Simon's Te Araroa Hike: Day 63: John Coull Hut to Ngaporo Campsite (44km, 8.5 hours)

There was once again some heavy rain and wind overnight - poor Jonnie in her tent! Over breakfast (muesli) the ranger said that apparently the river had risen a metre but then dropped down just as quickly, so it was safe to push on. After repacking our barrels, lugging them back down the hill and lashing them into the canoe, we were off at 8am.

We had arranged to alternate positions in the canoe, and I think after yesterday Jonnie was glad to hand the steering over to me today. There is certainly more responsibility in the back! But as luck would have it the going was a little easier today, with only relatively minor rapids that we navigated down without mishap. The morning was cloudy, and once again the river was amazing, still passing through bush-covered ravines. We frequently saw wild goats and ducks at the river's edge, and tui and kereru in the trees alongside.

The river goes ever on...

Jonnie and I were getting along well. It was slightly surreal to be spending so much time with an ex-student, but fun to compare notes, and fascinating to hear her experiences both at school and in the USA. And we were both also very comfortable with paddling along in silence, just appreciating the river.

At about 11am we reached the small landing to the Bridge to Nowhere - a major stone bridge built by settlers in the area, most of whom had moved on by the time of completion so it ended up unused. The landing was rather narrow and slippery, but the easy 30-minute walk to the bridge was a good chance to stretch our legs. Jonnie took some pics (both of the bridge and subsequently down the river), hopefully I'll be able to get some from her down the line and will add them to my blog when I do.

Waving at Chris and Lynne, who snapped this as they passed by while we were tying up the boat at the Bridge to Nowhere landing. Along with a random stranger.

Back on the river, the afternoon was harder going. After last night's rain the river seemed swollen, with strange eddies and drifting logs. There were few rapids and the current was rather slow, much less than yesterday; and with an increasing headwind it became harder to steer and took much more effort to make progress. It threatened to rain (though never did), but trying to stay ahead of the bad weather I decided to press on without taking a proper lunch break. Jonnie wisely made her lunch in the boat while we drifted (her go-to lunch is a wrap with peanut butter, honey and oatmeal!?!), but I couldn't be bothered to try to open my sealed food barrel on the river. Bad call - I got progressively more tired and frustrated as the headwind got stronger over the course of the afternoon. I largely paddled in grumpy silence.

We finally arrived at our campsite exhausted, at about 4:30pm. Chris and Lynne were already there waving as we arrived. We lugged our barrels up the obligatory hill, but I was still tired and grumpy and in no mood to talk to anyone - I needed to sit in silence for 15 minutes and eat half of my emergency salami before I started to be human again.

Arriving at Ngaporo campsite

Recovering with the help of a salami.

The campsite was just a piece of grass, a couple of toilets, a water tank, and a little shelter with a table for cooking and eating. It was just the four of us here today - we were expecting Shaz, Bex and Stuart to be here, but we eventually found an "intentions" book and saw that they had left a note for us saying they were continuing downstream. After another emergency Jim Bean & coke (and also my emergency pringles!), it was tortellini again for dinner.

There were no mishaps today, but we had been on the river for much longer than yesterday. After taking a few pics, I was in my sleeping bag by 7pm.