ROLLIN' ON THE RIVER

My Kiwi Adventures had a pretty fun deal for us. $40 to bike 27km of the trail, it would take 2-3 hours + they would deliver our packs to us at the end! Thank god, because for the river we bought 17 hotdogs, a pound of cheese, a pound of jelly, a liter of vodka, + a liter of orange juice. Our bags were easily 50 plus pounds, or 24 kilogramsish.

The bike track was beautiful + just like it said on the flyer, 95% downhill. What they didn't mention though was that it was downhill on a ridge line with unbelievable views of the countryside. We are by no means biking experts so thankfully the track was pretty well groomed, almost like a grassy road down the ridge with a good couple feet by the edge to make you feel like you wouldn't fall off.

At 4:00 ish we made it to the monument where they dropped our packs off + we met up with a couple of new friends we had met in the Tongariro National Park. We hiked on to make it to Whakahoro, but ended up getting a ride instead.

The ride started off normal, just a local farmer picking us up in his old silver, generic, beat up pick up. We put our packs in the bed + he made room for one in the back. We hopped in, me in the front + asked where he was going, "Whakahoro!" he said.

"Well perfect that's where we're going!" We responded excitedly. I then glance at the center console to see an empty green bottle sitting there. Probably just a little road soda on the way back. We drove + started to talk he asked where we were from then proceeded to grab a beer from a 24 pack sitting just behind the drivers seat.

"Oh boy" I thought, "this is going to be quite the ride." We answered his questions + chit chatted as he slugged down the first beer, then another + another. About 5 beers in 40 minutes made for the most terrifying drive of our life down back dirt roads with a rock wall on one side of us and a sheer cliff on the other. When we arrived to the 2 house town with a cafe, he offered us a tent spot in his front yard that we tentatively accepted. He may have been a drunk, but he was surely a nice guy.

The day after, our fellow hiker friends showed up- a couple guys from Germany, Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio, Switzerland + the Czech Republic. We told them about a home style dinner the Blue Duck Cafe had made the night before that we had watched many eat. Meatballs, coleslaw, potatoes + bread all homemade with ingredients farmed from the town I would assume. We all signed up to eat together, $20 each. The food was amazing + it was good to kind of get to know these couple guys we'd be spending the next few days with. We were obviously the new people in the group though + we could tell that they had been hiking together for a while.

Canoes showed up the next morning + the 10 of us gathered around the van + trailer for directions on what to do. We would pack all of our things into plastic waterproof barrels + strap them to the bottom of the canoes. We then took off down the river + a couple of boats got to splashing each other right away.

We did in fact try to get out of the drunken vehicle by the way... but he insisted we stay with him. Just for clarification for our moms..

We paddled + paddled, on down the river through some class 1 rapids + around a few rocks. I bothered our new friend Mac from Alabama just enough to see if he'd put up with me + he did. They all did. As we would go by them + fall behind, I decided to just ask them ridiculous questions to see what their reactions would be. I have to say, it was fun for me.

The river did drag on slightly by the end of the day + around 4 PM we were wondering where this hut was. About an hour later it showed up, on the right side of the river bank, a sign + trail to John Coull hut.

The next few days were all completely different, + to be honest, with every day, excitement went down a little bit. Let me break down each day into a couple sentences so this doesn't drag on...

Day 2: Rain all day, soaked all day, but we enjoyed ourselves for half of it. Mac + cheese + hotdogs was particularly good this night because we added ketchup to it.

Day 3: Woke up to see the water level had risen a couple feet from the rain! We ran down to see our canoe had washed away. Panic. Then help from a local river guide to find our canoe + we did. That day we paddled over 50 kilometers to make it to an amazing hotel/hostel type thing called the Flying Fox. This place almost seemed like a fairytale land in the middle of the forest, with old, funky, wooden buildings made of recycled wood/metal. There was beer, wine + food you can take, eat + pay for in the morning. 

Day 4: Our least favorite day. It seemed to drag on for forever. The campsite was cool but you had to carry all your things up a super steep hill to get there.

Day 5: We woke up at 5:30 to get on the river because thanks to the tides influencing the river, we had to make it to town by 9:30. We paddled with the outgoing tide in the beautiful morning light. It actually wasn't bad! We were tired though. That night we made grilled cheese, tomato soup, and a huge salad in town with our new friend Michael.

The river wasn't what we expected, but it was overall a good time.

-Devon