BreeSTAR Deluxe: April 2006

Thursday, April 20, 2006

The Mighty Whanganui

Easter 2006
14 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)

Misty morning (mystical even?)

John bales out the canoe while Richard &
Adrian pose as Japanese school girls. Peace.

Helpful tip b: Make sure you have enough rope before you head out! Otherwise you have to tie all your canoes together and then tie the front one to the shore. Which doesn't inspire confidence on the long walk to the bridge to nowhere.

Me climbing up the single rope holding our canoes to the shore

Helpful Tip iii: If you're planning on making a fire take some fire-starters. We were burning our safety instruction sheets and worst of all the directions to the pub!!!