An ANZAC Cruise on the Whanganui River

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An ANZAC Cruise on the Whanganui River Marilyn Duffy ANZAC Weekend 1997 saw a group of happy punters heading north. After a night at Raurimu, the group headed to Plateau Guides to transfer gear into waterproof barrels. Last minute paddling instruction Wayne Stevens hel logistics for this weekend were unbelievable. At As evening approached we considered our likely campleast 3 parties i.e. cyclists, trampers and canoeists site. The large group we had met at thel launch point had were using 4 different vehicles and 6 different already indicated they would be staying at John Coull roadends. The much revised Plan of Operations was a Hut and we were mindful of the fact that it was a smalltrue work of art and caused Transport Officer, Roger ish hut with limited camping. We opted to stop at Bolam, a few headaches. No problem, once we were Kaiwaka, which was not the most attractive campsite, under way. Our group of12, plus the Plateau Guide's but proved satisfactory. driver, towed our now heavily-laden trailer safely to the river at Whakahoro. The triple dog-leg track down a The weather had been deteriorating all afternoon with steep, wet clay track, dodging trees, other canoeists, occasional showers of rain, and as we were cooking, washouts and boulders proved no barrier to Roger, who down came the rain. Unbelievably heavy rain nearly flatimpressed us with some very (lucky?) skilful driving. We tened one fly and only some determined drainage work found paddling partners, chose our favourite colour craft, saved the others from swamping; such are the joys of and loaded up. And so the voyage began... outdoor living. The next day was clearer, and we enjoyed seeing the river at its magical best. The pack-up seemed By now it was 11.30 and after brief instruction on how to take forever. One pair of intrepid paddlers lost their not to fall out in the swift bits, we set off to try not to canoe! How one can lose a bright orange boat, 6 metres fall out at all. The weather was kind and SO was the river. long on a shingle beach was beyond most of us, but ap- No-one fell out and we paddled until we found a suit- parently itl had changed colour in the night and confused able beach for a lunch stop. The group melded and its crew. Eventually day two of the adventure began. mingled, as groups do, and the usual tales (some true, some tall) emerged. Jeanine and Wayne (who were This stretch of river was beautiful and with it being riding round-up in their high-speed sea kayaks) had slightly swollen from the rain of the previous day, our paddled the river before, as had Roger, who had partici- progress was faster and we were more relaxed about patedi in an earlier Club trip. Their knowledge and skills breaks and photo-stops. There was plenty of material for proved invaluable. the photographers amongst us. The bush varied from Tramping and Mountaineering 1997 goat-nibbled blackberry to gloriously coloured banks of mosses and ferns, with towering beech, rimu and tree ferns as a backdrop. As we progressed downstream we explored a number of nooks and crannies. Deep clefts in the rock hid secret waterfalls and dark moss-filled caves. Some skill was required to navigate into these; going in was easy, backing out had its moments. The flotilla spread and merged throughout the day, the front runners being the craft where BOTH crew members paddled. Rafting-up under the Red Ensign Wayne Stevens My skipper, resplendent in a full set of sailing storm gear and leather akubra hat, proudly flew his Red Ensign very wet angry crew member/trip leader who had a lot flag and steered (not paddled) our craft, as needed. of bailing to do. Not Roger this time, but Chris, who had been taking lessons in mischief-making. The advantage in being at the back of the craft is that the hard-working crew member at thet front does not realise Wel had heard horror stories about the rapids on the apthat they are paddling solo. My: skipper took full advan- proach to Pipiriki. The tales became more extravagant as tage of this and enjoyed a leisurely weekend. we approached our exit point. Before we knew it, the voyage was over. No-one capsized and apart from mi- Lunch on Sunday saw us making the precarious landing nor deviations from the ideal route, there were no naviat Mangapurua Landing and going to explore the Bridge gational whoopsies. We arrived on dry land at Pipiriki as to Nowhere. By late afternoon we reached our campsite. it began to rain again. After considerable discussion we had decided to stay at the Tieke Marae. Previously a DOC hut, this piece of We watched with amusement as various trampers land was occupied by local Maori who claimed owner- straggled in, very wet and cold. One distinct advantage ship. After a period of turmoil, a compromise was of travelling by canoe is you can carry large amounts of reached and visitors could stay, but must observe Maori gear, and weight is not a problem. As a result we had protocol. This meant waiting to be greeted formally onto plenty of fuel and other liquids that would not normally the marae, involving a challenge, waiata, and giving of go tramping. koha, for which we had come prepared. Our group comfortably completed the recommended In our party of 12, six were non-Kiwi and only a hand- four-day trip in three days. As leader, I was grateful to ful had ever been onto a marae before. It was an inter- the "strong blokes" who came along, as the canoes esting experience for all, as we shared an evening with proved heavy to handle on dry land, and needed to be several Germans and the dozen or so residents. hauled lupsteep slippery banks for safe beaching. Participants did not necessarily need to be experienced pad- Monday saw us up bright and early, packed and under dlers, though a good standard of fitness was needed as way in good time. Mysteriously the Red Ensign had bur- the days were longish and the weather proved testing at ied itself in the mud overnight. Wei ignored this slight on times. Our journey took us through some stunningly our patriotic intentions and focused on getting afloat beautiful country, otherwise inaccessible unless in a without tipping in. boat. A highly recommended trip. Monday's stretch of river was the most beautiful we had The happy punters were: Wayne Stevens and Jeanine seen. Thei towering pumice cliffs trapped pockets of mist, Langvik (the round-up crew), Chris and Max Salisbury and where the sun filtered through the high cloud, it (both ex UK and determined to see as much of NZ as turned the multitude of waterfalls into rainbows. Not all possible), Jan Goodwin, John Collier, Steve Sherwood (ex the waterfalls were small. One was quite large, set in a USA), Andrew Sheldon (ex UK, Roger Bolam, Belinda very tempting little cove in the rock wall. My skipper Henderson, and Marilyn Duffy = leader and scribe by decided to take a closer look and the end result was a default (again). Tramping and Mountaineering 1997