Whanganui to Wellington
Tuesday, March 6th, 2007Yesterday was a very long day. We woke up beside the Whanganui river and slept in Wellington, which is about a 5 hour paddle and another 5 hour drive away. We’re staying with Rich, a friend of Beth’s, from Anna’s work, and we are very appreciative of the accomodations he’s offered us. It is from his computer that I am posting and it was on his floor that we slept last night, and very soundly, I might add.
The section of the river we did yesterday was great fun; there were three big rapids, the largest we’d seen thus far, and it was quite and adventure to navigate through them. The first was a breeze–we took on a little water, but a bit of bailing in the slow section after took care of that. The second was terrifying. At first, it was difficult to see where the water went, so we didn’t know where to go. Then, once we’d entered the channel, it was very rough and, once the current had us firmly and we didn’t have much ability to maneuver, we spotted the enormous rock in the center of the channel, which, of course, we were heading straight for. We managed to miss it, but shot straight toward the bank of the river: a solid rock cliff. As the water turned, though, so did our canoe and we made it through without tipping. The third rapid was huge, with big swells. We took on lots of water and spun completely around (which is dangerous, particularly when you’re perpendicular to the current), but made it through upright and only a little wet. On both the second and third rapid, we saw people who came down after us tip and go in, which made us feel all the better about ourselves.
After the canoe ride, we had to go back to where we started to pick up our car and then drive down to Wellington. We finally made it here around 10 at night, but we were both tired and along the way, I had a close encounter with a guard rail. I was too focused on staying to the left, I guess, and nicked the rail on a corner. Shit.
So I called the rental company today and they said I could either fix it or return it as is and pay them to fix it. We’ll have to get a couple of estimates and figure out how long it will take to get it fixed before we do anything, but that’s a headache that I wish we didn’t have to deal with. The damage isn’t too bad, just a couple of scratches, and if it were my car I wouldn’t even bother fixing it, but unfortunately, it’s not. These rental places are real sticklers about not damaging their cars, about you being responsibile and all that nonsense. Oh well. We’ll deal with it. It just means that we’ll be eating 2 minute noodles and peanut butter from now until july. Hooray.
awrichner