Te Araroa: the 50/50 rapids

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The Blissful Hiker continues the section of the Te Araroa on the Whanganui River, learning that aiming your canoe – and life – straight into the V of rapids can give you a renewed sense of power and agency.


In this episode:

1. Blissful heads into the rapids on the Whanganui and her partner Andrew teaches her to ignore her intuition and head straight into the bubbling caldron – and never stop paddling. 
2. They lean in, knees against the gunwales, thwacking and bumping through as the water drenches them in a kind of baptism. 
3. Andrew empties 26 gallons of water, then another 15 in the next set, but they never tip. 
4. They stay all alone at the the quirky Flying Fox Retreat with some loud birds. 
5. There's no more rapids and it's a long, soggy day to Hipango Park where they camp high up on a bluff. 
6. Blissful realizes she may never see Andrew again after this shared journey, but thinks if this lovely partner can show up out of nowhere, so can others. 

MUSIC: Impresiones de la Puna by  Alberto Ginastera as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano

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