Dawn at Cairnmuir Cottage
We never did get around to lighting the brazier
Mark is well aware he has lived a charmed life
After packing up all of our things, we crammed back in the car and continued driving south down a big hill to the tiny village of Mangaweka. Our rafting outfitter Mangaweka Adventure Company operates out of the "Mangaweka International Airport," so named because of the DC-3 plane on display above the road that makes the place impossible to miss. Turns out it's not international, or even an airport for that matter. We met our guide Paul, and his trainee Sarah. She would be steering our raft with oars, while Paul followed nearby in a kayak. This was her first trip down this particular river, although she had plenty of previous rafting experience.
A cute dog is the only thing that could pull Ro away from a plane
This was only the 2nd Rangitikei trip of the season for the outfitter. Although the snows had just recently melted around here, the flowers were in full bloom. We all hopped in a van which took us through some very beautiful countryside, passing over tributaries of the Rangitikei in gorges so steep the sun probably only hit the water at noon. We caught a few glimpses of Mt Ruapehu in the distance, which looked like a completely different mountain when viewed over the green rolling hills as opposed to the Rangipo Desert.
Our first stop was at the Mokai Gravity Canyon, where we got to see a daredevil try the Bridge Swing, sort of like a bungy jump but you swing out in a parabolic curve instead of bouncing back up. They also have the highest bungy bridge jump in the North Island, and a 1km Flying Fox.
http://www.gravitycanyon.co.nz/
Overlooking Mokai Gravity Canyon
An adrenaline junkie getting winched back up to the bridge
Our ride continued to a sheep farm, where we ambled about for a bit while our guides got things ready. Ro befriended a cow on the farm, feeding it handfuls of grass by hand. After about 15 minutes, it was time to board our 4wd truck for the steep journey down to the river. Although it was pretty stuffy with all of us crammed into the king cab, we had to keep the windows up to prevent painful bush thistle branches from swinging in the window.
Her nose is slimy!
Once down to the Rangitikei River, the steep cliffs were certainly reminiscent of the River Anduin. We donned our life jackets, pushed the boats into the water, took a few pics, put the cameras into a waterproof Pelican Case, and set off on our rafting adventure. We were the only guests on today's excursion, so it was a relaxed, intimate tour. Ro sat in the front, although he moved around the boat at will. Since Paul was in the kayak, he was able to take pictures of us with his waterproof camera. Hopefully he'll e-mail some to us soon!
http://www.mangaweka.co.nz/raftgrand.htm
No, you can't ride in the kayak, Ro
Ro doesn't live in a glass house, apparently
The Hills ready to raft the Rangitikei
One of the first things we noticed about the canyon was the immense amount of vegetation growing on the steep, sometimes reverse-inclined walls. The ground water from above constantly dripped over the plants, falling off the tips of the leaves to create a constant gentle rain shower along both sides of the gorge. Sherry likened it to a "vertical meadow." There were also lots of small, wispy waterfalls which Ro always wanted Sarah to steer us under. Although there are Class 5 rapids further upstream, our portion of the river was just a Class 2 "eco-float." Not much in the way of adrenaline, but for first-time rafters Norma, Carver, and Ronan it was still pretty exciting. Just 30 seconds into the trip, Ro exclaimed, "This is cool!"
We stopped for lunch on a rocky sandbar. Paul set up the food while Sarah took us on a little side hike up a narrow gorge, wading back and forth across a chilly stream that fed the Rangitikei. Ro soon got cold and wanted to go back and dig in the sand in the sunshine, so Sherry went with him. The up side was that they were the first to eat. The rest of us continued to the end of the dark, shaded gorge, where we were finally greeted by a ray of sunshine. It was illuminating a beautiful, thundering waterfall...simply magnificent! We all agreed on the way back to play it down in front of Sherry and Ro, at least for the time being.
Stopping for lunch
Happily digging in the sand
Sarah giving Norma a steadying hand
Carver contemplated whether or not to continue for a good five minutes
Carver showed up a few minutes later
We had really tasty wraps for lunch, with, among other ingredients, plenty of bacon, fresh avocado, and garlic & basil pine nut pesto...mmmm. Soon it was back in the raft, where Sarah good-naturedly let Ro have a go at the oars (well, one of them anyway). He took to it readily, even calling out commands to us, "easy forward!" He was a little too into it, though, and kept wanting to get back on the oars, even at times it wasn't appropriate, like when were going through rapids. Paul and Sarah freaked him out a lttle bit when they pointed out the "water fairies" - beautiful reflections of light off the water, dancing along the base of the cliffs.
This tastes good, daddy!
Ro itchin' to get going again
As we were passing the cliffs from the scene in The Fellowship of the Ring, Paul gave us some insider movie info since he was one of the safety consultants for that scene. Facing the cliff, the water flows right to left, but they reversed the picture in the movie so it flows left to right. The scene was shot from a helicopter, and they used jetboats to transport the canoes repeatedly back up the river for more takes. The "hobbits" in the boats were actually puppets. Three days of shooting yielded just a few seconds in the movie.
Our other LOTR setting was a little ways downstream. If you have a copy of the extended edition of FOTR, cue it up to the part where they're recollecting their gifts from Galadriel, and Gimli wistfully recalls, "I asked her for one hair from her golden head...she gave me three." The scene immediately following shows the fellowship leaving the Silverlode River as it joins the River Anduin. This was our next stop. We pulled over on a sandbar, gazing up at a high, thin waterfall (it's hidden opposite the right-hand rock face in the movie). The Rangitikei was flowing pretty fast; Mark fought the rushing thigh-high water, walking about halfway across to snap some pics of the confluence of the two rivers from up close. The very next scene shows the aforementioned cliffs. Note all the vegetation on the sheer walls; the red color is lichen, not iron oxide.
Standing in the middle of the River Anduin (i.e. Rangitikei), looking at the Silverlode (from the reverse angle that's in the movie)
Same spot, looking in opposite direction
What say we toss him in, eh?
Mark at the confluence of the two rivers
Ro did pretty well, considering. He would alternately lie down to rest, then get up a few seconds later and want to row again. He was getting a little whiny by the third hour (the outfitter doesn't normally take kids on this particular trip), so Paul instructed us to, "break out the bribes." We opened the bag of Cadbury Crunchie and Picnic bars, so that Mark's family could try the famous Crunchies they'd heard about (they'd already tasted little pieces of it in the Hokey Pokey ice cream). With Ro temporarily pacified, we continued our journey downriver. For a while, we had to put on helmets as we went through an area with inverted cliffs and potential rockfalls.
About an hour from the end, we rounded a bend and started getting cell phone reception again, so Paul texted the staff as to when to come pick us up. Soon we saw the Mokai Gravity Canyon bridge looming above us, and were treated to an adventurer doing the Flying Fox, zooming right above our heads. We all agreed that the Fox looked to be the most fun of the rides, if only because it lasts a lot longer.
Coming around a bend, we saw the fossil-impregnated cliffs give way to green hills, marking the end of our journey through the Grand Canyons of the Rangitikei. The 4wd truck was waiting for us on the sandbar, but there wasn't enough room in it for all of us, so Mark and Ro rode in the raft on the trailer with a few staff members as we climbed up the steep track and through another sheep farm.
Chillin' with the rafting crew
That didn't take long
Tea time
After a quick stop at a lookout along the Desert Road (only Mark and Cerine got out) to snap a few pics of the volcanoes, we continued on to Taupo. Parking along the shore, we walked over to the row of restaurants overlooking the lake. Sherry picked up a Subway sub for Ro, while the rest of us went to BurgerFuel. As Carver put it, "it's no Char-Grill," but it's still pretty tasty, and Cerine was happy to find a good veggie burger. Norma wasn't hungry, and just sipped on a Lemon & Paeroa after sampling Mark's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemon_&_Paeroa
Mt Ngauruhoe
Mark along the Desert Road
Norma & Carver at Lake Taupo
Dinner al fresco
A duck just happened to waddle by
Ro was in a much better mood after Taupo, happily letting Norma teach him to play Cat's Cradle with some knitting yarn, finally falling asleep again after the sun set. There's a high crash rate on rural NZ roads, and it wasn't hard to see why. Lots of sharp curves, poor lighting (if any), and high speeds make for a bad combination. Despite the cramped quarters in the backseat, we were all glad we didn't take two cars. With the exception of a minor navigation snafu in Rotorua (Mark and Sherry are still working on their directional communication), we made it home without incident. We were back at The Anchorage just before 10pm, and after a little fussing at being woken up again, Ro promptly passed out once in bed. We were all tired, but glad to have made such a memorable foray into Middle Earth.
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