This is a fantastic weekend packrafting trip… Walking access only, beautiful clear river through native bush clad mountains. Trout, great camping options, easy hitchhiking options, and oh yeah… 2 amazing HOT-SPRINGS!

The River is 90% grade II, but Sphincter rapid (portagable) is a grade III.

Thank you to Chris Coutts for the information and photos for this trip page. Minor update 2024 Martin Robertson.

Please respect private land

The river banks over the majority of this trip are private land. The owners use the land for private hunting or fishing, so they are very aware of other groups that enter their, whether on purpose or unwittingly.

While we’re allowed to paddle the river, much of the riverbanks are legally off-limits without prior permission. This is not generally given unless you’re a paying customer for hunting/fishing trips.

There are great hut/camping options on public land, so the best option is to just plan to use those, and keep on the river when the banks are private!

The public land begins on the true right at Mangatainoka River, and ends at the Mangatutunui Stream. On the true left, the public land is even smaller, starting about 1km downstream of Te Puia Lodge and ending by the 729m Trig station.

To see it on a map, check out the embed from the Herena a nuku / Walking Access Commission mapping site.

Tip: click – more / Basemap / NZ Topo. If its green, its public land. If it isn’t, it is private!!

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View Larger Topographic Map

Planning/overview

To avoid the need to ask permission for camping on private land, the trip is best chunked into a couple of long-ish days. This is the classic weekender, which is described here.

Day 1: Hike from Poronui Station car park to River (3-4hrs) then paddle 20ish km to Mangatainoka Hotsprings & Campsite

Day 2: Paddle 32ish km through to McIvar Road, near SH5. Mohaka River Farms is also a good take-out with accommodation and vehicle storage.

Other options to chunk the trip include a very short first day to Oamaru Hut (DOC) (perhaps on the friday night?) , and/or taking out early at the Mangaturuturu Hotsprings or Pakaututu Rd (Ripia) bridge. The choice is yours, but the classic weekend is described below.

For a longer trip continue a very full days paddle (10hrs) or two days to Te Kooti Bridge (see other write-ups for the downstream sections).

Access to river

There are a number of access routes to the start of the Mohaka river (confluence of Oamaru and Kaipo rivers), but the simplest is to drive to the public carpark outside of Poronui Station, and walk for 4hr on the public poled route to the river. The carpark is next to Heli Sika helicopter base (BH37 853 783), which is miles away from anywhere dodgy, always busy ferrying hunters into the hills, so seems reasonably safe. Enter Poronui Station, and follow the orange triangles on foot, loosely hugging the Taharua River. This is a flat track through their farmland, without any shade.

Note, this walking access route is kindly provided by Poronui Stn, and is only available to foot traffic.

Once near the Mohaka river, you could follow a track a little further upstream, to stay the night at Oamaru Hut (DOC) if required.

The Taharua River can only be accessed at various points (see map near carpark at start, or photo below), and provides an alternative to walking to the Mohaka, but it seemed too low & overgrown when we went through. See Taharua / Red Hut to Mohaka confluence for more info.

Paddling

Once on the Mohaka (BH37 834 697), it’s a little bony until the Taharua flows in, then you’re away. There are only 2 notable Gr2+/3 rapids on this trip, the first being Sphincter (BH37 859 690). This is a short network of slots, and at the time we paddled it (20cumecs) there was only 1 obvious way through, in the centre. It’s narrow, only 30m or so in length, and there is a tricky rock midway down. It felt like Gr3, but at different flows, it would act differently.

Sphincter rapid portage note. The land on both sides of the river at this point is private. Scouting and portage is easy, river left, but this is on private land. When you scout or portage, stick to the edge of the river as much as possible and DO NOT go wandering around the private hut site that adjoins Sphincter Rapid. Move through guietly and efficiently and avoid making a scene.

From there it’s easy Gr2 rapids for the rest of the day. Nothing scary, but plenty of them to keep you interested. We drank from the river, and survived. I think it’s pretty safe.

Remember, it is private land until you reach the Mangatainoka campsite/hotsprings, so plan to paddle the 20km or so and camp there… you won’t be disappointed. Look for the sandy beach on river-right after a slightly harder rapid, and pull out. A well established camping area, complete with steel bbq, picnic tables and glow-worms, is right next to the hotpool… we could chill there for a week, easy.

The next day is much the same as the first; twisty Gr2+ that at times goes G3 through a steep native valley. There are a few named rapids (Mohaka Rafting’s names and a few descriptive names are in the kml file).

After 7km you’ll reach the 2nd hot-pool on the river, the Mangatutu hotsprings. You’ll see some gum trees first then the deck perched high on the cliff river-right, but paddle down a little more to the rocky beach, and head up the track. There’s a road-end, campspot, toilet, and picnic area up there too.

Not long downstream (about 2-3km) is Graveyard rapid referred to in older trip guides. This rapid has probably washed out over the years and most do not remember it as a major feature.

The valley opens out a bit after that, and you pass under Ripia Bridge. (You can take-out here, but the journey back to the start is quite long. You’re better off paddling through to SH5).

After a few more km you’re back into semi-native tree-lined valley, although not quite as picturesque as day-1.

River right is marked as having an esplanade reserve – making camping a possability. On river left there is a private camp used by rafters – please don’t use this.

A 4wd becomes visible as the gorge starts to open out and ,out of nowhere, “Gabrielle’s Surprise” appears as a horizon line – it was a nice drop in 2024 but may mellow with time as we assume it is a new feature from Cyclone Gabrielle (hence the name).

Shortly after this is a take-out at Mohaka River Farms if you have arranged access.

We continued down and took out at a nice spot right next to McVicar Rd (BJ38 136 565). Look for a huge log on river-left just before a big horseshoe bend to the right. Scramble up past some blackberries, to a good pack-up spot, then up to the road. The road to this take-out is currently closed so check it on foot before you use it.

Getting home

Now would be a good time to mention we stashed a bike in the forest up on SH5, on the turnoff to Poronui Stn (BG37 853 953). The intention was to hitch 1 hour up SH5 to the turnoff, ride the 20km downhill to Poronui Stn, and pick up the car. This plan worked pretty well, and before long we were traveling north in the back of a white unmarked van.

Flow

At the time we paddled it (Mid-December 2017) the river was about 20 cumecs at the Glenfalls gauge (see link below). That put the river very much in the safe Gr2 realm, with the exception of Sphincter rapid (Gr3). But with higher flow it will push some of the wave-trains into Gr3 territory, and may create technical white-water. The section below Te Puia Lodge is considered G3 to the next hot pools but is quite mild (G2+/G3-).

Heres a video of an epic way to run the river as part of a Kaimanawa -Kaweka traverse.

External links

• Graham Charles book (Rivers.org.nz)
• Flow: Shaggy Designs gauge
• Mountain Valley Lodge – Accom, bar and restaurant near takeout
• Poronui Station

Photos