Report by Flynn Knight 10PR 

Canoeing the Whanganui River was definitely a staple in the calendar for me.  From tenting in the middle of nowhere to grade two rapids, jumping into the river from 10 metres high, stumbling across dead possums and goats!  This camp will fill you with the knowledge on how to manoeuvre a Canadian canoe and why you should not set up your tent on a slope. 

Day One

Our bus stopped at Whakahoro in the Whanganui National Park.  I emptied the contents of my bag into a small barrel.  This was what we were going to be using for the duration of the week.  We loaded our stuff onto the canoes and set out for a two-hour paddle.  Our first stop was at a place called Mangapapa, which has a great rock jump.  That day I made the silly mistake of setting up our tent on a slope, as when I woke up at 4.30am I found myself hanging halfway outside the tent.  I must have been out there for a while because half of my sleeping bag was wet with dew. 

Day Two

We canoed six hours down the river, sighting mountain goats along the way.  We arrived at John Coull and thankfully the ground there was nice a flat for our tents. 

Day Three

Today we paddled for about five hours, crossing rapids and many capsized.  The campsite was called Mangapurua it had a great view of the river and surrounding bush.   

Day Four

Started with a walk to the Bridge to Nowhere.  We did hear about the history of the bridge, but the more interesting attraction was an injured goat that had to be euthanised and then became eel food at the bottom of the bridge.   We continued out paddle down river, it was a beautiful day, and we had plenty of opportunities for swimming and stone skimming.  We stayed at Tīeke marae which had excellent views of the river and another opportunity for some rock jumps into the river.  That night I was out near the bush when I saw this big brown furry thing grimacing at me.  It was a possum caught in a trap which was still attached to the tree, despite being dead it still looked quite fresh and was interesting, I thought. 

Day Five

Our last day on the river.  We canoed through the biggest rapid I had ever seen.  We were supposed to paddle through the rapid but when a huge wave smacked me I was in such a shock that I did not paddle, we did survive without a capsize, thankfully. 

As we were travelling home on the bus that day, I thought of how privileged I was to be part of this camp.  I will never forget this experience and the people that made it even more fun! 

Report by Mattias McGregor 10DT 

The Canoe the Whanganui River Camp was one of the most fun and challenging weeks of my year.  I had never been in a canoe before camp but learned fast due to the many hours a day of canoeing and the increasingly challenging different rapid sections.  There were also a lot of calm, slow river sections where you could relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery that was present throughout the whole week. 

We slept at different campsites every night, some better than others.  I learnt after the first night not to put up a tent on a slope as I woke up with my legs out of the tent. 

There were lots of opportunities to swim, with rock jumping at two of the four campsites. I swam as much as I could because it was the closest to showering that there was.  Most days we canoed all day but on the fourth day, we went to the Bridge to Nowhere and learnt about its history.  

We were very tired after long days of canoeing so we mostly just sat and played cards together.  I learnt a lot of new card games. 

My canoe partner and I were the first canoe to flip over.  I was distracted and didn’t hear him tell me there was a log in front of us.  We were determined to stay upright for the rest of the week which we managed to do. 

The food was really good, better than most of the food I can make at home with an actual kitchen.  We had breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert.  There were almost always seconds available which I took every time. 

This was definitely a good camp.  I learned new skills, made new friends, and saw more beautiful nature than I have seen in a long time.   

I definitely recommend this camp to everyone.