Whanganui River - 28th Nov

Today we'd booked ourselves on a river trip on the Whanganui River. The minibus picked us and another English couple up at 9am and we were driven for 40 minutes down a steep road to Pipiriki. This village had no supermarket, pub or school and people's only contact with the outside world was to drive this steep road or an equally windy road along the river. The only reason the village still survived was because of the boat trips on the river.

At Pipiriki we met our guide for the day, Ken. The first part of the trip was a jet boat for 50 minutes up the river with Ken intermittently stopping to tell us about the history of the river and its importance in the past as a route for shepherding animals and people through the country.

After 50 minutes we docked and went on a 40 minute walk to the 'Bridge to Nowhere'.

In the 1930s farmers tried to farm on the plateau of land above the river and a road through the gorge and a bridge across the river were built. However after a major flood in 1942 the road was washed away and the bridge was cut off. The 3 remaining families in the area were ordered out and the valley became officially closed until tourism returned to the river some decades later.

We had the typical photos taken of us at the 'Bridge to Nowhere' and stopped for lunch. As with what appears to be obligatory with all NZ trips tea, coffee and biscuits were provided which poor Ken had lugged in a backpack for 40 mins up the hill.

We then got back in the jet boat and headed back down the river for 20 minutes to our canoes. It was a relief to me that Andy had canoed before and knew what he was doing as the other couple hadn't a clue and capsized minutes within getting in the water.

Andy and I succeeded past the first set of rapids. Ken told us with the next set there was a 50:50 chance we'd make it through and I thought we were...until we capsized. Fortunately the water wasn't too cold so we got back in the boat. We continued for 2 hours down the river and finally made it to the final set of rapids before the jetty and an awaiting Ken. Anyway we managed to approach these rapids in complete the wrong direction and capsized right in front of Ken who had to jump in his boat and come and rescue us.

Before



After

We then got back to base to change our clothes before getting a lift back to the B&B.

We got back about 7pm and bought pizza and salad from the supermarket and ate it on a bench. We then headed back to the B&B and had a shower before heading downstairs to have a chat with our fellow guests.