New Zealand's Whanganui River Journey Great Walk: It'll Strengthen Your Relationship

"Well, we went down yonder on the Whanganui, never knew how much that muddy water would mean to us!" The Whanganui Journey is considered a Great Walk in New Zealand and traveling the river is the only way to see Whangnanui National Park. Heck yeah! We couldn’t miss out on this new type of adventure!

Most folks hire a Canadian Canoe and all the gear, but since we have our inflatable kayak we decided to save some dollars and kayak down the river. Only after a few hours, we realized the reason for the canoes and began looking longingly at all of the canoes that passed us. Our kayak has a wide, flat bottom causing tons of drag and making us take. for. ever. to get down the river. No rain in awhile meant the water was low and the current was slow. Other canoeists would just look at us curiously (we were the only “different” ones in an inflatable kayak), make small talk for the few moments it took them to effortlessly pass us, and would continue on. With constant paddling and no help from the river, we quickly realized the physical meaning of team work. We had no choice but to work together. To paddle separately was a waste of precious energy and wasn’t worth much as we had to paddle the 56 miles down the Whanganui.

True professional rowers, Ingrid and Berend from the Netherlands. They put us to shame:)

Just to share the stats, the first day we kayaked from 10:30 am to 7:00 pm! After 8 hours of kayaking, morale was low and I was tired and cranky. Where was this stinking campsite?!? Then, BAM! Ah! Ah! Something was stinging me! I went flailing all over the kayak and screamed for Adam to get it off me. “Lindsey, stop it. It’s just a splinter.” Had I been rubbing up on trees for the last 8 hours? I don’t think so! We had been in the middle of a river for the last 8 hours! With no help from Adam, I flailed around some more with screaming and crying. I knew something had stung me and through some adreniline flexing magic, I had thrown the wasps body from inside the back of my shirt to the front of the kayak. What a stinkin' bugger! The so called "splinter" was a daggum stinger! Geez, Adam!

Awesome side journey!

Well, with exhaustion and shock, my flood gates opened and I had a complete meltdown. I just cried and cried and cried and cried even more. “I just want to go home. And, we don’t even have a home to go to!” We were in the middle of nowhere, on a river, with no way out except to keep paddling down the freaking river! We had two more days to go and I was thinking, “What have I gotten myself into.” While I was crying and moaning, the ridiculously slow moving current of the Whanganui brought us in sight of our campground along the river. Those green and yellow DOC signs became our best friends on that river. A sign of hope, a sign of progress and a sign of home for the night!

Well daggum, doesn’t that always happen. You have your meltdown and moment of giving up just right before you arrive at your destination. That’s where the quote comes from, “Never give up on a hike,” because you are probably 5 minutes from the best part.

Well, day one ended with exhaustion and a messy dinner with knocked over tea (our dessert for the day). This day was the worst and it was done. From there, the journey only got better. Day two we went less miles and kayaked from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Better! Adam found us a beautiful slot canyon at our lunch stop only after escaping the grasps of a monster spider and prehistoric eel.

Our evening was spent in a traditional ceremony with local Maori where they welcomed us onto their land with an introduction to their culture, their origins, who they are and enriched the speech with songs. Each of the guests that had canoed past us on the river were also invited. The men were given a wooden spear to designate who was speaking and who he was introducing. To enrich Adam’s introduction of the Nuberns, we chose to sing, “Way down yonder on the Chattahoochee, never knew how much that muddy water meant to me” for everyone. Needless to say, we received a standing ovation. Bah! Not really! The ceremony was an incredible international experience with Canadians, French, Dutch, Germans, Kiwis, Maoris, and the Americans all singing to one another of songs of home. What a night! To get us even more out of our comfort zone, once the guests introduce themselves, the Maori’s welcome the guests onto their land. To confirm the welcoming, everyone lines up and the hosts and the guests all touch foreheads and noses and breath in each others' spirits. What an intimate tradition to really get comfortable with one another!

The Maori Mari where they welcomed us!

Day 3 came and I didn’t want to get off the river. The last day of a long journey gave me fresh eyes and I loved it on the water. Not to mention, our arms were looking pretty ripped! The river gave us an incredible last morning with every bend covered in mist and the white cliffs and bright green bush slowly coming into view as the mist lifted from the sun’s heat. It was gorgeous! Our biggest rapids on the river came the last day and with Adam’s expert steering skills, we made it through each rapid without capsizing. The canoeists couldn't boast the same:)

Our new Canadian friends way ahead of us. 

"The Whanganui, the Whanganui... the Whanganui, the Whanganui" became our chant along the river in the boat with just Adam, myself, the water, the birds and the sky out in the middle of nowhere.

Looking to mend a relationship? Get in a kayak and head down the Whanganui!

We say, "Do it!"

New Zealand Adventures When You Say Yes to Everything!

What would happen in your life if you said yes to every single invitation you received? Ha! You could expect loads of awkward moments, because you really don’t know this person that just invited you for dinner. You could expect a plethora of moments of being out of your comfort zone, because what will you talk about? What are they going to serve? It’s too much of the unknown! On the other hand, who will you meet? What will you talk about? What will you learn? What food will you try? With the right perspective, saying yes is heaps of adventure!

Read the book The Yes Man recently? The author shared his journey of challenging himself to say yes to every invitation he received and the amazing and crazy adventures that came along with this challenge. Our lives have strangely paralleled the pages in this book over the last three weeks. Doors opened and opened and nuventures were had!

These three weeks were committed to house sitting and caring for the pug, Master Zeus, and Madam Kitty in Hamilton, New Zealand while their owners were away on holiday. We got this opportunity through trusthousesitters.com. Check it out! However, every travel book and website we visited didn’t have much to say about Hamilton. That didn’t extinguish our excitement. We were eager to have a home to stay in, animals to care for, and we dreamed of having normalcy over the holidays.

Exploring Hamilton Gardens

The maze of gardens feels never-ending. We got lost in the maze all day. 

The only souls we knew in Hamilton were Iris and Mike, the family we were sitting for, and they were leaving the coup for three weeks while we were filling in. Now, what do we do in a town for three weeks without knowing anyone?

So, we did what we know how to do. We got out there and started doing! Farmers market? Yes! Let’s go. Free bikes for hire? Yes! Let’s go! Along the way, we learned to say yes to every opportunity that came across our path. Our only commitments for three weeks were feeding Master Zeus and Madam Kitty, so I’d say we had plenty of free time.

Meet Master Zeus. 

Meet Madam Kitty. 

Walk through the park? Yes, of course! While walking, we saw a group of folks in uniforms tossing a rugby ball around. Alright! We were pumped to watch our first live rugby game. So, we asked what time it started, which led to asking if they needed subs. We thought we would be watching, but instead got to play in our first touch rugby match! Heck no, we had never played before and were getting a crash course while we played. We were being yelled to and instructed constantly from left and right with corrections by our teammates and even the referee who now knew us by name. “No, Adam, roll it between the legs.” “Linds, get back. More, more. There. Good!” Oh, the challenges and humility that comes with learning a new sport. By saying yes to touch rugby, though, we met Taila who invited us to Christmas lunch with her family on the beach! What an experience!

Go Team Jucy!

Church? Yes! Let’s go! Chapel Hill Church was just a short walk away from the house. We expected to head out right after the service, because there was a lunch honoring everyone for volunteering all year. Well, this was our first service and we definitely hadn’t volunteered. Christine and Gavyn’s little girl was playing peek- a- boo with us all service long, so they struck up a conversation with their daughter’s new friends and invited us to the church luncheon. Well, “Yes! Why not?” We had nothing to do that afternoon. One yes led to meeting tons of families and getting invited to go blueberry picking, having dinner with families, game nights, pool parties, and sharing New Years with new friends! Just to clear the record, we helped clean the dishes to fulfill our volunteer duties for the year.

The best part was snacking along the way!

Blueberry muffins on the to-do-list after this. 

Volunteer? Yes! Let’s do it! We sent out emails to different conservation groups. These emails led us to receive invitations to the beach? Yes! To the gully? Yes! To kayak? Yes! To build a canoe? Yes, yes, yes!

Bridal Veil Falls with Tania, Stuart and Nigel. 

Low tide in Raglan. 

Spontaneous picnic!

Kayaking in Raglan, NZ!

The water! Wow!

The kayak mobile to Tania and Stuart's favorite spot: Te Toto Gorge. 

Te Toto Gorge. 

The crew for the day. 

Rex and Adam working on the canoe. 

Lastly, our old Burly Bernie needed a maintenance check up. With Adam’s southern charm he talked the mechanic, Solomon, into having Adam as his apprentice for three days to get a discount on our maintenance work. That yes led Solomon treating the Yankees to an adventure of deep sea fishing off Raglan! You bet I made a delicious ceviche with the blue shark we caught!

Solomon. 

Sunrise to a great day of fishing. 

King fish!

Not as eager to hold the fish as I am to catch 'em!

Caught tons of Garnard. 

The colors!

And, another catch!

Driving the boat. 

Reelin' one in!

Caught us a blue shark! Watch your toes!

Oh, and while we are at it, Adam had an interview to be a model in Hamilton. His modeling career almost took off, however, our traveling lifestyle wasn't what the company was looking for. Saying yes also brings random, hilarious and unexpected opportunities, too!

We recently watched a TED Talk featuring Rick Steve and the value of traveling. Watch it! He was brilliant when he essentially said that travel experiences without meeting new people are flat. People connecting with people is the mark of a good trip. He completely summed up Hamilton for us. The people that invited us to be a part of their lives transformed our three weeks and enriched our lives. We were meeting fantastic people with new ideas, new strengths, new skills and new ways of doing things. We learned so much by people just opening up and sharing time with us. What’s crazy is we began seeing people around town! We actually had friends in Hamilton that knew us by name and we felt a part of the community.

The wise Peter and Christine, who invited us over for dinner, gave us a quote we will always remember. “God’s love takes us on journeys we do not wish to go, makes us travel by roads we do not wish to use, to take us to places we never wish to leave” by Thomas Cranmer. Before arriving in Hamilton, no one would have directed us or suggested us to go there. By the end of our three weeks, we had lists of people to say farewell to and it was a sad afternoon when leaving. The generosity, hospitality and friendliness of our new friends have changed us as individuals and who we want to be.

Have you said yes recently? You are now officially challenged to have your own nuventures by just saying yes!

Our Experience Buying a Campervan in New Zealand and How We Escaped Auckland

Backpacking New Zealand done right is to Step 1: Arrive in Auckland and stay in a slammed hostel on Queen Street. Check. Step 2: Mad dash and throw bows to buy a campervan before all of the other backpackers snag them before you. It took us seven nights and six days in Auckland to check this puppy off our to do list. Pull up your sleeves boys... it’s on!

Hike up to Mount Eden's volcanic crater after campervan scouting. 

As the story goes, we quickly realized New Zealand is best seen by way of the retrofitted campervan that you live in for the time you travel here and then sell to the next backpacker arriving in Auckland. This is the lifecycle of the NZed campervan. However, these aren’t the notorious macdaddy, white RV's that you see lined up one after another after another cruising through the National Parks of the American West. Oh, no. Instead, these campervans are usually soccermom minivans that are transformed by the backpacker. The rear seats are stripped out and replaced by 2x4's that are nailed together to create a platform that holds a sheet of OSB and a foam mattress. Voilà! There you have it! A backpacker’s dream of transportation and accommodation wrapped in one! Given our fresh year visas in NZed, we set out to find our new home. Who knew we would be so eager to buy our first minivan before we have car seats? We definitely didn’t expect this. Oh well, this should be easy, right? What fools we were! Let the craziness begin.

Relearning the joys of a seesaw while waiting to see a campervan. 

So hungry! I'll eat anything!

We spent a total of six full days (I mean full , jam packed, exhausting, please let my feet fall off days) searching for a van. These days were of Adam waking up at 6 am hopping onto our hotel’s one GB limit internet emailing every campervan advertisement out there. After the one GB limit was out, our days were filled with running from Queen Street's McDonald’s to Starbucks to Wendy’s to the library to the second Starbucks and back through the rotation again every hour to get a free hour of internet at each spot. After two days running to and from internet sources every hour waiting for campervan replies and attempting to communicate by email, we realized we had to get a phone to just have a simple conversation with people. The vans were going like hotcakes and we couldn’t wait for email conversations. We talked to two German travelers that expressed the same frustration. You had to show up to the prospect with cash in hand and ready to buy. Bam!

Catching a random parade while running from Starbucks to Wendy's. 

Discovered the Night of Lights between campervan viewings!

All in all we looked at fourteen vehicles. Everyone thought we were crazy for looking at that many. But, we (Adam) wanted the best deal out there. The best part of van shopping was meeting all these travelers from all over the world that had blazed a trail for us and were selling their campers as they headed on to other countries. Folks from Korea, Germany, Austria, Ireland, Britain, Basque Country, Dutch, Czecks, and so many others all sharing their awesome adventures and the best spots of NZed we needed to go ourselves. Their recommendations were better than any in Lonely Planet!

Playing our first match of touch rugby between seeing campervans. 

First pick up soccer game!

Getting back to the camper race, here comes the adventure. The first vehicle we test drove was a manual. The pressure was on and Adam’s palms were sweaty. His first time driving a stick in a very long time and the first time driving on the left side of the road. Stressful! Just for good measure, I had white knuckles clutching the door handle bar and the side of the passenger seat. A few times I had to yell out, “On the left! On the left!” as Adam veared to the right side of the road. Thankfully, we were cruising in a 15 mph neighborhood zone. It was a close one, but we survived. Whew!

A walk to a movie night on the lawn after a crazy day of camper van viewings! 

Watching the American movie Good Morning, Vietnam! with Robin Williams in Silo Park. 

After five full days of urban hiking that consisted of walking miles and miles around Auckland looking at campervans from morning til dark, we had narrowed down our options to the top four. We had the crème of the crop, she’s our perfect girl white minivan that we drooled over. Second, we had the it’s really nice but the bloke is weird camper. Third, we had the tattoo parlor’s van turned to campervan. Lastly, there was Burley Bernie. We thought our Auckland days and urban hikes were over as Adam prematurely gave a gentleman’s handshake with an Irish lad to make a deal for our crème of the crop, she’s our perfect girl camper. But, we quickly realized mid handshake there was a misunderstanding. Oh, geez! The price was higher than what we thought it was advertised for (we had seen too many advertisements and were mixing them up at this point) and she wouldn’t be available for us to set out into the sun for another two weeks. Two weeks?!? We couldn’t stay in Auckland another two weeks! Low and behold, we had seen fourteen camper vans, went through hundreds of questions and note taking on each one and forgot one of the most important questions. “When is it available?” Ugh! Learning experience.

Deep breath moment. 

We were heartbroken. She was the one! But, in the end we had to move on to our next choice. Well, the van was still it’s nice but the bloke is weird. We couldn’t do it. Something just wasn’t right. So, onto the next one. Burned again. The tattoo parlor’s van wasn’t available for another five days. Five days?!? We want to get out of Auckland already! Last option... Our boy Burley Bernie. He truly was the one! Finally! His name derives from the British backpackers that sold him to us. We couldn’t quite tell if they were calling him Burley or Bernie. So, now he’s our good ol’ bloke Burley Bernie. Ay!

Can you see the joy of freedom!

This is it! Tah-DAH!

Yes, Dad. Of course, before buying Bernie, we had a mechanic check him out. Our boy needed a new strut and a new battery. Check and check. And now we are learning his secrets. The sliding door sticks, the glove compartment won't close and his gas mileage isn’t the best, but Bernie hasn’t failed us. We just gotta give him some TLC, that’s all.

At the mechanic. This was a big moment for us!

On the road again!

And, we were off into the sunset, the windows down, the music up loud with the wind in our hair again. We finally hit the road with our new ride! It was glorious for the first hour until... wait, are those red and blue lights behind us? Oh, no! You have to be kidding me! Cop car! We got pulled over within the very first hour of being on the road! No way! Come to find out, we didn't stop at a pedestrian crossing that we didn't see. We just so happened to get pulled over by the nicest officer we have ever met and he proceeded to give us the ropes of NZed driving laws and escorted us to the nearest auto shop for our new battery. What service!

Had to save this memory of following the undercover officer in front of us. What a moment. 

Our adventures continued as we hit one week of full on tree limb breaking wind and torrential down pours in the Coromandel Peninsula. Are you serious? We can finally get out and explore and it won’t. stop. raining. We spent the week soaked. Finally, Adam figured out a way to get all of our food and cookware out without getting out of the van. Nice!

Just making breakfast in Bernie. 

But hey, when travelling this long, we have learned to always be thankful for whatever situation we are in. Thankfulness always brings light to how great we truly have it. When we stopped complaining and thought about it, our entire week of urban hiking around the city looking for vans was in clear weather with no rain. So thankful for that! In the week after we got our van, we had shelter from the rain. Now, that is a whole new perspective. We truly believe God blesses us continuously on this journey of nuventures. We just have to change our perspectives, seek thanksgiving and have our eyes peeled to see all the blessings.

It's raining! It's pouring!

Bernie on his newest adventure in the Coromandel Peninsula!