WHANGANUI – NATIONAL PARK VILLAGE
Section Distance = 171.5 km
Total Distance = 450 km
This section was completed in two parts due to the river levels on the Whanganui River delaying paddling, but I am going to put them both in this blog to save confusion over all the flip flopping I had to do 😅
Leaving Te Whare Kereru and heading north again! I changed out the hiking boots for joggers to try to give my feet some more cushioning on the next road leg along the Whanganui River Road.
Some of the highlights were the stunning river views, concretia balls (and the circular depressions where they have fallen out of the cliff walls) and entering the Whanganui National Park!!!
The weather had been less than ideal (thunderstorms and heavy rain) which unfortunately raised the river levels to a point where it was unsafe to paddle as planned once I reached Pipiriki…initiate plan b, or c, or g, whichever plan I am up to now 🤦♀️🤣🌧
But a couple of rest days exploring the area and a change of hiking direction (see blog 5 Taumarunui to National Park Village) brought me back to the river!
Taranaki Falls 
Gollum’s Pool
Time to paddle!!! 🛶☀️😀
I teamed up with fellow TA hiker Andrew for the 3 day journey from Whakahoro camp back to Pipiriki.
There was quite a bit of debris along the river banks from the flooding last week but the weather was warm and sunny 🌞 the rapids small and the scenery stunning!!!
As we paddled through the chasm with towering cliff walls rising on either side, covered with native bush all that could be heard was the sound of the paddles in the water and birdsong. It really gave a sense of being ‘out of time’ and I was waiting for a moa to come walking out of the ferns.
Day two brought us to the bridge to nowhere. Originally built to assist the families living and farming the area to cross a steep gully, it now receives more annual visitors than the total number of people it was built for!
Jetboats do daily trips up and down the river to this iconic landmark and after being overtaken by 3 of them (going just a tad faster than us 🚤🚤🚤) we arrived just in time for lunch.
Our last day on the river was a combination of still calm water and our largest rapids yet!!!
And although we succeeded in our goal of not falling out of the canoe, the river at one point did fall into it…in the form of a 1m high wall of water straight to my face! (I wish I had a video of this 🤣 but the camera was tucked securely in a dry bag for obvious reasons)
There were several large caves on the last stretch which I of coarse had to explore 😃
Some hard paddling and lots of bailing later we glided into Pipiriki.
This section has been one of my favorite so far (I’m going to day that a lot over the course of my TA journey I’m sure) but floating down the river really feels like a world away.
Next stop Wellington for Tararua Ranges round 2 and heading south!!!
The Adventures of Tiny_Tramper 