Day 59: Poukaria Campsite to Ohauora Campsite (47.5 km canoe)

Friday, January 27

I woke up a few times last night and heard rats and possums rummaging around the campsite. Luckily they hadn't tried to get in my tent. Dave wasn't so lucky. Before he went to bed last night a possum had nibbled its way into his tent and snagged some of his food.

As I packed up my tent I listened to some news and politics podcasts I had downloaded in Taumarunui. Since I'm canoeing with friends all day, I have been talking and listening to music out loud, so before bed and while I pack up are the two times of the day I let myself listen to podcasts.

After packing up I went to turn on my spot tracker and it wasn't working. Every night I usually text my parents to say I'm ok or send them a spot message if I don't have service. Then I turn it off for the night and turn it on in the morning to track me every hour. I tried changing the batteries and everything I could think of and had some other people try too. It wouldn't work. I knew I wouldn't get cell phone service until I was a few miles from Whanganui in a few days, so I didn't want my parents to worry about me. There wasn't cell phone service at the campsite, so I decided the best thing to do would be to try to find someone with a phone or hope I had service at Whakahoro. Or at least try to see if the warden at the DOC hut there had an idea of how to get a hold of my parents to tell them everything was ok.

Marjolein said it would be fine to stop there, so we decided we'd stop after our lunch break at Maharanui Campsite. Around 9 am we had our boats packed and started paddling. I sat in my boat and couldn't believe how much my butt hurt. Before starting the canoe trip, I figured that my arms would be what hurt. They were fine and my butt felt like it had been bruised where it rested on the seat. My legs have been thinning out a lot since I began the TA, so I'm guessing I lost some cushioning in my butt too. Bummer.

After a few hours of paddling we made it to Maharanui Campsite for a lunch and snack break. It's nice to stop at the campgrounds for lunch because they have toilets. Once we all had our fill of food, we hit the river again.

When we reached Whakahoro, Marjolein and I stopped and pulled up to the dock. She stayed with the boat and I ran up to find someone. The landing turned into what seemed to be a farm. I turned into what I thought was the driveway to a house and ran into a man named Roger. He harassed me about Trump a bit (I get asked about Donald Trump almost every time I meet someone not hiking the TA that's not working at a hostel or a restaurant. None of the Kiwis who ask me about him think very highly of him). Regardless, Roger was kind enough to let me get on his wifi to send a text message and I jogged down to the boat to get back to Marjolein.

We got back in the canoe and started paddling to catch up with the others. As we paddled we listened to music and I tried to learn some Dutch from Marjolein. I'm not very good, but maybe by the end of the trip I'll learn a few phrases.

Everyone stopped at Mangapapa Campsite, but instead of getting out there we just quickly snacked in our canoes and kept going to our campsite for the night. We would have had to tie our boats up there instead of simply pulling them a bit out of the water because it was a steep rock cliff from the river to the campsite. I'm glad we weren't staying there.

After we got on the river we flotilla-ed for a bit and Marjolein paddled with super strength. This is her first time canoeing (or kayaking or rafting) and I think this is Creya's first time too. That's pretty impressive. I don't know if I would have wanted my first manual powered river trip to be six days long and in a foreign country.

Just before Ohauora Campground, where we were staying for the night, there was a cave where a famous Maori rested while he made his way down the river.

The campground was great and had more room for all of us than the night before. There were a few families with small children there so we tried to stay to one section of the campground and all made dinner at a picnic table while they used the shelter. Mike read us the notes for the next day on the river while we ate and Dave went to try to sew the hole in his tent made by the possum last night so that flies couldn't get in.

As we were finishing dinner Chespa, Colin and Nate made it to the campsite. We though we had a long day! Around 9 as it got dark we were all exhausted. I learned that 9 pm is referred to as hiker midnight. It's so true! When I'm on the trail, at 9 pm I feel like I do at midnight in the normal world.

Someone saw a rat around the campground, so we all put our food in our tubs for the canoes instead of our tents. Possums are the biggest animals you need to worry about in New Zealand when you're camping so you don't need to bear can or bear bag your food. We didn't want to end up with hole-y tents like Dave. I put on a news podcast and went to sleep.