Index

• Travel Planning
• Food
• Topo Map
• Some Further Suggestions for Improvement
• The Last Word

I’ve dealt with the kayak operators in the previous blog, now’s the time to look at my (our) side of things.

Travel Planning

Although the general suggestion is to do either Taumarunui to Pipiriki (150 km) in five days or start further down the river at Whakahoro and do the trip in three days, these are very condensed trips with little room for error. I think the worst mistake made was to schedule the first overnight stop in Poukaria.

The big problem here is that leaving Cherry Grove just after 11:00 for a 36 km leg is just too much for one day. The kayaking alone takes a good five hours, so only two rather restricted stops could be scheduled in order to get to Poukaria by dusk. Also, this is the roughest part of the whole trip, with at least two major rapids, the result of which is that everything is wet, and Poukaria Campsite lies so close to the river that overnight drying of kit is impossible.

A much better strategy would have been to schedule the stopover in Ohinepane (22 km), after taking at least one full lunch break beforehand, and an afternoon stop at Laurens Lavender (1381 River Rd, Aukopae 3991, laurenslavender.com, signposted on the river) for a cuppa and a slice of cake. This would mean a mid afternoon arrival at the campsite, after which everything could be dried, the dry bags repacked, etc. The following day Whakahoro could be reached after 35 km – again about five hours of paddling – but this time with a departure at around 9:00 (or even earlier) and two breaks along the way and arrival at the campsite by around 4:00 which seems realistic. Here again I would make better use of the Blue Duck Café (blueduckstation.co.nz, evening meals by prior arrangement) here to get some fresh food to eat, and of the location of the campsite and hut on higher ground just outside of the valley proper to allow the gear to dry. Read more…