Canoeing the Whanganui River

 

Canoeists passing Tamatea's Cave on the Whanganui River

 Now listed as one of New Zealand's Great Walk, the Whanganui River is actually a great canoeing experience. The River, New Zealand's 3rd longest, now has the status, with the rights, duties and liabilities, of a legal person, reflecting the importance of the river to the Maori people. 

In the 1990s and early 2000s, we included a 4-night. 5-day canoeing experience in our  New Zealand tours. The canoeing began in the small riverside settlement of Whakahoro, where the Retaruke River meets the mighty Whanganui, and finished in the larger (not much), settlement of Pipiriki on what is known as the River Road.  This river trip was delightful on fine, sunny days but, of course, could be pretty miserable when it rained. Campsites were basic, but had long-drop toilets and a DOC (Department of Conservation) erected shelter, under which we could cook, with a hand basin and a rain-water tank. The Whanganui was regarded as a novices' river and a wilderness experience.

              This photo essay is compiled of photos I have taken over the years.

 First of all the canoes had to be carefully packed. Personal equipment, sleeping bags, cameras, food etc. were stored in waterproof barrels, hopefully with a water-tight latch - if secured properly!

    Once the canoeists have gained confidence, there is time to relax in the sun in the more benign                stretches of the river.

    After a couple of hours paddling it is time to stop for a refreshment and a leg stretch on one of the          many shingle banks on the River.

    

    The first night's camping at Ohauora was always something of an experience. For many of our clients  this was their first taste of real wilderness camping, and a camp fire from the river driftwood was always popular.

            The 'long-drop throne room' was again something that many of our clients had not experienced before. This original 'architectural gem' was situated in a sylvan setting at Ohauora & when you heard someone approaching, you would surreptitiously cough.  DOC upgraded this edifice in later years.

    Some of the formations on the Whanganui has some rather interesting and innovative names. This was Man o' War Bluff, as it bore a resemblance to an early iron-clad battleship. The bow slopes down to the water, just to the right of the red canoe, and a hawsehole can be seen directly above the canoe.

    

   Another interesting feature of the River was the feature known as the Drop Scene. Here the the river disappears around an obscured bend behind the canoes. As one approaches this bend the scenery appears to move, like the 'Drop Scene' of an old vaudeville theatre. It was also the scene of a Maori tribal battle in the early 19th century.

    The Mangapurua Landing had originally been developed as road access to the Mangapurua Farm Settlement, developed from 1917 for World War One veterans. two or three kilometres from the Whanganui.  Groups walk from here to the Bridge to Nowhere.   

    

   The Bridge to Nowhere was a road bridge built in the late 1930s to give motor access to the Whanganui River for the farmers of the Mangapurua Farm Settlement. Very few motor vehicles used the bridge, as weather conditions caused road collapses further up the valley, isolating the Bridge. The Farm settlement was eventually abandoned in the early 1940s, and nature was allowed to take over.

    

    On later river trips we stayed a night at the Bridge to Nowhere Lodge at Ramanui. Evenings were particularly restful and beautiful.

    

    I was always fascinated by the natural rock girdle along the river banks, especially when the water was crystal-clear and mirror-like. It was difficult to see where the water actually began.

 

    

    On the last day, when everyone thought they were accomplished canoeists and complacency had taken over, we had to pass through the Autapu Rapid. If the river level was low, the rapid could be demanding and exciting. Here the author, with a nervous client up front, enters the Rapid.

   

    Some clients had taken notice, and remembered, instructions on how to tackle the Autapu Rapid successfully.

    

    For others, things didn't quite go according to plan, and the Autapu claimed other victim. Fortunately this rapid was short and the bedraggled casualties could haul their upended or swamped canoe ashore on a shingle bank to dry out.

 

    On the lower reaches of the River there were side creeks to investigate such as the Mangaeao River.

  

    As we neared Pipiriki, the River wound through farmland. 

    

    Finally, journey's end was reached. The canoes are hauled ashore at the Pipiriki Landing and unloaded for the road journey to Whanganui City. 

Text & photographs ©Neil Rawlins 

Selected travel photos from these & other blogs are available from my photo gallery

 https://www.picfair.com/users/Antipodeanneil

My paperback books on my Overland travels in Asia, Europe & Africa in the early 1970s and the experiences of a tour guide on the Asian Overland routes & leading Camel Safaris in Rajasthan in the 1980s are available from Amazon.

Hiking on Fox Glacier - a photographic record.

 

Tumbling down from the vast névés of New Zealand's Southern Alps, flow great rivers of ice, dropping over a short distance from the snowfields of over 10,000 feet into the temperate rain forest of the South Island of New Zealand's West Coast. The two mightiest of these remaining glaciers are the Franz Josef and the Fox. 

  

During the 1990s and the early 2000s, contrary to what was happening elsewhere in the world, these two glaciers were, in the main, advancing, at times quite rapidly. I was leading adventures in New Zealand at the time, and we included a Glacier hike on the Fox Glacier as part of our tour itinerary. It was an exciting time, as each tour would see changes to the Glacier and the access route to the ice would have changed. On one tour we would climb up the snout of the glacier and on the next, we would scramble over the rocky, rubble-strewn lateral moraine. At the height of the advance, we would hike up through the temperate rain forest before dropping down onto the ice.  It was always a great experience. 

      Over the years I took many photos and have included a few of these in this photographic essay. 

    A warning sign denoted the beginning of the access tracks to the ice, which many individuals seemed to ignore.

    It was a unique experience to walk through rain forest to access this great river of ice. 

    The access point was where the glacial ice came close to the crumbling rocks of the lateral glacial moraine. Due to the fragile nature of the terrain caused by the movement of the glacier, this would change each time I brought a group here.

    Groups members pause, having just accessed the ice, at the edge of the Fox Glacier.

     Once on the Glacier the route would change each time. There were ice pinnacles known as seracs, to pass around.

  Sometimes we could get quite close to the ice pinnacles, but we always had to beware of falling ice.

    The Glacier guides would cut steps into the hard glacial ice on the steeper section of the route, making access for groups easier, and lessening the risk of slipping. A guide would always be on the ice, surveying the new days route, and maintaining the previous day's stairs if they were to be used.

    The hike over the ice to a high point with views of the peaks of the Southern Alps    

    The tracks through the ice would often take us close to crevasses which opened as the Glacier moved.

    If we were lucky we would find an ice cave to walk through. These ice caves were not that common on the area of glaciers that we walked.  

Near the edge of the ice, curious denizens of the rain forest, such as the friendly little South Island tomtit, would watch us.

As we walked over the ice, low clouds, on most days, would wreath the mountain peaks above Fox Glacier.

    On some hikes, our route would take us to an icy high point which overlooked the Valley of the Fox River, carved out of the mountains by successive ice ages.

    Small ice pinnacles and shattered rock will soon tumble down into the Fox River.

    The waters of the Fox River emerge from a ice cave at the snout of the Glacier. Occasionally, an ice collapse would cause a blockage in the Cave, and after pressure built up, usually after heavy rain, the ice would blow out down the valley, a good reason not to go near the ice cave. 

    In December 2007, the Fox Glacier still looked spectacular, even from the access track, but from this time the Glacier began retreating rapidly, as the effects of global warming take effect. 

Text & photographs ©Neil Rawlins 

Selected travel photos from these & other blogs are available from my photo gallery

 https://www.picfair.com/users/Antipodeanneil

My paperback books on my Overland travels in Asia, Europe & Africa in the early 1970s and the experiences of a tour guide on the Asian Overland routes & leading Camel Safaris in Rajasthan in the 1980s are available from Amazon.