One of the things that was on my list of things to do was a three-day canoe trip on the Whanganui River. The canoe trip is the only one of New Zealand's "Great Walks" which is not an actual hike but rather a canoe or kayak trip. It's a unique trip because while you are out on the river you are out in the middle of nowhere and don't see any other signs of civilization. It took us two hours to get to the place where we put the canoe in and two hours to drive back to our hostel three days later after we finished our trip. The only way to reach help while on the river is by jet boat or helicopter communicating with some kind of satellite phone.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to do the trip the exact days we wanted to due to the weather. It down poured for two days straight and the river was too high to safely navigate. We had to wait an additional day for the levels to drop until the canoe company, Wades Landing, would let us give it a go. The night before we left they gave us six waterproof barrels, campsite reservations for our two nights spent on the river and a map pointing out some of the more intimidating rapids. Considering that the last time Sean and I went canoeing we failed miserably and had a huge tip over, the bar wasn't set all that high.

The condition of the river made me feel a little nervous. The level was just under that of the allowable height and the guide who dropped us off warned us about extremely strong currents, fast speeds of the river, floating debris and and plenty of whitewater. He showed us how to get down on our knees low in the canoe if we ever felt like we were going to tip. He also showed us how to tie in all of the barrels so in the event of a spill we wouldn't lose anything. As we strapped on our life jackets we were close to calling the whole thing off as we saw the brown rushing mass that was the river coming off two days of flooded conditions. It wasn't ideal - usually the river is a beautiful green color and is a mild and relaxing journey. But since this was going to be our only chance to do the trip we decided to go for it.

About five minutes in, we hit our first patch of white water and quickly realized that canoes are in no way made for rough waters. We had a near tip over and a big reality check. Other low points in the day included a rainstorm, heavy winds and scary whirlpools that easily sucked our canoe in. We had several moments of "Why are we doing this again?"

We made it to our campsite plenty early because of the strong current and miraculously hadn't tipped though there were several close calls. Sean and I are by no means experienced canoeists. Fortunately, the weather cleared up and the sun was shining once again as we set up camp and made dinner. We hoped that during the night the water levels would continue to go down to yield and more relaxing ride the following day.

 

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