After an unscheduled 3 day rest in Taumaranui, due to having to book the river trip 2 weeks in advance and being slightly ahead of schedule, we were back on our way today. We traded in our backpacks, walking poles and boots for waterproof storage barrels, paddles and a canadian style open canoe! Having to have to prebook campsites along the river in advance we set off at 11.30am knowing our first stretch of river was to be 35km. After doing a couple of turns to get used to the canoe and realise how docile yet powerful the beast was we were straight into our first set of rapids. It's primarily a grade 1 river so nothing too crazy but enough to get the adrenaline gland oozing and after hitting standing waves and bouncing of a rock garden we realised the canoe is also bomb proof! About 20 sets of sizeable rapids followed over the 35km. A couple of which were quite hard to read and required portage when we run aground. My favourite one being the standing wave that threw the top of the canoe up into the air and then crashed back down completely drenching only Emily! However, wasn't laughing for too long as on another rapid a whole torrent of water hit us from the side shocking and saturating me at the same time. A fun day was had. Another 6 more to go..........if we make it!
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