Day 58: Cherry Grove to Poukaria Campsite (35 km canoe)

Thursday, January 26

The next six days are about the river trip from Taumarunui to Whanganui. There are 18 people on our trip (including me), so I'll briefly describe them all so you know who they are:

Marjolein - she's the Belgian I've hiked with for a bit, spent Christmas with and who I'm in a canoe with.

Julia - she's a Canadian from St. John, New Brunswick who is walking the trail with Puff Puff. She and Puff Puff hiked the PCT together in 2015.

Puff Puff (Alex) - she's from the UK and in a canoe with Julia. She just finished hiking the PCT before turning around and starting the trail with Julia and Kristen.

Kristen - we walked the Tongariro Crossing together and she's a Canadian from St John, New Brunswick as well. She's in a canoe with Dave.

Creya - I met Creya very briefly in Paihia. She's a freelancer from Taiwan and is sharing a canoe with Sara.

Sara - I just met Sara yesterday but I've been hearing wonderful things about her. She's an engineer and knows so much about everything.

Erinn and Trevor - the awesome Canadian lawyers I started the trail with and walked from Mercer to Hamilton with.

Dave - Dave and Mike are identical twin brothers from Connecticut. Dave is a carpenter and has hiked the PCT and AT. He's planning on hiking the CDT after this.

Mike - Mike has worked as a tour guide and has done a ton of traveling around the world. He's a yogi and super outgoing.

Heather - she's in a canoe with Mike. They met working together and she was visiting New Zealand while we were planning to do the river trip. Fun side fact, she's an identical twin too!

Vicky - a Tasmanian that Puff Puff, Julia and I met in the Pureora Forest Hut. She's traveling the country and joined our river trip. She's in a canoe with Remi.

Remi - we met in the Herekino Forest and in Paihia. He's French and has started biking the country (like the TA, there's a cycle path that spans the whole country).

Gareth - he's an Aussie that's just starting his TA journey with the river. He'll be getting out at Papriki, about halfway though our trip. He's in a kayak.

Nate - he's an American traveling with Chespa and Collin, they're three TA hikers who were leaving Taumarunui the same day as us. He just finished the PCT too. He's in a kayak

Chespa and Collin - they're Americans in a canoe together. I think they and Nate all met walking the PCT before this trail, but I could be wrong about that.

Now for today's blog:

I woke up and started to pack. Marjolein, my canoe buddy, woke up early too because she knew I'd want to get everything packed up nice and early. How considerate!

As we all got our barrels packed, we left our packs with gear we didn't need for the river in the holiday park office for Blazing Paddles to pick up tomorrow.

Blazing Paddles showed up a little after 9 and we helped them load the trailers. They drove us all down the road to Cherry Grove and we unloaded everything. We couldn't believe how much room we had for supplies, so they offered to take some of us to the liquor store for more river refreshments.

We got back, loaded our canoes, listened to a safety briefing and started paddling around 11:30. Marjolein and I were in a canoe named Beatrix. We were warned about a rapid on the river today that could potentially flip our canoes. All we had to do was paddle to the left.

To begin our journey we played and sang along to songs from Moana. That combined with the sunny and warm weather made for a great start to our six day river journey.

After paddling for a bit we began flotilla-ing, which entailed us holding our canoes together so we could all hang out. Usually the people in the outside canoes would steer if needed, but there was enough current in the river to move us forward at a decent pace so we didn't really need to paddle. We went through a few small rapids as a flotilla, but when we got close to the rapid they warned us about we disbanded.

Marjolein and I were following Belinda, Julia and Puff Puff's canoe, into the rapid. We followed them too close to the middle of the rapid, where a rock was. They were sitting sideways in the rapid because of the rock and I couldn't steer us to avoid them and the rock. We went perpendicular to the rapids as well and both of our canoes ended up flipping. Dave and Kristen's canoe was ahead of us, so they tried to help but there wasn't much that could be done. Marjolein and I were able to hold onto our canoe and navigate it to a shoal to flip it.

I had taken my sandals off in the canoe and hadn't fastened them to it so they were gone. So was my water bottle. Julia held onto her and Puff Puff's canoe and Puff Puff swam to the same shoal as Marjolein and I. She had grabbed one of my chacos and one of our paddles. I was so happy to have at least one of them. The other was floating on down the river.

Julia wasn't able to get to the shoal with her canoe before the next rapid, so she swam with it, navigating it through. Dave and Kristen paddled after her with Puff Puff to reunite her with Julia and Belinda. Marjolein and I drained our canoe and followed. Everyone was ok and I was just missing a sandal. I had left my shoes in my pack so I was really bummed not to have a shoe for the rest of the week, but I was still a little hopeful someone would find it since they float.

We all got back in our canoes and paddled for a bit. After an hour or two Marjolein and I saw my water bottle bobbing in the river. We navigated to it and recovered it. A few minutes later we did the same thing to get an empty baby champagne bottle we had lost. But we hadn't seen my sandal. Bummer.

After about fifteen more minutes I heard someone calling my name. Creya and Sara had found my Chaco! I was so happy! If you're not aware, I wear my chacos so much that I have a nearly permanent tan from them on my feet. They're the most comfortable shoes I own and I usually hike and work in them. Not only did this mean I'd have two shoes for the rest of the river trip. It meant I was reunited with my favorite shoes and wouldn't have to wear sneakers on my walk to Wellington (where I have a new pair waiting for me if I need them).

We took a late lunch break at a place called Lavender Fields on the river. They have a coffee shop and a store selling lavender goods. The entire place is surrounded by gorgeous and aromatic purple lavender plants. I've never seen anything like it. I got a coffee and a piece of carrot cake and the rest of our group showed up.

After our nice break we were ready to get back on the river and paddle to the campsite we had booked. The first part of our river trip is a New Zealand Great Walk (yes, it's considered a great walk even though it's on the river). That means all the campsites need booked ahead of time because they don't want the campsites to be overcrowded.

Two of our group members had a little too much to drink and were having trouble navigating in their canoes. Marjolein and I stayed with Heather incase anything happened with her canoe partner. Kristen and Dave stuck with Nate and Collin to make sure Chespa was ok.

Around 7:30 Marjolein, Mike, Heather and I arrived at the campsite. Most of our group had already arrived and there weren't many flat spots left between them and everyone else at the campsite.

We got the barrels and dry bag out of the boat and I began emptying the buoyancy compartment. I saw something dark far inside the compartment that wasn't mine. Thinking it was Marjolein's, I leaned my head down to see what it was. It was a dead bird! Luckily it hadn't started decomposing but I knew it couldn't stay in there. I quickly reached in a grabbed the beak and threw it away from the campsite and the canoes and repeated the beak grab and throw technique again to get it further away.

As I was setting up my tent Kristen and Dave arrived. Nate, Collin and Chespa had stayed at the campground about two hours back. We all made dinner and sat around eating and talking together. Marjolein had brought loads of fresh food and made a gourmet meal for herself. It was really impressive.

We all had a lot of fun listening to Mike read the river notes for what we had in store tomorrow. It was like listening to a story before bed. As I brushed my teeth before bed, I saw a possum roaming around the campsite and we went to bed.

It had been an absolutely wonderful day on the river and I was excited for tomorrow.