Day 51, Whakahoro to Join Coull Campsite (1276)
A slightly damp morning with a few showers that gradually turned sunny by evening.
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| Morning coffee at the café |
The café opened early so everyone ended up there to wait for our canoes to be delivered.
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| Canoe jam at the slipway |
It was a busy morning at the slipway as about forty canoes were being organised.
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| Getting on the water |
We found our food barrels, filled other barrels with our gear and loaded everything into the canoes.
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| Daniella at the front of my canoe |
A quick paddle up the river to get the feel of the boat then sign the form and away.
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| Loaded canoes starting on the river |
The river was quite high and moving fast which helped both for speed of travel and in covering some of the rapids.
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| Superb scenery |
The scenery was superb, just wild bush on both sides with a few grassy bits but mostly steep cliff banks.
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| Stop to empty Owen and Erik's canoe |
Goats along the shore, ducks and ducklings in the water and a few rocks, bits of tree and rapids to negotiate.
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| Speeding down the river |
Erik and Owen had an argument with a log which turned over their canoe and they had quite a distance to go in the water before finding a suitable place to land and empty the boat.
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| What a beautiful place |
Due to the speed of the river it was easy for a small misunderstanding to escalate very quickly and end up as two very cold canoeists. Daniella and myself came close a couple of times in our canoe as well.
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| Unloading at the campsite |
Despite the late start we got to the campsite quite early, due to the speed of the river, to find plenty of other boats already there.
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| John Coull Campsite |
The campsite is small but between that and the hut everyone found enough space. In the evening I counted 26 canoes and 3 kayaks at the landing.
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| A great day |
In the tent early to rest muscles that weren't used to the exercise.
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