Blazing Paddles Canoe Adventures
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Blazing Paddles Canoe Adventures
The best away-from-civilisation experience ever
The Waitomo Caves gets 500,000 visitors a year; the Tongariro Crossing has 40,000 walkers per season; the Whanganui River has only 4000 people in total and most of them travel between Christmas and New Year - and Easter. You'll never get a better chance to experience a NZ Great Walk with so few people.
Details
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Organisation |
Blazing Paddles Canoe AdventuresCommercial organisation |
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Location |
North Island ▷ Manawatu - Wanganui ▷ Whanganui River |
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Directions To Coordinates |
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Coordinates |
Fresh Water Kayaking
Reviews
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5.0/5
Luke made us feel safe and informed on safety and local river knowledge.
It was a very personalised experience.
Luke went above and beyond for things we had forgotten. It was the right amount of thrill seeking for me as as a mature woman. Over all it was a fun day far beyond our expectations. Worth every dollar.
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5.0/5
Fantastic service and very nice people to deal with.
Extensive information on rapids and personal locator beacons provided. Provide accommodation included in price per person for one night prior to departure. A real adventure and scenery was amazing. Did 5 days. Good to have someone with experience in your group as the first day has 45 rapids at grade 1 . Went do better than planning your experience with Maria from Blazng Adventures.
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5.0/5
What a ride!
Friendly, communicative, helpfull, though a bit more info about the rapids (we tipped over twice) and a check if we had the right supplies would have made it perfect . We did luckely ;) They gave us a tent, mats and raincoats to use for free which we luckely did not need. We booked two huts. Amazing trip, beautiful nature, lot's of goats and falcons. Plenty of time to learn how to canoe because the river starts out sweet and gentle...and even though I canoed the Dordogne several days, this was a much bigger adventure. They had cold beers for us at the end which was sooo great (and needed). Tip: Be prepared! Keep your lifevest on, tie everything to the boat or yourself. Some rapids and the river are a real challenge when tipping over. We lost a hat, watershoes and a waterbottle, tipping over twice.
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5.0/5
staying at the lovely taumarunui holiday park, my hosts helene & phil helped me wonderfully planning my kajak trip down the whanganui river with blazing paddles.
since I am traveling on foot, the friendly folks from b.p picked me up at the camp, helped pack the boat and made sure that everything went smooth and safe.
everything was done in a very friendly & professional manner ! the pick up 4 and a half days down the river at pipiriki was a good example.
the guys from b.p arrived not only on time, but early !
the first company to load all the boats and drive the people back up to taumarunui.
thanx again for making this beautiful trip very special !
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5.0/5
We had an awesome 5 days, Blazing Paddles provided the best equipement we saw on the river and gave us all the information and instructions necessary for us to have a safe but fun filled adventure.
Would highly recommend them!!!
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5.0/5
Blazing Saddles where great, they picked us up from the bus station in Taumarnui and got us to the buson time on the way back, (Thanks Richard!).
All the equipment was in good condition and we felt well looked after and that every eventuality was covered.
The trip was amazing and would definelty recommend the Blazing Paddles to any one who has never caned before, like me.
Catherine
2010
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5.0/5
we had an awesome 4 day kajak- trip on the whanganui river,we'll never forget!
best equipement and a very good short instruction for the 'exciting' rapids!
personal and very friendly staff!
it makes a lot fun!thx!!
highly recommended!
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4.5/5
Everything worked out perfectly - shuttle service on time, canoes were fine, reservation campsites were done, compared to other paid actitivities the price was okay.
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4.0/5
Very nice people, scenic tour, love the cafe at the lavendar farm aprox 30min before reaching the end.
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5.0/5
Luke made us feel safe and informed on safety and local river knowledge.
It was a very personalised experience.
Luke went above and beyond for things we had forgotten. It was the right amount of thrill seeking for me as as a mature woman. Over all it was a fun day far beyond our expectations. Worth every dollar.
-
5.0/5
Fantastic service and very nice people to deal with.
Extensive information on rapids and personal locator beacons provided. Provide accommodation included in price per person for one night prior to departure. A real adventure and scenery was amazing. Did 5 days. Good to have someone with experience in your group as the first day has 45 rapids at grade 1 . Went do better than planning your experience with Maria from Blazng Adventures.
-
5.0/5
What a ride!
Friendly, communicative, helpfull, though a bit more info about the rapids (we tipped over twice) and a check if we had the right supplies would have made it perfect . We did luckely ;) They gave us a tent, mats and raincoats to use for free which we luckely did not need. We booked two huts. Amazing trip, beautiful nature, lot's of goats and falcons. Plenty of time to learn how to canoe because the river starts out sweet and gentle...and even though I canoed the Dordogne several days, this was a much bigger adventure. They had cold beers for us at the end which was sooo great (and needed). Tip: Be prepared! Keep your lifevest on, tie everything to the boat or yourself. Some rapids and the river are a real challenge when tipping over. We lost a hat, watershoes and a waterbottle, tipping over twice.
-
5.0/5
staying at the lovely taumarunui holiday park, my hosts helene & phil helped me wonderfully planning my kajak trip down the whanganui river with blazing paddles.
since I am traveling on foot, the friendly folks from b.p picked me up at the camp, helped pack the boat and made sure that everything went smooth and safe.
everything was done in a very friendly & professional manner ! the pick up 4 and a half days down the river at pipiriki was a good example.
the guys from b.p arrived not only on time, but early !
the first company to load all the boats and drive the people back up to taumarunui.
thanx again for making this beautiful trip very special !
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1.5/5
We recently took a day trip with Blazing Paddles on the Whanganui river launching at Taumaranui & travelling approx 4 hours down river to a campsite where we were picked up.
The guy who dropped us off who I believe was the owner was in a bad mood, very rude & in a big hurry to get us on the river & out of his hair, his mood was not improved when he realised part of the canadian canoe that we were to use was broken & he had to go back & change it. The women who took our money at the end of the journey who I believe is his wife (& therefore a perfect match for him) was extremely rude as well. The guy who picked us up at then end of the trip was also grumpy & spent his time moaning that he had exceeded the amount of hours he could legally drive on that day, but with a boss like his I can not blame him. After a spill out of the double canadian canoe one of our party members did not want to continue & while we on the side of the river contacting blazing paddles for a pick up of the two passengers of the canoe a very nice guy came accross the river in a boat to see if we were ok, it turned out that this guy was from Taumaranui canoe hire, we explained our situation & he offered for the company jet boat to pick up the two from the canoe take them to their house which happened to be directly opposite, he then took the C Canoe over to the other side of the river for Blazing Paddles to pick up. They then offered to have the person who did not want to continue to down the river to spend the day at their house, lent us a extra single kayak for the other person & we all continued down the river. In the end we all had a fabulous day thanks to Taumaranui canoe hire who would not take any money for the kayak that we used for the day, they are extremely nice family & I would use them for our next trip without any hesitation.
This is historic. We apologise for our apparent rude behaviour - but we had just been advised that one of us was suffering from stage 3 bowel cancer and the other was in the process of being treated for prostate cancer. This does not excuse bad behaviour, but helps put it into some perspective. Fortunately both of us are now in remission.
blazing
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4.5/5
Everything worked out perfectly - shuttle service on time, canoes were fine, reservation campsites were done, compared to other paid actitivities the price was okay.
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2.5/5
The river and trip were awesome, and self guiding was easy with great gear.
However we were very disappointed with the attitude of the man who shuttled us. He was uncommunicative to the point of rudeness, didn't even ask us how we enjoyed the trip when he picked us up from Pipiriki. I cannot recommend this company based on this attitude, but see that others have had better experiences.
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4.0/5
Very nice people, scenic tour, love the cafe at the lavendar farm aprox 30min before reaching the end.
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3.0/5
Nice tour on Wanganui River through beautiful river landscape.
Things on guiding maps were explained, a bit confusing eg obstacles in water, rapids). Good price, good for families with older kids. I think there are more amazing rivers to paddle.
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5.0/5
we had an awesome 4 day kajak- trip on the whanganui river,we'll never forget!
best equipement and a very good short instruction for the 'exciting' rapids!
personal and very friendly staff!
it makes a lot fun!thx!!
highly recommended!
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5.0/5
Blazing Saddles where great, they picked us up from the bus station in Taumarnui and got us to the buson time on the way back, (Thanks Richard!).
All the equipment was in good condition and we felt well looked after and that every eventuality was covered.
The trip was amazing and would definelty recommend the Blazing Paddles to any one who has never caned before, like me.
Catherine
2010
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5.0/5
We had an awesome 5 days, Blazing Paddles provided the best equipement we saw on the river and gave us all the information and instructions necessary for us to have a safe but fun filled adventure.
Would highly recommend them!!!
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5.0/5
I have used Blazing Paddles 10 times with different groups.
Their service is excellent and their equipment is first class. I unreservedly recommend this company.
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4.5/5
Flexible, good service, well priced, and equipment was in good nick.
Thank you! the group of 8 enjoyed it very much :)
Until next time.
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4.5/5
An exceptional operator who made our trip down the river a great one.
A family run business where all family members are very knowledgeable about the trip. Great, top quality equipment including wooden paddles, high quality barrels and excellent maps.
Pre departure email contact from the UK was helpful and really helped planning.
Our only disaapoinent was the return transfer which was not particulary efficient.
Cannot recommend Blazing Paddles highly enough!
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4.5/5
All equipment in great condition, everything you need available.
Owner operator goes out of her way to provide the experience you want. Had an excellent 3 day trip, highly recommended.
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4.0/5
Great experience canoeing the mighty Whanganui River.
Beautiful scenery
We had a great time – though I now know it is much better to be IN the canoe ON the river rather than IN the river beside our canoe!! We would advise to canoe with a group rather than go it alone -( we felt very lucky to have help nearby when we tipped out however this may not always be the case)
Oh and make sure your lifejacket is tight!.
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4.5/5
Excellent fun - glad we knew a fair bit about canoeing already.
Take the 5 day trip if you can - daily distances are shorter, time to loiter - we were on the three day trip but it was memorable fantastic and worth every minute.
at Tieke we
gave one rare skimthrow stone from
wild Whanganui
the Marae empty
ready song silent flute sang
and river heard it
the great gorge it cut
split the island north to south
to kiss the sea's mouth
our canoe a leaf
along that giant lightly swam
kind he drew us on
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3.5/5
Good value and friendly but you get the feeling they don't know what you're doing and they don't give newcomers much advice.
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