Rangitikei Rafting - Year 10 Camp

Day 1

On Monday morning, we drove up to the Mangaweka camping grounds, where we signed in and set up our tents. As we set up our tents, one of my poles decided to snap. Thanks to Mr. Langley’s quick thinking, he repaired it with a bent peg, cord, and first aid tape. At 1:00pm we travelled to Awastone camp, where we had a safety briefing followed by a raft or kayak down the Rangitikei River for an hour and a half.   This was a trial run to find out who was confident with the tasks at hand. After that, we got back to our camp and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.  

Day 2

The next day we arose to Mr. Liengme “gently” waking us up. We packed our dry bags, got dressed and packed our tents away, ready for the tough days ahead. We carried our stuff over to Awastone and had breakfast. After breakfast we got into the cramped van and drove for an hour and a half to our starting point at the remote River Valley Lodge. After getting onto the rafts the first two rapids were grade 3+ with possible severe consequences. So, we got off and watched as our guides, Paul, Cesar and Ron carefully got the rafts safely through the rapids. For the rest of the day, we travelled through Shipside Canyon until we reached our camp on the riverbank. Our camp was surprisingly nice, but sleeping conditions were the opposite. Unfortunately, our lavatory consisted of a toilet seat on an ammo case. As we went to bed, we could see glowworms on the cliff walls, which was peaceful. But unfortunately, due to snoring, some people did not get the best sleep.

Day 3

If I had not said it before, sleeping conditions were not good because the mattresses we had were thin. We found ourselves sleeping under an open-sided tarpaulin, free for possums and mosquitoes to eat us alive. That day was the longest of all as we had six hours of rafting. Our trip was smooth, but one of the rafts had a reminder of natural hazards. The raft I was on, was travelling quite close to a large cliff, one of our kayakers was close as well. Our rafting guides instructed us to slow down and back away as rocks could potentially fall. Ironically, as we were saying that, about 20 rocks fell in the water nearby. That night, our campsite was even better than the first, with softer ground to sleep on. Most of us got a good night's rest so we were ready for our last day.

Day 4

Our last day travelling was easy-going, meeting a few speedy rapids along the way. Everyone was looking forward to a nice warm shower and good toilet conditions that night. We got back to camp, set our tents up, and most of us slept until dinner. That night, we were treated to pizza, curly fries followed by brownies and ice cream for dessert, rewarding us for our hard work.

Day 5

On the last day, we packed everything away, and walked up to the small town of Mangaweka. We had a look around and walked up the hill to look at the old railway tunnel. After that we headed back and had lunch. We were then picked up and headed back towards PNBHS.

Overall, the camp was a memorable experience that put all of us outside our comfort zones. Thanks to Mr. Liengme and Mr. Langley who made this trip possible.

Campbell Mackintosh