One of the best things about open water swimming is how easy it is to mix things up, simply by changing locations. Last week I was in Manawatū-Whanganui (Tararua District) and so I googled some good swim spots.
That led me to the Mangatainoka River, across the road from a brewery and known for its clear water (the Mangatainoka Brewery is also famous in my family for its indirect role in the great escape of our pet war tortoise, but that’s a whole other story!).
There was a camp site and picnic tables nearby, so the swim was not particularly ‘wild’ (which, given the high number of drownings in NZ this summer, is a good thing). We got in and the current was a bit strong so we joined another group 20m or so upriver and it was a different story: a deeper pool that was extremely swimmable. I moved between supervising my 8yo and having some alone time. However, I had forgotten my goggles (the irony! I didn’t follow my own Substack title) so kept my head mostly above water and breaststroked.
I haven’t swum in many rivers because I’ve always lived by the sea, so I enjoyed the fresh water, lack of surf, and minimal paranoid thoughts about sharks/jellyfish. While getting in and out elegantly is not possible – clambering over slippery rocks – immersing myself in the fresh water on a mid-20s summer day was brilliant.
(Pic taken with a GoPro. I bought a floating selfie stick, mainly so I don’t drop the camera in the sea, but it is also handy for stuffing down my togs when I’m not using it! But I don’t always take my GoPro; it’s perfect for taking pics/videos but also means I’m distracted while I’m using it. Everyday Athlete Rach has a video on how to use a GoPro for swimming – she has such good, practical advice on swimming.)
The next day we headed to Waipu Falls, about an hour’s drive from Dannevirke. In other words, the middle of the middle of nowhere. It turned into an ‘are we there yet?’ situation but fortunately was well worth the effort (and we’d packed a picnic to avoid a low-blood-sugar hangry situation, for me and the kids).
Had I even swum in a waterfall before? I don’t think so. I’d been dunked under them in boats (Iguacu Falls, Brazil) and admired them from afar – even seen them blown back up the cliffs by fierce winds around the subantarctic Auckland Islands. But how amazing to swim in them! We had the whole area pretty much to ourselves apart from two teenage boys clambering up the rocks and diving in backwards.
The temperature was moderate – easy to get in, although I ended up sliding down the slippery rocks on entrance - and this time I had my goggles so could dive under the dark water. I don’t know how deep it was. I did think about the Loch Ness Monster. Do other people have these thoughts? I knew he/she/it wasn’t there, it just crossed my mind.
Pic taken by my hubby on his phone. I now have a solid collection of photos of myself being happy in different bodies of water.