on the river, day 2
Another beautiful day on the river today. We paddled through a few mild rapids, but mostly the river was slow today. We stopped for lunch at the “bridge to nowhere” which is a bridge they built after world war II, when the Crown was giving away land in this area and people were moving here in droves. Then, in the late 40’s, a depression hit NZ, the boom ended and most of the people who were here gave up and left, looking for land that was a bit easier to farm. Other than the fact that it was concrete bridge in the middle of the woods, there was nothing too remarkable about it. There was nothing too remarkable about the rest of our day, either. It was pleasant and relaxing and all of that, but we just paddled all day. Tomorrow we’re back to reality, pulling out the river and driving 5 hours to Wellington to catch our ferry to the south island on Tuesday. The hut warden at the place we stayed last night was nice enough to give us a few suggestions of places to check out, places that are a bit more off the beaten track, that might not be swarmed with people this time of year. It’s the best time to be in NZ, but unfortunately that isn’t much of a secret and 1/2 the world is here.
Tags: New Zealand, Travel, Whanganui River
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