9/2/16 – Rest day – 0km
We were all pretty happy to have a rest day today, both to relax and recover from a big week on the bikes and also to prepare for tomorrow’s Whanganui Canoe adventure! Over breakfast we got the family together and watched ‘how to canoe’ videos plus the safety briefing video of the company we were gong with – Blazing Paddles. We were all pretty keen to hit the river after this and while Raelene got the kids up to date with their diaries, I went and loaded up on food and supplies for the River.
I rode the 5km back into town with 4 empty pannier bags, thinking that i’d be able to fit everything in however at the checkouts I ended up with all my panniers full and 4 extra shopping bags of stuff!!! I was wondering how I was going to fit it all in, with a bit of crafty packing and the use of my belt as a rear strap I managed to fit it all on and slowly cycled back to camp.
In the afternoon we noticed a ute turn up towing canoes, turns out it was Glenn from blazing paddles who had just come to drop off the plastic drums that we could pack in order to get ready for tomorrow. Glenn was great and the kids all got really excited waving the paddles around and taking the lids off the drums.
The rest of the afternoon was spent packing and mentally preparing for the trip tomorrow. Finally we headed down to the river for a final swim before dinner and bed, ready to become ROAR-Paddlers for a few days!
10/2/26 – Ohinepane to Maharanui, 31.79km (884.77km)
We woke up nice and early to ensure we were packed and ready for when Glenn came to pick us up, excitement levels were high which made the morning a very easy pack up. Once our gear was loaded we secured our bikes on the trailer and drove a short distance to the river to start our journey.
Oliver and I were in one canoe with most of the gear and Rhys had Arthur and Patrick in his. Before we set off Glenn made us to a practice paddle up the river, around a rock and paddled back. We all passed the ‘test’ and Glenn wished us luck and off we went, around the first corner was our first rapid….a little nervous Rhys went through first and aced it so off Oliver and I went. It was so fun! the quick moving water and small waves were actually great to paddle down, this gave us a great confidence boost.
The next few hours were fantastic, all the kids were having a ball paddling and the rapids were all pretty easy and relatively close together which was fun.
We had lunch at Poukaria campsite, it was lovely to actually bread and fresh salad for lunch. After lunch it was getting rather hot so in a calm section Oliver and Arthur had great fun jumping into the water from the canoe, I must admit I was a little envious as it looked so nice. There was no way I could get back into the canoe if I jumped in. The kids also did musical chairs in the canoes everyone having a turn in the other canoe.
A little further down the river we found some lovely little waterfalls to explore, the rocks were very slippery around then and as Arthur was walking up the waterfalls to throw a rock off he slipped and fell down the waterfall. We all heard “MUM” as he was slipping down, thankfully it was just like a slide and he fell into the water below unhurt and was able to quickly swim to the side and climb back up. He was very lucky and it was a good reminder on being very careful around waterfalls.
A few more rapids and then we reached our campsite and were happy to find we had it to ourselves, woohoo. We carried our things up the hill, had some yummy chips and kiwi dip then went to have a swim! it was perfect.
It was a lovely dinner overlooking the river and to top the evening off Oliver, Arthur and Patrick were all asleep by 7:30 which allowed Rhys and I to enjoy a beautiful evening together enjoying the serenity of the bush.
11/2/26 – Maharanui – John Coull, 38.64km (923.41km)
We woke to mist over the river and the promise of blue skies above. We took our time packing up camp which in hindsight was probably not the best idea as it began to push our day on the river out to quite late.
We slowly paddled down stream, letting the kids jump off the canoes, mucking around with the drone and generally just enjoying the peace and quiet of the river. This was soon to change though as we passed Whakahoro, what felt like droves of paddlers, joined us on the river for their 3 day trip….We constantly found ourselves bouncing between groups of paddlers until finally our slower pace put us at the back and we could enjoy some ‘solo time on the river again.
At one point on the river we approached a rapid that had a canoe wrapped around a rock in the middle, at this stage of the trip we were feeling pretty confident and had been swapping the kids around the canoes for a bit of fun. I was 2nd in line and as Raelene approached the rapid in front, it became clear that she was not going to be able to avoid the rock and wrapped canoe. Poor old Patrick just didn’t have enough power alone up front to paddle through it and they hit the rock on the rear 1/4 of the canoe, flipping it into the rapid!!! Oliver and Arthur were in my boat and were a bit shocked, I had to yell at them to get paddling lest we end up with the same fate. Luckily we were able to steer around the obstacle and help Raelene and Patrick. When we got over they were both out of the boat, floating relatively happily next to an upside down canoe. Patrick later explained that after they went over he found himself still inside the canoe, he said that he got himself out by holding his breath and pushing under the water and popping up on the other side, Brave boy! Patrick was concerned his cap was wet, which had remarkably stayed on his head, Raelene also surprisingly and thankfully did not loose her cap, sunglasses or phone. In the aftermath we were able to get the boat to the beach after the rapid, turn it back over and empty the water out. Unfortunately though the dry bag was not done up properly and all of our clothes were drenched…..oh dear and the only thing we lost was Arthur’s undies which were drying on top of the barrels.
Ultimately after all this excitement and casual paddling, this meant that we were running pretty late to get to our campsite at a reasonable time. We really had to ‘buckle down’ and get some km’s ‘under our boats’ which meant that the kids ended up sitting back and relaxing and Raelene and I had to paddle our little arms off!
The rest of the paddle, while long, was beautiful and it was cute watching the kids entertain themselves with ‘shooting’ the wild goats or ducks with their paddle rifles, and catching massive pelagic fish in the freshwater river on imaginary fishing rods. The had a great time, all the while mum and dad – the reliable diesel engines that we are, continued to paddle us towards our camp for the night.
When we thought all was lost and maybe we should stay at the camo before, we pulled out the chips and salsa and found another gear to punch out the final 10km of river, getting into camp at around 1900. Made it!
12/2/26 – John Coull – Tieke Marae, 32.1km (955.51km)
Learning from yesterday we got away much earlier today and were on the water just after 8. Oliver and Arthur were wonderful at helping to bring the barrels down to the river, I had not given the campsites much thought but they are quite high up from the river so portaging our gear up and down was quite tiring.
The mist on the river was gorgeous this morning and gave the river a very magical feeling, we had timed it well with the large tour groups also as we had the river to ourselves which was stunning. Once again we saw lots of goats and ducks which keep the boys entertained. At one point we heard the bleating of a goat which we hadn’t heard before, as we got closer to the noise we noticed a Harrier on the rocks eating a kid and the mother was in the bush looking distressed. It was a lesson in the circle of life and it was pretty cool seeing the Harrier in action. Another great wildlife encounter was when a blue duck flew straight past us in the canoes, it was beautiful and the white beak stood out so much.
We stopped at a rock beach for a rest, food break and some good old stone throwing then a few more rapids and bends we made it to the bridge to nowhere landing. DOC works were at the landing fixing a cargo next to the bank for easier access for people and to the boys delight they were asked to test the cargo net.
We enjoyed the walk up to the bridge, the boys ran ahead, to our surprise we passed SO MANY people. It felt odd to be so remote yet see so many people, after about the 50th person we asked where they had come from, they were on a day trip from Pipiriki. It was great to finally see the Bridge to nowhere, I have known about it for years so it was nice to actually see it. Once again the boys had a great time throwing rocks off the bridge into the river below then they spotted an eel, rock throwing stopped and eel spotting started. We saw so many swimming around!
Back at the canoes we had a few jumps into the water which is always fun then continued on our way. The rapids were pretty few and far between which made for some great canoe jumping and floating in the river, the long stretches of slower flowing river was made a bit easier with the great tail wind.
Finally we saw Tieke Marae, we had a lovely welcome and walk around. The boys were given the task to set up a possum/cat trap which they thought was great. With the trap set we enjoyed some snacks by the river and a swim before the boys actually happily wrote their diaries then went to bed.
13/2/26 – Tieke Marae – Pipiriki, 22.8km (978.31km)
We had a nice shower of rain overnight, hopefully not a sign of things to come, however when we got up, there was blue sky poking through gaps in the mist, we have absolutely nailed the weather for this trip.
The boys went and checked on their trap that they set last night and believe it or not they had caught a possum! They were so stoked with their catch and showed just about everyone that would look.
We carried out the final loading of the canoes and set off at around 0830, needing to reach the boat ramp at 1400 today in order to be picked up! Can’t miss it! As we were leaving we were chatting to some other paddlers we had met and they asked if we knew about the rapids coming up today, we had not looked into it…Apparently we were up for the big 3 and the hardest rapids on the river today all culminating in the final rapid called 50/50 as you only have a 50/50 chance if you keep it upright or not! We thanked the bearers of good news and put in, paddling down stream towards our first obstacle.
As it turns out these Rapids were in fact pretty decent. Large pressure waves standing up through the sections making swamping of the canoes a very real possibility. It was exhilarating punching through the waves in the big Canadian canoes and luckily we came through the first unscathed, taking on a bit of water in the boat but not looking like rolling or sinking at all!
We had lunch then continued down the river to the next rapid, checking out an incredible cave -Puaroto Cave – on the way, complete with knee deep mud that the kids loved. It was here that we joined up with another two boats that were looking forward to hitting the next significant rapid, this company made us feel a bit safer if we did indeed flip another boat. When we arrived at the rapid, Arthur, Patrick and I went through first and nailed it, punching through a huge wave and getting a little bit of water over the side. Ralene and Oliver went next and also nailed it. We waited for the last boat to come through from the group we were travelling with and they ended up taking a line slightly more to the left than we did, they hit the waves and took on so much water that they sank! we gave them a hand bailing it out then carried on, happy that we had managed to get through unscathed with the kids.
Finally we came to the rapid 50/50….turns out it was an absolute walk over, easy peasy, before we knew it we were done! The take out point was right at the end of the Rapid and we had made it at 1415. It was truly an incredible trip down the river and one that we will remember for a long time. Now however we were dropped up to our campsite and as it the weather gods knew we were of the river…the rain came. Perfect timing.
Looks like we might be in for some decent rain overnight so hopefully the tent holds up.
14/2/26 – Pipiriki to Rivertime accomodation at Parikino. 46.39km (1024.70km), 589m elevation.
It felt lovely packing up the bikes again and riding off down the road. The day wasn’t as bad as forecast which we were happy about. We were riding the Mountains to sea route which followed the Whanganui River on a quiet sealed road, it was a beautiful road with lots of hills, I certainly feel fitter as the hills were all fine and I was able to continue talking to Arthur the whole time. However, Oliver was struggling a little and bouncing around on his bike a lot which was wasting his energy, Rhys put his seat up which made a huge difference and next thing we knew he was leading the way up the hills.
For most of the day we had great views of the river and noticed how brown it was, once again the North Island was getting some pretty terrible weather and we could see how much due how much the river colour had changed overnight.
We were riding great and made it Kawana flour mill for lunch, it was great exploring one of New Zealand’s oldest flour mills, built in 1954 and still had the original stone mills. Oliver, Arthur and Patrick had a great time walking around working out how everything worked and they all thought it was cool how the water wheel turned the stones to grind the grains. it was fun watching them work out how everything worked.
After the mill we found a quaint cafe to stop at for some cake and homemade lemonade, it was perfect for us to celebrate Megan’s birthday and for us reaching 1000km!!! To add to the celebrations a huge mother pig came up to the cafe with her 11 piglets which the boys thought was the best.
After our delicious treats we continued the 24km to our campsite. Along the way Oliver came up with a great maths game, for a long time now Oliver and Arthur have enjoyed looking at the markers which number the drains on the side of the road. Oliver has also been teaching Arthur his times tables which was been great to listen too. So today the game was to minus the top number from the middle number then times it by the bottom number (ie. 156 would be (5-1)x6 =24). School on the road is the best, especially when the kids do it all themselves.
A little further down the road Rhys yelled out a warning of some sort, not hearing him very well we slowed down then suddenly saw two little goats sliding down the bank. They jumped onto the road so close to Oliver, it was quite funny. To add to our wildlife encounters Oliver and Arthur spotted some deer, they were quite close to the road also which was very cool.
The ride was thoroughly enjoyable and to our surprise we arrived at our camping destination quickly, Barry welcomed us to his home and showed us around. Barry is an apiarist and with a bee box at his front door Oliver, Arthur and Patrick had a great lesson in bee keeping which made me miss my bees back in Tasmania.
We had a wonderful relaxing afternoon/evening on the comfy couches in the garage.
15/2/26 – Parikino to Whanganui. 28.08km (1052.78km). 365m elevation.
The rain held off again last night which meant we had timed the weather window perfectly to roll into Whanganui today before a significant southerly storm system moved through. They were forecasting southerly winds in excess of 100km/h! We definitely did not want to be on the road when those started to blow.
We got packed up and had a last yarn to Barry, who at 72, was considering buying an E-bike and doing the North island himself! He just had to fit it in between his beekeeping. Off we rolled, into a mild but present southerly headwind. The kids all had their long sleeves on and Raelene and I were wearing jackets to combat the drop in temperature.
The riding was very pleasant, some of the best so far as the road continued to meander along beside the lower reaches of the Whanganui River. We had one significant climb today which didn’t pose much of an obstacle, however the fast descent down the other side certainly gave us a chill, Its incredible how much a change in wind direction from the south can cause the temperature to plummet!
By 1200 we had reached the outskirts of Whanganui and really started to feel the wind picking up. The forecast looked to be spot on and we wrestled with where to stay for the next two nights as we needed a day off in order to get a great deal of washing done due to our leaky dry bag/canoe capsizing mishap from the other day – our clothes were smelling rather ripe!
We made a call to the YHA in town and they had a family room available due to a cancellation. It seemed like it was meant to be – close to town, inside away from the storm that was due tonight and a great spot to spend the rest day tomorrow. Decision made we cycled the final 5km into the city of Whanganui and checked into our room, which even had an ensuite!
Getting in early meant I was able to head straight up to the Laundromat (to enjoy some quiet time listening to music) and spend about $50 washing and drying all our clothes and sleeping bags. While I was inside the weather continued to deteriorate to the point where I was happy I was going to be inside tonight and not in our tent – I honestly don’t know if the tent would have survived so well in these winds. I kept getting updates from Raelene and the boys who were enjoying a movie afternoon snuggled up in bed together….while I was doing a grocery run in-between washing and drying cycles!
On arriving into Whanganui we discovered in 2017, New Zealand’s Parliament passed the Te Awa Tupua Act, granting the Whanganui River legal personhood, making it the first in the world with the same rights, powers, and duties as a human being. Known as Te Awa Tupua, the river is recognised as an indivisible, living whole from the mountains to the sea.
All in all a successful day and a bit of another milestone, in reaching the Tasman sea again. It feels as if Wellington is within a comprehendible distance now, meaning that we will have cycled (and paddled) the length of the north island. We were all looking on the map in the hostel tonight, marvelling at just how far we have travelled In 35 days of riding. The kids were pretty proud of themselves, especially Oliver, who thinks it’s pretty amazing that he has ridden over 1000km! Rest day tomorrow, out of the storm and crazy wind, once again we have timed things perfectly!
