For breakfast we brought along lots of cereal and 3 liters of UHT milk. This is the milk that doesn't need refridgeration. Also we heated water for coffee and tea. As we enjoyed breakfast the first morning on the river (under the protection of the hut) the weather cycled from sun to rain and back about 4 times.

The flooding had washed out the trail from the river to the camp and it was a bit treachorous moving the gear down the eroded slope but we managed to start without incident, unlike the next morning.

The gorge got deeper and deeper as we went. Few of the rapids listed on that worthless map I bought in Auckland ever appeared. The sides were very steep, often vertical for 40 or 50 feet on both sides. And the rocks were covered with hanging ferns and grasses and moss. Above the cliffs grew hundreds of tree ferns and from out of tunnels in the forest came many many waterfalls, some pouring directly into the river like fountains 30 feet high. In the rain it looked especially tropical -- like Hawaii.

There was a waterfall about every 500 meters. Some poured straight in, others slid down the limestone walls.

Sometimes the tributaries cut crevices in the cliffs. We paddles into a few of them. They're about 8 or 10 feet wide and go straight up about 30 or 40 feet. We could follow them in around a few turns maybe 75 feet from the river.

Little creeks flowing down stair-stepping waterfalls at the end of the crevice were irresistable. We really wanted to get out and explore them. Unfortunately, it was extremely difficult to get out. Mississippi bayou style mud lines the edges and the water was far too cold to walk through. We tried and the mud mired us immediately.

The second night we camped at Kaiwaka, another place where the shore had washed out during the floods. It had an identical hut to the first one.

It was cool and misty again the next morning and we had even more trouble loading the canoes here. I stood on some grassy land next to the water trying to load everything and keep the canoe from floating away. After a few minutes the land I stood on had sunk and I stood instead in a foot of pure muck. As you can imagine, I was a bit frustrated: the day was just beginning and already my feet were saoked and I was covered with mud.

Half way through the day we hiked about an hour to a place called the "Bridge to Nowhere." The path goes though the fern forest to a bridge built in the 30's for a community that was abandon 5 years later. You have to look close to find signs of the village but the bridge was built so well it will probably last another 50 years.

The limestone and sandstone rock in the area is so soft the river, creeks, streams, and even trickles of water dig deep, steep sided canals. The bridge to nowhere is hundreds of feet above the water but not very long. A foot bridge on the path crossed a stream canyon 10 feet deep and only about 2 feet wide.

When we got back to the boat, we met Klaus a German guy on his first ever Kayak trip. We didn't talk to him long but ended up spending a lot more time with him later.

The sun had come out while we hiked and as so often happens, the remaining float that day was not notable but was excellent.

Joan was excited about our destination for that night but I was not. We were heading to a place called Tieke Marae on the map. Originally it was just another Department of Conservation hut exactly the others. Four years ago on Sept. 15, 1993, several Maori people decided to occupy it. They claimed that it was originally their ancestor's land and it had never legally been purchased or otherwise aquired by the Department of Conservation. So they laid claim to the land by living on it.

The Maori occupiers are still there but they continue to let the boaters use it to camp as long as they behave as guests. The DOC has done nothing to remove them. In fact, the DOC pamphlet on the river describes the procedure for camping at Tieke Marae. It involves a welcome ceremony, a gift, and even a speech.

My first reaction was to avoid this place. I like to avoid people on river trips, not seek them out. Joan however, was excited by the idea. She really wanted to see what was going on there. More and more I realized that in the interest of adventure, we really must stop. So we did.

next: Tieke Marae 

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