Day 53: Mangawhaiiti to Ngapora

Distance Covered: 32 km

Another great day on the river! We are really enjoying this segment of the trail.

The highlight today was walking up from the river to the Bridge to Nowhere. After WW 1, the government opened up an adjacent valley to veterans who wanted to take the land. About a hundred took them up on the offer and they went into the wild. Life was rough! After some false starts they finally decided to build a bridge across a gorge so they didn’t have to scramble down and up the 100 meter high cliffs. However, by the time the concrete and steel bridge was built, there were few hardy residents around to use it. The government ended up closing the valley again, leaving the jungle to swallow up the cleared areas. Within a few years there was a great bridge with nothing at all on either side of it.

The hike was about 3 km in each direction. We didn’t have to carry our packs, though, so 6 km of walking wasn’t too bad! And, now that it’s a big tourist destination, the trail was nice and wide with boardwalks and wood bridges across even the smallest streams.

The rest of the day was a float/paddle down to the campsite. 

Again we arrived early and again we enjoyed a relaxed evening with only our little group at the campsite. We know that there are supposed to be 60+ people in front of us and 60+ people behind us. Somehow we’ve been lucky enough to find this little gap so that it seems the river and camping is secluded and quiet.