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.

Ruth and Geoff pitched their fly 100 plus meters from the campfire.
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.