On the approach to Ohakune there is a giant carrot (approx 6 metres tall) with a sign next to it telling us that this is where our adventure would begin. Encouraged by the sign and disturbed by the carrot we went to meet the guy who had foolishly agreed to rent us a canoe, tent etc for our 3 day canoeing trek down the river. About half an hour of questions and 30 seconds of answers later we were no clearer about exactly what the trip entailed but we did have some printed instructions to work through and figure out before we were set loose.

Fortunately the morning came and we found ourselves in a minibus with a Scottish couple who were equally clueless, which was comforting. Even more reassuringly, as we were about to set off we met a Kiwi who had already had 5 beers each and had another 96 for the three days. We all set off individually but soon found ourselves overtaking each other, shouting ill thought out advice across rapids and encouraging each other when the difficulty of paddling 38km down a slow flowing river before sunk in. We were massively cheered up when we reached the first campsite and found the cabin had plenty of spare beds. Over a bottle of wine with our new Scottish chums the blisters and aching shoulders began to ease.

Day 2 was very similar to day 1 but that really isn't a criticism. The river water was warm, the scenery gorgeous (quite literally as the Wanganui has cut its way down into the rock 50-100m in places) and a couple of torrential downpours aside we trundled on. We were passed regularly by the Kiwi couple who had managed to fit an outboard motor in their luggage and therefore managed twice as many stops (a necessity when you have 96 beers to get through). Good Samaritans that we are we helped them out with their beer surplus in the evening which we spent keeping out of the way of a big family of Maoris who were preparing a massive 60th birthday party in the Morae (meeting place) right next to our hut.

The final straight was riddled with big rapids and we came closest to capsizing after several big waves made their way into our boat via Rachelle but mostly through luck we wobbled to shore to bail out and chuckle at a French couple flipping over in exactly the same spot.55 Miles down the river from where we set off we completed the trip and our shoulders ached as if we carried the canoe the whole way.

On the way North from Ohakune to Auckland (past the giant carrot) we stopped at Waitomo home of the glow worm caves for a spot of black water rafting. Basically this consists of walking, floating and jumping through a cave system in a really thick wetsuit with your best pal for the afternoon - a large rubber ring. Black water rafting is very similar to canyoning but for the long periods spent floating through the caves lit by nothing but thousands of glow worms. It was a strange experience, not exactly what I was expecting but peaceful and tranquil. In fact we liked it so much we went for a walk that night through some more caves to get our glow worm fix before we left.

So now we are on our way to South America with Santiago our first stop for a night as we make our way to Rio and our hostel on Copacabana beach. The easy traveling is over, bring it on.

Love A & R