|
The next to the last night on our Rangitikei River
rafting adventure we camped in this open area along the river, which was
we thought a pleasant change from several of our more confined
campsites. We arrived late and were leaving early so sun exposure
would no be an issue. It was nice to spread out.
New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle |
|
The rafts, Water
Striders and cataraft are tied up to trees along the bank below a
steep and sandy patch of open ground.
New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle |
|
John, Matt and Dave set up a double fly near the camp kitchen.
Note that Kiwis, at least the ones we know, prefer camping flies to
tents. There is typically little or no problem with mosquitoes
in NZ, no snakes, no hairy spiders, only the occasional Australian
opossum. Flies are easier to pitch and lighter to carry.
New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle |
Larry, Dave, Matt and Pam are gathered around the
campfire in preparation for dinner.
New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle
Ruth and Geoff pitched their fly 100 plus meters from the campfire.
New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle |
Ron and Pam did the
same, maybe 150 meters.
New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle |
|
We
got the dinner fixings ready to go.
New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle |
|
Fresh carrots, onions!
New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle |
|
Matt does a masterful job fire building.
New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle |
|
After dinner Bill went downstream to try his hand at a trout or two.
New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle |
|
Geoff scouts for deer on the surrounding hillsides. When we
arrived earlier in the afternoon we saw wild horses on the mountain
above us.
New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle |
|
The aloft wind speeds were picking up sharply as the sun was setting
over the Kaimanawa Mountains. For more information about high
wind potential for the Ruahine area in general, read this
NZ Government Publication. To
make a longer story shorter, the winds on the ground began to
increase sharply a little after 10 PM and by midnight we had an
absolute blow down with winds easily exceeding 100 kph at ground
level. About 2 AM we decided to move to John's fly only to
find it down to the ground so we staked our fly to the ground as
closely as we could and slept the rest of the night huddled but
mostly dry. When the sun came up, Ron's Water Strider was over
200 meters up the mountain still tied to the uprooted tree, the two
large rafts had been blown up a 40% grade bank and turned around 180
degrees. We all survived AOK but it was one of the most
interesting nights I have spend in the wild, and I have spent quite
a few.
New Zealand Photo Images by Ron Castle |
|
See
more pictures of New Zealand and the Rangitikei River adventure here
in
Part 4. |
|
Top |
|
