or low tide Just by looking at the water around us. For that we needed something else to compare the water level to. How about a jetty marking tonight’s campsite at Hipango Park? Yeah, that should do.

Judging by the height we were at below the lowest level, we must be been close to low tide, although it did seem to be rising. How can we tell? Well one of the canoes that had arrived earlier had somehow made it’s way underneath a set of stairs to help people like us get onto dry land and was ow properly wedged. This was a really big problem. Assuming we weren’t anywhere close to high tide, there was a risk that as the water continues to rise the canoe will be crushed. Matt and Sean therefore proceeded to try and get the canoe to a safer place. It was far from easy, and they eventually had to resort to filling the boat with water in order to get it low enough to free it, in the process snapping one of the wooden beams used to tie the barrels to. All the while I had been untying and getting barrels onto the jetty, with Flo hoisting me up once that was done. As I step foot on terra firma, I hear a commotion behind me and saw Sean was now in the water. I can’t remember exactly what caused it, I’m assuming some issue in getting back to his own canoe.

The campsite was set up near an old pa site and was pretty basic (granted it was free) with a if paddock to pitch in, composting toilets, and a shelter if we should need it. Tonight was all about leftovers: eating whatever was left in your barrel. I, maybe thankfully, didn’t bring nearly as much food as others so I didn’t have much to get through. My cough didn’t help things and it seems to be deteriorating a bit. Despite a general feeling of weariness, most were still in good spirits. Tomorrow should be nice and chill, only 20 km left to go. Then it’s back to the roads, although not for me.