Day 399: Whanganui Journey (5)

Highlight:

It was so nice to reach Whanganui today! To know I would reach Rob and George and cross over with Trents trip. 7 days ago when I was so far away, I wondered if I'd get a hug. I did. And with the honor being their 50th guest this season, I got to serve the cheese cake.

An evening on the deck with good company, classic cottage pie, and kōrero. I hadn't looked at the map or decided my plans for tomorrow. I would have to wake up early to get the low tide option. So I went to bed, happy to wake when ever I did knowing I'll properly take the road.

Challenge:

Humm the water is looking lower than when we parked up yesterday afternoon. Wasn't it meant to be high tide now?

After paddling at full steam all the way to the Whanganui Holiday Park, we were certain we didn't have the current going with us. At one point, went faced my a never ending gusts of wind. After barely holding our position, let alone make any forward momentum. Charlie suggested we head for shore. We were lucky there was a bit of a beach, and we were able to walk the canoe along and make some ground. After about 200m the beach turned to over grown trees, so we were back in the boat, but now more sheltered. 500m more and we reached our destination, now on dry land we checked the tide information. We had left on low tide, exactly the opposite of what we were intending. I had got 2021 tide information from Taumarunui Canoe hire, and the others had had the opposite tide time provided.

Learning:

It was special to learn about Rob and Gorge's pou kōrero. And hear about how it come to be, and the stories it told. The mountains; Pīhanga looked over by Tongariro, Ngauruhoe, Ruapehu. The Wanganui river craved out my Taranaki. He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni / Declaration of Independence & Te Tiriti. Aotea / canoe. And more recently 79-day occupation of Moutoa Gardens.

Summary: