Whanganui National Park

The park is the lowland rainforest either side of the Whanganui River, and the river is the point - in 2017 it became Te Awa Tupua, the first river in the world granted legal personhood, with its own guardians representing it. The Whanganui Journey is officially a Great Walk that involves no walking: three to five days paddling from Taumarunui or Whakahoro down to Pipiriki through a gorge of papa cliffs, ferns and side streams, staying at huts and campsites along the bank. Halfway down, a side walk of about forty minutes leads to the Bridge to Nowhere - a concrete road bridge completed in 1936 for a soldier settlement scheme that failed, now standing in regrowth forest with no road at either end. Jet boats run to it for those not paddling. Road access is limited: the Whanganui River Road on the lower river, and long gravel roads elsewhere.

History

The Whanganui River was a major Māori trade and communication route into the central North Island, lined with pā known as "the plaited rope of Hinengākau", after an ancestor of Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi. Flour mills were built along it between the 1840s and 1860s, chapels followed the conversions to Christianity of the 1840s, and the national park was established in 1986 (Wikipedia, Whanganui National Park).

What you'll find

• The river gorge - papa cliffs and fern walls from water level.
• The Bridge to Nowhere - a 1936 bridge in forest with no road.
• The Great Walk by canoe - three to five days, huts along the bank.
• The river as a legal person - the Te Awa Tupua settlement.

When to go

October to April. Book huts, campsites and canoe hire well ahead - operators handle transport, which is most of the logistics. River levels rise fast after rain.

What to expect

The Journey is paddling, not walking, and needs no experience but does need commitment - there is no easy exit mid-river. Sandflies are constant. Phone coverage is essentially nil. Jet boat noise reaches parts of the river.

Nearby

Whanganui city is downstream; Taumarunui and the Forgotten World Highway are north.

Key facts