11. Tieke Kainga – Pipiriki (WRJ 6) – Ohakune

Tuesday, February 19: A little cloudy to begin with, becoming fine & hot again, with a few clouds reappearing towards evening

Kayaking: 22.6 km

Arawa Lodge

There really was no great rush for people to get up this morning, but all of them were faster than I was. All of the eggs, salami, crackers, coffee and sugar had been used up, the muesli bars were to follow for lunch. Lent some string to Ines so that she could attach her glasses to something (she had lost one of her contacts), and the string was returned later in the day. I had all of my stuff packed up so that I required only one trip to the boat, and exchanged a word or two with Boyd about my upcoming hike of the Matemateoanga for which he offered me to stay the night @ Tieke. Will try.

I had tried recharging the “dead” batteries with what was left on the powerbank and hoped I had enough power for today, even though they weren’t full. Today’s plan was to get as far as Ngaporo and see what the final rapids might do to the gimbal, have a break there and decide about further deployment.

And off I was, as the last. Still very impressive countryside and with today’s blue sky peeping through earlier than ever the spirit of the Whanganui River Journey was on full display. One waterfall provided a shower into the river and light & shade were everywhere. I caught up with the French lady who was second last to leave & we were at the Ngaporo rapids after a very long flat stretch. I got drenched in the first of the sequence and pulled over to stop the camera and take the batteries out of the gimbal & dismount it, but apparently one more smaller rapid was necessary before the campsite could be reached. Donned my stuff again and went back up the river a little into the mouth of the rapid and once through it parked for a longer break.

Some water had splashed onto the gimbal which necessitated the precautionary measures of trying to dry it and removing the batteries, but nothing had gotten very wet. In any case it was video from a fixed point from now on. I had the rest of the muesli bars and went up to the campsite (spectacular views, possibly even better than Mangapapa) and liberally shot the landscape with the SX160 which was otherwise under deck in the backpack. Manfred, Petra, and Ines moved off just before me and again I was last on the track.

As I’ve said from now on it was video, but I had no idea how long it was going to shoot for (I had some idea that CHDK allowed a longer time than the camera would normally shoot, but how long?) Anyway, the pictures didn’t appear to be all that bad, except for a splash of water on the lens which I eventually removed.

Fairly soon the final rapids were reached. At the first, Manfred and Petra were dislodged from their Canadian – short stop to see that they were OK, which they were. Camera had stopped here and was restarted. Have to see what’s on it! These rapids are very intense and very wet, and require a quick wit about how to proceed with a vengeance. Passed the rock with the kayak stuck on it and managed to turn before it, but got caught sideways on the rapid that sank Manfred & Petra. Two down & two to go.

By now pine plantations make an appearance, which marks the proper end of the National Park. I absolved the next rapids with baptism and a message from Petra that it was 13:40. Ten minutes later Pipiriki with its sign for the final kilometre turned up with the ultimate set of rapids and the slip.

Was a little surprised by the arrival of Svenja as I was about to wash my life jacket and spray skirt in the river. Did it anyhow, had already unpacked the backpack to dry but had forgotten to stop the GPS which ran for a little while as we returned to Ohakune. Nice conversation with Svenja, the view of the three volcanoes we let pass, but for the record it is about ⅓ of the way to Ohakune. Back in town the boat was dragged into the garage where everything was unpacked, then repacked into the (soaking) backpacks, the spot tracker was returned, and away I was on foot – despite Svenja’s offer of a lift – to Awaroa.

Interactive Map

Was surprised here by the appearance of another little girl, this time a cousin of the first one and was greeted by her mum, Jessica.

Plan went into action: 1. Distribute the wet stuff on the deck to dry; 2. Find towel, strip off, collect washing, shower; 3. Jo offered to have a load washed in her washing machine, so that was set going; and 4. Go shopping – look around for sunglasses, buy fruit, fruit juice, beer. Back here the washing was still in progress, so the cards were read out and transferred to the external HD. Will have to use a directory on the laptop as a security copy. This took quite some time and meanwhile Jo had invited me to dinner here, which I had to decline, but which she carried through with two screaming grand daughters, and it was over only when all of my cards had been secured. Then it was off to try to find lamb shanks, for which I had the Cypress Tree in mind.

Trendy restaurant. My choice of lamb pappadelle was more of a lamb stew with tomatoes, spinach and two dollops of mint sauce and sour cream. Together with a Tuatara pilsener for $38.5. Can’t really recommend it except for the unhindered view of Ruapehu, especially from the back tables.

On the way out was greeted at the Italian restaurant Osteria by a German couple who opted to stay in their tent last night at Tieke, then I was off to the supermarket for a bottle of lemonade & a bar of Whittaker’s Hokey Pokey. The rest of the evening was diary writing, looking to see if Rayna was on Skype & general debauchery.

Today’s kayaking timetable: