WANGANUI RIVER: 29 NOVEMBER – 3 DECEMBER
a Maori proverb
E rere kau mai te Āwanui
Mai i te Kāhui maunga ki Tangaroa
Kō au te Āwa, kō te Āwa kō au.
The great river flows
From the mountains to the sea
I am the river, the river is me.
Kick-off on “Fishers Track”
The ‘Mountains to Sea’ was the third of the official NZ cycle trails that we explored. It offers a number of trails with varying degrees of difficulty that can be done in different combinations. We started it with a day ride on the so called “fishers track” leading from the Tongariro National Park down to Whakahoro, on the left bank of the Whanganui river. The trail offered us a long dirt road descent, occasionally padded with soft green grass, passing forests and farmland. After a night on the riverside we hopped into the canoe that we had hired in advance and started our three days paddling adventure.
a different kind of tandem
Being one of the main ‘roads’ for the ancient Maori tribes, the river is a place full of myths and history. We tried desperately to make sense out of the descriptions packed with Maori expressions that our river guide book provided. But quickly the beauty of the seemingly untouched nature around us had caught our full attention. Flowing calmly along high cliffs, ravines and streams, and steering every now and then through fun rapids we enjoyed a lot the occasionally challenging maneuvers in our new vehicle.
The only populated places we passed were the few campgrounds along the riverside providing very basic facilities to stay overnight. On these we met every night the same dozen of people that were on the same mission as us and made friends with a lovely British couple. We had to skip the showers and wash in the Whanganuis freezing water. We had seven watertight barrels with us loaded with our equipment and food. Luckily they contained as well our rain suits as the weather kept on changing constantly from sun to rain.
off-river sightseeing
On the second day at lunch time we got of the canoe and walked the track up to the “Bridge to Nowhere”. This funny concrete bridge in the middle of the jungle is completely disconnected from any infrastructure. A relic of colonial attempts to settle in the area. There is no road that actually leads to it.
The last day we had to paddle hard to advance on the water as the river became wider and slower. Still it was then when we past the most adventurous moments. Both of us ended up involuntarily off board: me when I tried to climb on a rock from the canoe and suddenly slipped, Mihai (who had himself installed comfortably on the canoes top end) when we passed an unexpectedly wild rapid and crashed our boat against a tree trunk.
back on bikes
After arriving in Pipiriki we continued the way down to the coast on our bikes. They had been brought down the river by the guy who picked up the canoes. We passed through tiny little villages with big names like Jerusalem, Athens and London. In search for a place to put our tent we went to the St.Joseph in Jerusalem. One of the two sisters taking care of the the holy place welcomed us with the question “You are coming from France, right?”. We were puzzled. How could she know? She allowed us to put our tent in the convents yard.
Before finally arriving at the end of the trail in Whanganui town, located on the west coast of the North Island, we had to climb one last hill which enabled us a stunning view before saying goodbye to the river who had accompanied us for five days.
PARIS2BERLIN 