A series of unfortunate events.
Trip Start
Sep 01, 2005
1
31
65
Trip End
May 11, 2006
National Park,
New Zealand
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
I was coming from Taupo which is about 2 hours north of National Park, I ended up in Whanganui which is about 2 hours south of National Park. As you can see I took a very long way round.
When I arrived at Whanganui I discovered that there were no more buses going up to National Park that evening. The next bus up there was 12 o'clock the next day. I was due to be picked up from my hostel at 8am the next day for my canoe trip on the Whanganui river. Clearly the 12 o'clock bus was not going to work. I had to get up there that evening. Hitch hiking was the only option.
I had a long walk out of Whanganui to the beginning of Highway 4 that runs all the way up to National Park. This wasn't help any by the fact that one of the straps of my heavy rucksack had been busted when the nice woman who gave me a lift from the bus station to the hostel slammed it in her car boot. After getting to the start off Highway 4 I stuck my thumb out, the second car to pass stopped and picked me up -simple. Kind of. She was only going 15km up the road and then she was turning off. She assured me that that would be a better place as it was more out of town.
Highway 4 runs from Whanganui to Taupo, right through the national park. There isn't much in between. I got dropped in the middle of no where. I stuck my thumb out again. My beginners luck didn't seem to be so successful this time. There were hardly any cars passing at all, and the ones that did were not stopping for me. I wouldn't pick me up in the middle of no where. I was starting to think I'd have to get my sleeping bag out and kip the night in a field. I was sure if the sun went down I would never get picked up. Eventually this boy racer flew passed, pulled over, and reversed back. "Boy racer just turned 17, gets in a car, thinks he's Nikky Lauder. Well I've got new for you Charlie Big Potatoes". He was going all the way to National Park, about 2 hours away. I eventually made it there, 5 hours late.
The next morning I got picked up from my hostel to canoe the river. After the madness of Christmas it was really nice to be on the Whanganui. The river is surrounded by forest and jungle; there's no roads, tracks, or paths near by, and no way to get off the river once your on it. I saw a few people along the way but most of the time it was just me on my own out in the middle of no where.
