The Mighty Whanganui
Easter 200614 happy campers
18 university degrees
13 paddles
7 canoes
3 days on the Whanganui River
2 German scientists
1 taniwha (or possibly a hippo)
Route Map
Helpful tip #1: The river is close to the central plateau and in April, it's COLD... so take extra clothes or extra boys to keep you warm.
Me on the river
John and Richard fell out of the canoe on the first day. It was possibly THE calmest, most obstacle free part of the river. At a lack of how to explain why they were swimming and their canoe was still up right they came up with the plausible excuse that it was a hippo! ... until we discovered that hippos can't float (yes that's a fact!) so they decided it must have been a taniwha (may be he didn't like John's rendition of "Te Waka" - which involved John repeating Te Waka and wacking his boat with the paddle - I personally loved it ;0)