![Thru-canoer at the start of the Whanganui "Great Walk" at Wade's Landing in Wahahoro.](https://blissfulhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/img_4474-1.jpg)
Waking up was with complaining sheep and the thwap-thwap of techno pop meaning only one thing – sheep sheering. It’s weird to have so much time before I have to move. The canoes will be here in an hour or so. My tent dries on a fence post.
My friends from Taumaranui canoe hire arrive and have us unpack our carefully packed gear and repack it in barrels. It’s all a bit of a drama as we hurriedly reorganize then get another briefing and small canoe lesson in the thick mud at the launch.
![I paid for a bunk, but preferred the quiet and privacy of the alicoop in Whakahoro.](https://blissfulhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/img_4468-1.jpg)
![Wild boars were introduced to New Zealand by Europeans. They tear up the bush, but make for good hunting and eating.](https://blissfulhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/img_4469-1.jpg)
![Packing our barrels and getting a briefing from our friends at Taumaranui Canoe Hire before setting off.](https://blissfulhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/img_4470-1.jpg)
The Whaganui River is considered one of New Zealand’s ‘great walks.’ It is protected and filled with tourists, so a different feel for us long distance walkers used to isolated trails, not to mention how odd it feels sitting rather than walking.
It’s also a river with rapids and I’m lucky to have Andrew as our canoe captain. He turned 24 yesterday (nearly exactly 30 years younger than me) and is delightful – and a reasonably skilled paddler.
Apparently one in three flip and we leave it to the Croatians, with Bojan a competitive white water rafter, to be the first to tip. They are taking the rapids square on, but we did too, bumping and splashing into the V and only spinning sideways once but managing to correct.
![The barrels mostly contain gear, but one is set aside just for beer.](https://blissfulhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/img_4471.jpg)
![Bojan, Andrew, Alexis, David, Alison and Marko at least pretending to know what they're doing before setting off.](https://blissfulhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/img_4472.jpg)
The river is magical. Muddy, but still cool and refreshing shooting through a gorge of bush, steep walls plastered with ferns followed by deep crevices worked over time by water and now filled with noisy, but often hidden, waterfalls.
Andrew and I talk about everything from family to movies to work. He also felt a bad vibe with the other group of hikers and yet is so filled with equanimity even as a young man – “People are going to be jerks and I just don’t let them ruin my experience.” I am so glad to paddle with a guy wh just like me, asked for time off from a job he loves and wants to walk it all.
![Posing at a little break spot.](https://blissfulhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/img_4476.jpg)
![Cliffs and waterfalls surrounded us as we paddled down this magnificent river.](https://blissfulhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/img_4477.jpg)
![We were not supposed to drink and paddle, but who was going to stop us?](https://blissfulhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/img_4475.jpg)
![One of thousands of secret streams joining the Whanganui.](https://blissfulhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/img_4478.jpg)
I reserved a bunk, but the hut feels like a scene from Oliver, so I set my tent with the others, eat too much and catch a breeze by the river looking for pekapeka – a bat and the only native mammal to New Zealand – before turning in early. We get a flurry of cackling swallows dive bombing our perch before the last of the twilight and three bats flutter in and out of our view, stuttering as they catch a meal mid-flight.
Now the last of the paddlers begin to turn in and the bush night volume turns up. I am so warm, I leave the door open for maybe a peak at the stars. Til tomorrow back on the river.
![Again, I chose to camp outside rather than stay in the crowded and loud bunk house. We saw rare lesser short-tailed bats flying above us that night.](https://blissfulhiker.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/img_4479-1.jpg)
7 Responses
you are making our coming journey to NZ very real…keep sending those photos and stories….perhaps we can meet in April before we head to Borneo on 4/16
will be on South Island til April 4!
Before I forget, I wrote my Hamline University thesis on middle-aged women travellers. So we are kindred spirits.
Glad you have beer after canoeing!
wow!! I feel good!
Love the cluster of little tents and photos of you in kayaking gear!
Lovely update! Godspeed!
🐥👣🎒