We paddled down playing on the waves in the few rapids that there were, before we got to the Ngaawapura wave itself. Despite the lower flow, it was hard enough to onto the wave. We played around for a while (with Alice having the most success) before getting out.
We camped at the get out. It was a clear, cold night but lighting a fire was impossible. The wood was wet, the pine needles were damp and we only had a little paper. We did manage to get one going, but it went out after half an hour and proceeded to smoke us out while we cooked tea. After we had eaten, we figured a hot pool would be nicer than sitting around the smoky, smouldering fire (except for Mimi who decided she would rather sleep). We drove to Spa Park in Taupo, but the water was only shin-deep and only Alice and Duncan were keen enough to get in.
On Saturday morning we noticed that the river flow had not dropped as it usually did at the weekend (thanks again, ECNZ!) but we had already planned to move on so we packed up and went to have a look at the Aratiatia rapid just a few minutes drive away. It was pretty spectacular and I found it hard to imagine that anyone would even think of paddling it. We then drove to Taupo to shop for lunch and dinner, then continued on to the Manganui-a-te-ao River near Raetihi. Duncan, Mimi, Jo, Julian and Alice were on the river at 2:45pm. I drove to another get in further down stream, which was the start of an easier section of the river. I was told they would be paddling by to pick me up in about an hour. Two and a half hours later they turned up! Jo and Alice got out at this point which left Julian, Mimi Duncan and I to finish the rest of the river. It was incredibly rocky and the fading light made it very difficult to see the rocks. It took about forty-five minutes to paddle to the get out, which is where we set up camp. This time we were lucky enough to be able to light a fire and sit around it for the evening.
Decisions had to be made as to what river we would do on Sunday. The choices were to do the Manganui-a-te-ao again or drive to the Whangaehu. It was decided that we would do the Whangaehu which would mean having to leave at 8:30am the next morning.
Since joining the VUCC I've discovered that if you add an extra hour on to the planned departure time then you get a more realistic time, but not this morning! We were all packed up and on our way by 8:45am. We stopped in Ohakune for a delicious chocolate éclair (well I thought they were delicious anyway!)
We arrived at the Colliers Bridge get in on the Whangaehu about 11am (wow, paddling in the daylight, what a novelty). Mimi, Alice and Duncan set off to do the shuttle. Unfortunately none of them knew which way to go. 15 minutes later we saw them drive past in the opposite direction! The Whangaehu was one of the harder rivers I have done. It took us about 2 hours to paddle. Luckily it was a really sunny day and we were able to get dry and warm for the drive home.
Then drive home was pretty exciting. The exhaust pipe fell off Alice's car as we were leaving the get out, so we had a noisy trip to Sanson. I switched cars there and Mimi took me to Massey University for the Winter Tourney canoe polo competition. Alice, Julian and Duncan had more fun driving back when one of the wheels on Alice's car nearly fell off. But in the end, everyone made it home safely after a good weekend's canoeing.
Kim.