Day 40 - Mangawaiiti

A foggy morning, but I was not concerned. Another beautiful day is forecasted, it’ll burn off. I hope. 

We were all excited for another beautiful day on the river, and hit the water in good spirits. Or maybe it was because it is Christmas today! 

Today the river took us further into the Whanganui national park, the densest bush in all of New Zealand. Impossible to get out through the bush, the only way out is down the river. From the river we may as well have been the middle of the Amazon Rainforest or deep in Borneo. It really felt like an expedition into the Jurassic era. A good feeling. 

It was another hot day full of swimming and drinking cold beer on the river. Who said thru hiking was hard? 

We reached our camp, Mangawaiiti, and set up camp. This entailed hauling our heavy dry barrels up some steep steps, hard work for lazy bones. 

For Christmas dinner we shared some rice and Indian sauces, along with a rare fresh salad, and to top it off we had cake at the end! We spent the evening playing card games and watching the stars light up in the warm evening. A very different Christmas to that of Canada.