Starting km: 1373?
Finishing km: 1403
km covered today: 24
My alarm woke me up at 03:45. Paul was already awake, pretty much packed up and ready to go. That guy really likes an early start.
We headed down to the river, did our final packing, and slid the canoe that was still up on the dock down the stairs and in to the water.
It was a 3/4 moon, but there was low cloud, so there was just enough light on the river to see. The night before we'd studied the map and river notes very carefully and made absolutely sure there were no more rapids, so we just stuck to the centre, carried on down the river and before long the sun was lighting the sky as well.
Even with the tide at our backs, the river was moving slowly. The paddling was monotonous (or meditative, depending on how you think about these things). Around 07:00 we passed an 8-person rowing crew. Rowers have a reputation for getting up and on the water, but we TA paddlers had them beat pretty comfortably this morning.
By 07:26 we'd arrived at the Whanganui Holiday Park and pulled our canoes out of the water. We unpacked and, as we were still a few km out of town, everyone did their best to completely finish off anything they didn't want to carry. In my case, this meant I had a breakfast of 12 WeetBix with a half litre of soy milk and about 150ml of wine straight out of the bottle. (Hey, I wasn't going to let it go to waste!)
Our early morning efforts meant that we effectively got a zero day in Whanganui while actually still getting a significant number of kilometres under our belts. I spent mine:
1. Having a fish 'n' chips lunch (this was just about the last coastal town on the walk and I'd somehow missed fresh fish 'n' chips during all the coastal sections up north.
2. Laundry, showering, cleaning, etc.
3. Grocery shopping (I actually had more than enough food leftover from the river for the next leg, so this was for dinner.)
4. Hanging out with my river companions and the many other TA walkers who'd arrived the previous afternoon and were giving themselves a day off in town.
5. Drinking two fabulous Fruit Goses (sour beers) while sitting in a hammock in the garden of the hostel we were staying at and reading.
6. Making pizzas, including dough from scratch. This was made somewhat more challenging by the fact that the oven at the hostel didn't work. But I'd already done the shopping and made the dough (this whole non-functional oven thing was becoming a pattern) so I made do (very effectively if I do say so myself) with the BBQ.
A lovely and restful day all around.
Finishing km: 1403
km covered today: 24
My alarm woke me up at 03:45. Paul was already awake, pretty much packed up and ready to go. That guy really likes an early start.
We headed down to the river, did our final packing, and slid the canoe that was still up on the dock down the stairs and in to the water.
It was a 3/4 moon, but there was low cloud, so there was just enough light on the river to see. The night before we'd studied the map and river notes very carefully and made absolutely sure there were no more rapids, so we just stuck to the centre, carried on down the river and before long the sun was lighting the sky as well.
Even with the tide at our backs, the river was moving slowly. The paddling was monotonous (or meditative, depending on how you think about these things). Around 07:00 we passed an 8-person rowing crew. Rowers have a reputation for getting up and on the water, but we TA paddlers had them beat pretty comfortably this morning.
By 07:26 we'd arrived at the Whanganui Holiday Park and pulled our canoes out of the water. We unpacked and, as we were still a few km out of town, everyone did their best to completely finish off anything they didn't want to carry. In my case, this meant I had a breakfast of 12 WeetBix with a half litre of soy milk and about 150ml of wine straight out of the bottle. (Hey, I wasn't going to let it go to waste!)
Our early morning efforts meant that we effectively got a zero day in Whanganui while actually still getting a significant number of kilometres under our belts. I spent mine:
1. Having a fish 'n' chips lunch (this was just about the last coastal town on the walk and I'd somehow missed fresh fish 'n' chips during all the coastal sections up north.
2. Laundry, showering, cleaning, etc.
3. Grocery shopping (I actually had more than enough food leftover from the river for the next leg, so this was for dinner.)
4. Hanging out with my river companions and the many other TA walkers who'd arrived the previous afternoon and were giving themselves a day off in town.
5. Drinking two fabulous Fruit Goses (sour beers) while sitting in a hammock in the garden of the hostel we were staying at and reading.
6. Making pizzas, including dough from scratch. This was made somewhat more challenging by the fact that the oven at the hostel didn't work. But I'd already done the shopping and made the dough (this whole non-functional oven thing was becoming a pattern) so I made do (very effectively if I do say so myself) with the BBQ.
A lovely and restful day all around.
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