Te Araroa 15/11/25

Day 52, John Coull Campsite to Tieke Marae campsite (1288)

There was some very heavy rain overnight but it stopped by about 8.00 so we left a soggy campsite with wet tents in our barrels before negotiating the scrum at the landing place to extract our boats.

Boat scrum

The same crews as yesterday but Erik and Owen changed ends. Ruby managed to fall off her kayak in an eddy but clambered back on successfully.

Beautiful morning 

The scenery was the same as yesterday but just as good to look at.

More river

There were no serious rapids again due to the height of the river. We decided not to walk up to the 'Bridge to Nowhere' as there were crowds of boats at the landing and we wanted to get to camp early to dry everything and enjoy the sunshine.

Rafted up and drifting 

Drifting down the river in the sun was really delightful, just dip the paddle now and then to keep pointing down river with an occasional 'interesting' bit, to add a little excitement.

Campsite 

We arrived at the excellent Mauri run campsite before anyone else and found a good corner for our tents after carrying the barrels up from the landing place.

Tranquility 

Unfortunately I left my inflated mattress in the sun and burst a couple of baffles in it, hopefully it won't get worse.