On Day 2 we paddled 33km to Tieke Kainga, stopping for breaks at intervening campsites along the way. Taylor was very quiet this morning, so much so I thought that despite my efforts at restraining myself I might have said something to offend him, but he livened up so I figured maybe he just has his quiet days. Fair enough, so do I. We stopped in at Mangapurua Landing and, while looking for the loo, ended up on the walking track to the Bridge to Nowhere. The bridge was built to open up the terrain to access for farming, but also to provide work during early 1930's. Unfortunately by the time the bridge was completed the farming was already failing and no more than a handful of vehicles ever drove across it. When you see it you can appreciate why. How anyone ever thought they could farm those steep hillsides I'll never understand. By virtue of little use (or perhaps by maintenance as an ongoing tourist attraction) the bridge looks very new, and quite picturesque, popping out of the forest high up on one side of Mangapurua Stream, spanning the water in a symmetrical arch supporting a flat roadway, and disappearing into the forest on the far side. Now it marks the nearing end of a walking track from Whakahoro, and apart from this is only accessible by canoe/kayak or jetboat on the river. The landing is small and jetboats have right of tie-up, so canoers and kayakers are advised to land and then haul their canoes along the bank and tie them up out of the way, lest a frustrated jet boat operator tow them out of their way and tie them up on the other side of the river! It's a relatively short but nice walk from the landing to the bridge (happily with a vault loo along the way). Marie and Eddie caught up with Taylor and I so we explored the bridge together, finding someone had left a note on the picnic table at the far end of the bridge saying "Welcome to Nowhere Guys. Merry Xmas!". On the way back across the bridge I peered down at the water far below and spotted and enormous eel nosing along the stream bank. We watched it for several minutes. The whole place feels very peaceful, isolated and more than a little wild.
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| The Bridge To Nowhere |
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| Season's greetings from an unknown traveler |
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| Spot the eel! |
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| Eddie contemplating how to get back in the canoe |
Late that evening, after exploring a couple of river-side caves, we pulled in at Tieke Kainga, a joint Maori Marae and DOC campsite. Most days around 4:30pm they hold a powhiri or welcoming ceremony for visitors. I thought this would be a fun thing to take part in, but Taylor was not keen, especially after I told him about the obligatory hongi. Perhaps this explained his rather more relaxed paddling this day, ensuring we did not arrive there until nigh on 6pm...with a thunderstorm brewing hard on our heals. As we pulled the canoes out at the landing site the sky downstream was pale blue becoming overcast, while behind us upstream the sky was dark blue and soon flickering with lightening as thunder rumbled overhead. We just managed to pitch our tents on the terraced sites below the marae before the first rain of the night came pelting down. A wonderfully Maori lady named Leslie showed me around and told me to make myself at home. That evening as we ate and sheltered in the communal kitchen/dining hall she came round with free food left over from a large group that had visited a couple of days before: lettuce, ham, chicken and cookies. While at the time I thought I had reveled in the buying food for the trip, volume wise it proved to not be as filling as my normal trail rations and I'm not ashamed to say I took and ate everything Leslie offered me. I'd conveniently forgotten that that particular brand of ham had recently been recalled due to a listeria outbreak...apparently listeria has up to a 70 day latency period so I won't know until mid-March if I've got away with my greediness or not!
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| Landing at Tieke Kainga...with a thunderstorm hard on our heals. |
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| Campsites at Tieke Kainga |
I was just drifting off to sleep listening to the rain spattering on my tent when I heard Leslie call out to everyone to get up; the rain was settling in for the night and we needed to help move the 'waka' further up the river bank to prevent them from potentially being washed away over (important to keep your camp clothes dry!) and tumbled out of my tent to stumble off down to the river to help. It was a truly impressive sight seeing most people (with a few exceptions) throw themselves into the task of untying the numerous canoes, carrying them across the gravel to the path, and then forming a human chain up the track to a flattish-spot where the canoes could be stacked. Eddie in particular was here, there and everywhere, and seemed to be able to send a canoe flying up the river bank with a single good shove. Canoes safely (if haphazardly) stacked on higher ground Leslie called out a thanks that indicated job done and we all traipsed off to bed. I hoped I'd sleep better for the late-night exercise :)
On Day 2 we paddled 33km to Tieke Kainga, stopping for breaks at intervening campsites along the way. Taylor was very quiet this morning, so much so I thought that despite my efforts at restraining myself I might have said something to offend him, but he livened up so I figured maybe he just has his quiet days. Fair enough, so do I. We stopped in at Mangapurua Landing and, while looking for the loo, ended up on the walking track to the Bridge to Nowhere. The bridge was built to open up the terrain to access for farming, but also to provide work during early 1930's. Unfortunately by the time the bridge was completed the farming was already failing and no more than a handful of vehicles ever drove across it. When you see it you can appreciate why. How anyone ever thought they could farm those steep hillsides I'll never understand. By virtue of little use (or perhaps by maintenance as an ongoing tourist attraction) the bridge looks very new, and quite picturesque, popping out of the forest high up on one side of Mangapurua Stream, spanning the water in a symmetrical arch supporting a flat roadway, and disappearing into the forest on the far side. Now it marks the nearing end of a walking track from Whakahoro, and apart from this is only accessible by canoe/kayak or jetboat on the river. The landing is small and jetboats have right of tie-up, so canoers and kayakers are advised to land and then haul their canoes along the bank and tie them up out of the way, lest a frustrated jet boat operator tow them out of their way and tie them up on the other side of the river! It's a relatively short but nice walk from the landing to the bridge (happily with a vault loo along the way). Marie and Eddie caught up with Taylor and I so we explored the bridge together, finding someone had left a note on the picnic table at the far end of the bridge saying "Welcome to Nowhere Guys. Merry Xmas!". On the way back across the bridge I peered down at the water far below and spotted and enormous eel nosing along the stream bank. We watched it for several minutes. The whole place feels very peaceful, isolated and more than a little wild.
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