Hukapapa

Day 1
6am start for the canoe trip so we were up at 5.20 to drive to the start. Looks like most people are not on time, so the lady was pleasantly surprised we were there. Got a nice bit of home made honey and toast and a cup of tea, followed by a safety briefing. Which basically said it is quite likely that you will fall out of the Canadian style canoe.
We packed our belongings for 3 days, plus hired camping stuff, into 6 waterproof barrels and we loaded into a bus to be taken to where we would join the river.
An hour an a half later we were at the start. The Wanganui river goes all the way to the coast but we opted for the 3 day 2 night version. We were first ready and after a brief check that we knew what we were doing we were off.
Glorious sunshine, some fun grade 2 rapids and an amazing steep sided tropical valley.
Did some paddling, a lot of sitting and watching the fern trees and tropical jungle float by.
Had lunch whilst floating and about 4pm landed at the first Department of Conservation camp site. A charming couple were there to greet us. It is only accessible by jet boat and they are there volunteering for a week, before the next set of people take over.
Met a few people as they paddled in in drips and drabs. Almost all of them were walking the length of NZ, from the north to the south. One lady was running it! Doing a marathon a day. Mental.
With Sand Flies eating every bit of exposed skin even with the 95% deet we retired for the night.

Day 2
Rain on the tent woke us up. Uggghh. We Waited about 30 mins but it still was not stopping so we got up anyway. Most people had left or were already leaving.
We packed up the tent in between showers and got on the river. Had breakfast whilst floating. Made it to a stop off where you can do a 40 min walk to a bridge called Bridge to Nowhere. Nice walk with only a few people on it. At the end a concrete bridge built by 4 guys in a couple of years. Now not very well used.
Back on the river we had a few breaks in the showers so managed to get the drone up. Made you realise how far away from civilisation we were. If you wandered off from the river, you would never be found.
Got down to our private campsite (cheaper than the DOC one, which was fully booked) Full water proofs on, not from the rain but from the sand flies. Nasty bastards.
They had a bar, so walked up the hill to find amazing views and a fridge full of cold beers. Lovely.
Back down to play some cards and chat with some of the others. Having pizza bread dipped in beans. Tssk, ohh sir.

Day 3
On the river by about 7.45am as we needed to be at the pick up point by 1.30.
The guides said that there was some mega rapids on the last day. So was quite looking forward to them. Pretty exciting when we did hit them with the boat 1/4 filling with water. Tempting to run them again, but did a drone whilst others went through to see if there were any capsizers. No luck.
Made it to the pickup point and was greeted by a chocolate muffin. After an hour and a half drive, with views of mount doom, we were reunited with the van. Good little adventure.
Next step, onwards towards the Tongariro crossing.Read more