Te Araroa Pt. 14

Day 66

Day 66, 22 Jan 18

Started my canoe journey today. It will take me 7 days to get from Taumarunui to Wanganui! Canoeing is a lot faster and easier than walking! Anyway according to the notes there is no way to walk because the surrounding land is full of ravines and impossible slopes. Also I can carry a lot more food. A lot more. I will be rowing with Josh, who I actually met in Day 15 or something like that.

Canoeing on a river takes some getting used to. Upon hitting the first rapids we capsized. We got stuck quite a few times today before we learned how to judge and maneuver through the currents properly.

The scenery was pretty cool. At times the river was so calm and serene, and the greenery so lush and fresh it was like a scene right out of Lord of The Rings. Sometimes there were waterfalls and little streams running into the river. In the distance were huge angular hills and rolling hillocks. It was different everywhere.

It went pretty well, only that there was more to be desired from my partner.

Well I hope the next few days would be equally fun. They will definitely be longer and more tiring!

Day 67

Day 67, 23 Jan 18

Began with a little rain which gradually got heavier. I thought it would last the better half of the morning but it ended as quickly as it started. After it cleared everything was so crisp and fresh. The hills in the distance were smoking and water dripped down ferns and moss growing on the cliffs on either side of the river. This would be a scene you see playing on 4K TVs in electronic stores.

Soon after we reached a waterfall. Right after it was another, and another... and there would be waterfalls appearing periodically on either side of the river for the rest of our journey today. Some were gently sloped, more like an urgent flowing of water; others were large, tall cascades. Small spouts and huge torrents.

On the way we stopped by at a small, overpriced cafe. This was when the sun came out and shone down with all its might. All of a sudden the cool morning turned blisteringly hot.

A little bit more was the campsite. I am simply trying to tolerate the heat now. Would have gone for a swim but yesterday's crystal clear waters have become muddy brown due to the rain yesterday. As such I would prefer to minimize contact with the water. Although I know the water is fresh from Tongariro, still I didn't trust the look of it. So I left the swimming to the others down there who seemed to enjoy it very much.

Day 68

Day 68, 24 Jan 18

The weather was better today. However the river was still brown and muddy. I was hoping ti would clear up. Many of the views would be lot more spectacular if the river was clear and calm.

The positive side is that the river is now moving faster. We ended today just a little after lunch and could have been even earlier. The rain is definitely beginning to, or has already, caused a huge rise in the water levels and the rushing water is speeding things up a lot.

Today was a journey through some fairly dense bush. I'm glad the route through is a flat and easy canoe rather than a gruelling hike. There were plenty of interesting phenomena that I observed such as the aforementioned water line, and also things like intermixing water from side streams or tributaries, interesting volcanic rocks and stones, etc. The scenery was also interesting -- the surroundings seemed to be a lot more ancient that what I saw in the previous days. The vegetation was ridiculously thick, and the rocks seemed old and weather-worn. There were even areas where there existed what I supposed to be water-carved channels running down entire cliffs. Some rock faces had flat stones jutting from the side, almost like footholds. A most curious sight! I also went into a small cave along the way and picked some wild onions and carrots. I think they're pretty nasty tasting. Evidence of the scale of the pressure placed upon plants through artificial selection.

Tomorrow will be a ridiculously short day. I hope the water will clear up by then.

Day 69

Day 69, 25 Jan 18

The river did not clear up today. Curious. I wonder how long it takes? Maybe it cannot clear up this far downstream. I have no knowledge of such things to make a hypothesis.

It threatened to rain early in the morning but gradually changed to become swelteringly hot. The river is probably going to dry up if this continues.

Paddled down a bit to see a bridge that apparently leads to nowhere. Apparently, it is called "The Bridge to Nowhere". Truly fascinating, really, fascinating. Why anyone bothers to visit this bridge greatly confuses me. It was really, literally, a bridge in the middle of the forest in the middle of nowhere. There was a settlement here once that seemed quite viable due to the heavy traffic up and down this river. However after the arrival of locomotion and highways the traffic gradually decreased and the settlement was soon abandoned. The bridge however remained.

Today must have been the most boring day on the river. Paddling in the blazing sun with a canting boat and an uncooperative partner. Got to see some whirlpools though. I found those really fascinating. I am not quite sure how they are formed. My own speculation is that they are formed by fast moving water in the depths hitting a large obstacle, or encountering a swift bend. It cannot be a direct hit, but a glancing blow since a direct hit will produce two vortices with opposing spin due to conservation of angular momentum. I have also observed what seems to be Karman streets on smaller vortices. This is very apparent when you strike the water with your paddle in a certain way, striking it with a bit of the paddle and a bit of the handle while the boat is moving. What is truly amazing about these vortices is the force it hits you with. I thought it would feel like swirling a bowl of soup, but it was really like a fist smashed against the boat. There was no hope of controlling it at all once you come into contact with the beast.

We will be getting close to civilization tomorrow. I really hope I can get some mobile reception there.

Day 70

Day 70, 26 Jan 18

The days slowly get more uninteresting. The huge cliffs that towered over the river have flattened down to little hillocks. The trees gradually got smaller and less wild. Roads started appearing beside the river. The constant buffeting by the incoming headwind also slows the boat down to a painful drag. This wind is from the sea "breeze" coming in as we get closer and closer to the coast. It would not be too much to expect the next few days to be somewhat similar.

The highlight of today was a visit to a small, muddy, rocky beach. There was a small stream running and I was looking out for some interesting rocks. We had a few stops in the previous days and I have actually found some cool translucent rocks. This seems because of the intense geological activity in this region. This geological activity is what created Tongariro, Rotorua, Taupo, just to name a few of the more prominent features around this region.

Anyway at this beach I found some fossils and pearlescent deposits encased in the same rock. The surface of the rock had some swirling patterns. Very curious indeed. Also interesting was the large quantity of pumice here. Pumice is a hot gassy lava that splatters into water quickly and solidifies rapidly, resulting in a rock full of holes and fibers and a very low density. By fibers I mean shards like those you see in fiberglass, not fibers as in celery fibers. It is also very soft and fragile. Softness here means deformational softness, not tensile strength, i.e. it can be scratched easily. Of course the presence of many holes also resulted in a lack of strength.

There may be some sort of volcanic origin to this small place, or maybe everything was washed down from Tongariro upstream. Can't explain the presence of so many fossils though. I am of a 80% confidence level they are actual fossils.

Also this little beach actually leads in land, and there is a stream running down it to the river. This was unlike the previous ones that we stopped at which were either the actual river bank, or just some part of the river bed jutting out.

Tonight I will be staying at a convent. It is very well maintained had excellent facilities! It was really pretty with plum trees groaning with fruit and a wonderfully decorated interiors. It has some historic roots which I am not entirely clear on but there were some panels detailing it inside.

My journey is quickly coming to an end. It was fun for the first few days but this leg of the journey is threatening to become a bore, mainly because the scenery is getting less and less interesting as we go down stream, where nature parts to man. Still it is too early to get all depressed and sad. The future will come and I will meet it with open arms.

Day 71

Day 71, 27 Jan 18

Unfortunately, the rowing was tough today. The water seemed to have stopped moving, and continual headwinds actually managed to drive us backwards.

I have noticed something about the water though. At first glace it seems as though the water is moving back upstream -- the direction of travel of the waves would definitely grant confirmation to this claim. Obviously this is a deception as the river would never be able to flow against the mass of water flowing downstream that we met in the previous days. I believe this is because the wind at this point was strong enough to push the surface back and create waves going the other way but the main bulk of the river below was still maintaining its seaward course.

Today I saw a little bubble that proved me wrong. Everything was still going downstream, despite the waves seemingly going in the other direction. Then I recalled that waves were not a transfer of matter but energy. Sound waves do not push air across a room but is just the movement of a pressure gradient. And thus the water can continue going downstream while the waves on its surface seem to move backwards. These waves could be possibly driven by the waves from the sea impacting into the estuary and propagating all the way up here.

Again I am not well versed in such subjects to give a sound explanation for this curious phenomenon. And this also goes to show how boring the day was, that my main attention was drawn to a bubble in the water and not any of the hundred other things around me. And instead of trying to row the boat I was there pondering on why a bubble was moving down the river.

Day 72

Day 72, 28 Jun 18

Done. Started early on the river to catch the outgoing tide. It was nice and cool, and mist still clung to the river. Fog drifted through the hills and trees. But then the sun came out and it became a toil once again.

The interesting I noticed happened not during but after my journey. At the campsite I noticed ducks that have been so used to being fed by humans that they have become absolute morons. I betrayed their trust by first offering them pebbles, then bark and small pieces of a twig. They went after all of them as though they were edible food. I was quite surprised at the absolute stupidity of these conditioned ducks, as I was originally tossing pebbles at them to get them to leave my stuff alone. Instead of running away from the pebbles they ran and fought over it.

They also have either no long term memory or just cannot connect cause and effect. I actually hit one of them on the side with a pebble. Moments later it came waddling back looking for more. Also my attempts to chase them away were just futile. They simply cannot recognize or remember who is friend or foe. Any bipedal organism must be some magical source of food. However they definitely do not treat us as a true friend. They often flee if you are too close, and are very reluctant to take food directly off your palms. An uneasy friendship, I suppose.

These dumb birds have been so affected by humans that they have completely become dysfunctional beings. This is the effect of domestication, I guess, completely reprogramming the animals. It is not even a "nurture" thing anymore, such behavior has probably started taking root in their genes already. They are more useful on a dinner plate than anything else. While I am writing this one duck is attempting to eat my trash bag.

This has been the most interesting part of my day today. Otherwise it was pretty uneventful. Had to avoid some jet-skis and stuff like that but not much else.

Thoughts

I kind of really enjoyed this river but I guess it would have been better if I was alone. For one, I would have completed this a hell of a lot faster. I'm not complaining about anything, and I was glad that I could even have a partner (you need one to get the boat), but I'm just saying it could be faster and cost less.

Operators usually don't trust random strangers because there are risks involved especially if you destroy their boat or you go missing and drown. Just like my experiences with trying to get a bike at the Timber Trail. I find that really crappy, and everything they say are always exaggerated. The river wasn't even that difficult, and we only capsized like 3 times at the first few rapids where we had no idea what to do. Unless you get hit by a major storm there's no way you're going to drown or anything. Besides, it's not the Amazon river and it was at most 50m wide, it's easy to get to the bank after you capsize.

In fact, the most difficult thing is trying to get all your stuff from the boat to the campsite! Lugging barrels full of your food from the water up a small hill like 10m up, and repeating that 3 times is pretty savage.

It was overall fun, and besides you meet quite some people at the campsites (because there are other trips available), and you get to see newcomers campsize at rapids.