"I am the river, the river is me."
~Traditional Maori Proverb
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| Mount Ngauruhoe (a.k.a. Mount Doom) |
Recently, I was able to check two dream adventures off my NZ list, first hiking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing—a seven-hour track through mountainous, active volcanic terrain—widely regarded as "NZ's best one-day hike." The weather was clear and sunny, albeit pretty windy given the altitude. The track passes through incredibly varied landscape, including many perspective of Mount Ngauruhoe (a.k.a. Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings), colourful geothermal lakes, and ending with a walk through native bush. The landscape is vast and often stark, making a person feel quite small.
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| Entering the volcanic zone |
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| The "Emerald Lakes" |
The "Blue Lake"
Active volcano to the right
Two days later, I started a much-anticipated four-day journey down the Whanganui River. I'd been a little nervous about it given I've never kayaked on a proper river (only on lakes, ocean, and small streams), plus I didn't know who I'd be joining up with since the outfitter (wisely) does not rent to single paddlers, instead merging them into other groups. But the experience made clear some things about fear for me.
Whanganui River
I ended up joining two German guys in their early 20s for the journey, and the three of us started off on the river after a brief lowdown on what to expect/safety precautions. The first day was a bit challenging going over rapids as I got used to steering properly to avoid being spun. I also dropped my paddle once and would've had to jump in to get it had the Germans not caught it with their canoe for me.
Marvin and Christian
Despite the early challenges, the scenery was outstanding with steep walls of green palms and lush foliage teeming with all sorts of birds and their songs. Plus, much of the river is very calm with the rapids only graded one or two (on an international scale of six). By day two, I had the hang of the rapids and gained much more confidence (singing on the rapids helps!). As I was paddling, I realized the fear I faced before the trip and before each rapid was a good metaphor for life's fears in general: The things we fear often appear much scarier from afar, but once we're in the middle of them, they're often quite manageable.
Lunch break
Loaded up
Each day, we paddled for about four to six hours, and each night, we camped along the river at beautiful, well-maintained campsites surrounded by native bush and birds. After the first night with just Marvin, Christian, and me, our group expanded to nine with three couples paddling into the next campsite—one couple from the U.K, one from Canada, and one from Switzerland. We all got along fantastically and had a lot of fun together.
Taking down camp
Hike to the "Bridge to Nowhere" mid-trip
Before the end of the trip, I was able to return the favour to the Germans who had earlier saved my paddle, when they sunk their canoe on the hardest rapid on the last day. We all had a good laugh about it after we knew they were okay and we'd collected all their belongings before they floated away. Marvin even captured the mighty sinking on his GoPro: Click Here
At the end of the trip, I left the river with a very swollen, sprained right wrist from all the paddling (still wrapped in a bandana), but also with a well-worked smile from new friendships made, the peace of the river in me, and a lot of good laughs.
Our crew by the end of the trip
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