THE WILD pig didn't show its face until the third night of their journey down the Whanganui River.
"It was huge as," said Tyron Seimonek, 13, who rated his bristly visitor as the most memorable part of his trip down the river.
Joseph Guilford, 12, spins the yarn out further. "It was right next to our tent. We went, 'What's that?' unzip, unzip, unzip then we just sort of looked at it and closed the tent again," he said.
"It was licking our tent hard out, getting our food and then Lalo tipped a rock at it."
"It was cool," Tyron adds.
That experience was part of the Life to the Max five-day trip down the river six boys, accompanied by three Life to the Max staff and river guide Ned Tapa.
Life to the Max is a programme that works with families at risk and attempts to keep their children away from a life of crime.
The annual trip is both a reward for the boys and a way to give them a valuable experience.
The two canoes started out from Pipiriki last Monday, arriving near the Waimarie landing yesterday afternoon.
Every day they set out at 8am ("Yeah, we started early as"), paddled, swam, arrived at camp by 3pm; after which they dragged their barrels up the hills, pitched their tents and cooked their food on gas fires.
Tyron: "I was quite scared of falling out (at first)."
One day, the white canoe got a hole going over some rapids. It filled up with water and flipped, leaving them to swim for the oars and some clothes.
Even that didn't stop them.
"We had Sellotape on it (duct tape) we just had to keep putting Sellotape on for the whole trip," Joseph said.
Life to the Max worker Lalo Lalosofau said the trip was a good chance to get to know the boys better.
It was also good for the kids to get out of town and have different experiences, he said.
"If you take them out of their comfort zone they're not so staunch. They're not so different out in the world. The incident with the pig, it just showed that these kids are just kids. They're still scared, they still want their parents," he said.
He hoped to now build on the skills he had seen in the boys during the trip, such as singing ability and sports talent.
Mr Tapa, said the trip gave the boys "a rest" from town, where they often got into a lot of trouble.
As for them, most were keen to do it again.
"Oats, any day," Tyron said.
PICTURED: The Life to the Max canoe crews sight land, as they complete their five-day river journey from Pipiriki on Friday. Green canoe: Tyron Seimonek, 13, Jessy Kemp, 10, Life to the Max mentor Paul Hausia, guide Ned Tapa. White canoe: Life to the Max mentor Lalo Lalosofau, Joseph Guilford, 12, Harry Wilson, 11, Taran Watana, 11, Schquelle TeWharu, 11, Life to the Max mentor Jay Rerekura.
Wild pigs all part of Whanganui experience
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