Day 49: Happy Flipping Thanksgiving

November 28th, 2019

Kilometers: 1265.2-1301.7

Ngaporo Campsite- Flying Fox

There were some Germans in our camp last night who stayed up late in the main area drinking and making a lot of noise. Peter yelled at them a few times and they eventually got quiet around 11. 

We woke up at 7 and took our time getting out of our tents. The sky was gray and the temperature was only around 60 degrees.

Alex and I had some bars for breakfast before carrying the barrels back down the hill to the boats. 

At around 8:15am we set off for the day right into a short stretch of small rapids. 

The rapids were getting increasingly challenging as we neared the area of Pipiriki. 

Right before Pipiriki, we found ourselves at the challenging 50/50 rapid. They call it this because 50% of boats flip here. Alex and I watched Charlie barely make it through on the kayak followed by Peter and Matthew in the canoe successfully. 

Feeling even more confident now, we strapped the camera to the front of the boat and set off for the middle of the rapid, by far the largest part. The boat easily made it through the first few bumps but they were growing and doing so quickly. About halfway through, the nose of the boat soared to the sky and then dropped right into the valley of the biggest part of the rapid and our fate was sealed. A literal boatload of water rushed over the bow knocking me out and submerging the boat and Alex partially underwater. He managed to keep it under control and got the boat to the bank where we could assess the situation. 

My phone, which stupidly had not been strapped in, sunk to the bottom of the boat. Not so fortunately, my satellite phone was ripped from the karabiner it was on and floated somewhere down stream.

We were able to empty the boat and drain all the water on the bank. 

Unsatisfied, we took the boat back up with Charlie in the front, me in the middle filming, and Alex in the back for another go at it. Our level of success was even lower as the boat flooded again and we tipped and the boat went downstream. Alex and Peter were able to recover it while I floated downriver keeping the camera upright. This time we lost our water bailer.

We once again got it to the bank and Peter, Charlie, and I flipped it and loaded it up while Alex attempted the mighty rapid in the kayak. This time, he cruised through unscathed. 

At this point, it was about 10:15 and without the satellite phone, we felt it was important to get to camp by 4:00pm because the owners closed up then and we needed WiFi to get in touch with someone to deactivate the phone. 

At the next rapid, we took on a large amount of water again and we needed to borrow Peter and Matthew’s bailer. They stopped after they lent it to us and we got a ways ahead of them. At 11:00, we passed Pipiriki and pulled off to the side after a bend to wait for them. There had been a large rapid right before the boat ramp which Alex and I opted to avoid considering we had just had to empty our canoe an hour earlier. We assumed they were going to do the same. They didn’t. This rapid took out both Charlie in the kayak and Peter and Matthew in the canoe. With us having their bailer, it took them a long time to get the water out and get to being able to paddle. 

Eventually, they pulled up on a bank about 500 meters behind us but they were unable to see us. Alex and I ate lunch while trying to figure out if we would be able to reach the campsite in time. 

At noon, after waiting for them for nearly an hour. We decided it would be best to push on our own and apologize when they got their. We both felt really bad but it would be worth it if we got their and were able to get the WiFi and campsite for them before the owners closed up. 

With 28.5km to go and just under four hours to get their, Alex and I set off. 

We paddled for nearly three and a half straight hours and actually made it to camp at 3:39pm. Our arms were exhausted by the time we got to camp and in our rush, we hadn’t gotten to take as many pictures as we would have liked. 

We found a gate to the site locked but found another gate up. The open sign was up so we were confused to the locked gate. 

We made it up to the campsite and found some people we had camped with last night there. They told us that the owners were nowhere to be found. 

After a while of waiting, the Belgians and Matthew showed up with the other group. At this time, the owners also appeared on the other side of the river and started unloading boxes onto The Flying Fox, a cable car system they use to get to their house which has no road access. 

After sometime of us all sitting around, the owners appeared and were not happy. Apparently there had been a “Closed Today” sign that had blown over down near the river. They were going to let us camp their but were very unhappy that some members of the other group opted to climb the locked fence and the owners could see them doing it. 

They showed us the facilities around the campsite and told us to come spend some money at their store. The facilities at the camp were really great and they even had an outdoor shower with hot water. Not to mention free WiFi!

After the group lecture, Peter discovered one of the waterproof barrels wasn’t actually waterproof and his pack, phone, and passport were in there. He was understandably very frustrated and took about an hour trying to get everything dry. 

After we set up camp, we went over to get some things from the store. We apologized and made amends with the owners who ended up being incredibly nice. Matthew and I had a long chat with them and then bought some cookies. 

Alex and I also purchased two bottles of wine from the store to go with our dinner. Our dinner tonight was fettuccine with carbonara sauce and salami. It was actually really good and I kind of missed salami after not having it for a few days. 

After dinner, Peter, Charlie, and I gathered around the table and watched the newest episode of our Star Wars show. Pretty much everyone else at camp thinks it’s super nerdy but we love it. 

Tonight we are going to bed full of food and wine and everyone seems to be in good spirits. 

Happy Flipping Thanksgiving. 

-Ethan