The weekend of 18/19th May a merry team of 6 VUCCers headed north in search of water. The group was Nick, Duncan, Timon, Garth, Glyn & Lisa. We arrived in Ohakune late Friday night and most of the team retired to a backpakers while Glyn & I saved a few bob by camping at the Shiteau (a five star luxury facility just out of Ohakune).
Everyone leapt eagerly out of bed at the crack of dawn (not!) and by 10.30am (after a few games of pool) we were off to the Manganui-o-te-Ao. On Timon's advice we put in a bit higher than usual, following a faint track down a steep bank to the river. The river was quite bony and we had to react quickly to avoid hitting rocks. There were a lot of short steep rapids which would be heaps of fun with a bit more water. Several places down the run we saw whio (blue ducks) playing in the rapids. It was a very pretty run with the bellbirds singing and the sun shining.
Near the end of the run I took a bad line down a bony rapid, and pinned solidly at the bottom of the drop. The boat was angled steeply with the nose jammed firmly into a vee of rock, and the water pushing down on my back. I had plenty of air though so I signaled the others (only a few meters below in an eddy) to tell them I was OK. Timon paddled up from below and we both a go at pushing it clear. The water falling from above had popped the deck and it was obvious that it was not going anywhere with me in it.
On the way in Duncan had been telling me about some trouble they had had on a previous Manganui-o-te-Ao run. A boat had been pinned and it took them 2 hours before they managed to get a line to it and tow it off (by running a line up to the road above and towing it off with the car). I was not keen to see a repeat of this so I waved at Glyn to chuck me his throwrope and felt around under the water to clove hitch it to the rear grab loop. I then stood up in the seat, grabbed the top grab loop and pulled the boat after me as I jumped clear.
We finished the run with no more incidents. Glyn and Garth (both new to kayaking this year) did very well and Glyn was very happy with his first run in his new Blitz. My blitz now had a nice ding in the front to remind me not to get careless.
Saturday night we enjoyed a gourmet meal at the backpackers, then soaked in the hot pools with a large and noisy group of trampers from the Auckland, Massey and Victoria University clubs. Our boys were not to be outdone, and (with the help of some alcoholic encouragement) they competed with the trampers in various rock climbing manouvers up the railings above the pool.
Sunday we headed back up the desert road to the Waihohonu river. This is a short steep run down a little spring-fed stream, finishing where the water disappears into pipes diverting it into the Tongariro river at the Rangipo dam. There was a bitter cold wind blowing off Ruapehu at the put in, but fortunately the wind did not reach into the narrow Waihohonu gorge.
On the river we soon started down a series of long rapids interspersed with pools and plenty of eddies. We took it carefully as there had been a log jam in the upper section last time the VUCC team had been down. Timon and Nick took the lead and we followed one by one down the longer rapids. Garth's eddy catching was first class and my skills were severely tested trying to follow his line. Glyn was looking rather wide-eyed but he coped fine with the harder rapids. I found the run more challenging than I had expected, and the steeper sections reminded me a bit of the upper Glenroy. We did not see the river-wide log jam that had been there last time (although there were a few places where we had to carefully pick a line around trees in the river).
We took out on river left to portage a tight gorge in the middle of the run. Duncan, Timon and Nick stood by to help us catch the small eddy above the first drop. The portage was a steep scramble up and down a muddy track through the bush, finishing with a delicate traverse across mossy rocks above the rapids. Duncan and Timon did a wild sideways seal launch into the end of the tight gorge, while some of us opted for the safer seal launch slightly lower down. Even so I had to do a quick back-paddle when I hit the water to avoid hitting the canyon wall and putting a second ding in the front of my poor blitz.
The lower section was easier, but with a few logs and branches to keep us alert. The highlight of the run was a deep cave lined with hanging ferns and a small waterfall pouring from a crack in the roof. Above the cave a side stream entered the Waihohonu as a curtain of water pouring out of the rock. The water was cold and blue and crystal clear.
We arrived at the takeout in time for a late lunch. To finish the day we drove down the Rangipo dam where the Waihohonu is piped into the Tongariro river, and the boys played pooh-sticks (or pooh-logs and pooh-rocks) at the outflow into the lake. Then back to Taihape for a hot chocolate and an early return to Wellington. Two new rivers with a really solid group of paddlers. Thanks guys for a great trip.
Lisa L-J