Our Most Excellent Kayaking - New Zealand Kayak Magazine

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Friday 2 nd of AprilWe were on the water by 9:30 am andat Adele Island we saw our first seal and asmall group of baby seals. Just picture abeautiful blue sky, next to no wind, calmsea, most excellent company and you havesome notion that we were now in kayakingheaven. The only distraction was fromdistant water taxis taking passengersto camp sites, kayaks stacked aft. Wepaddled at a steady pace to match ourkayaking skills. No hassles and no stressrock gardening in beautiful scenery. Welanded at Pukatea Bay for lunch, a restand the Easter Egg Hunt. Andy Blake’sboundless energy, paddling andcooking skills were greatly impressingthe group. He was most ably assistedby Tony Barrett.The next camp site was at Bark Bay.During the afternoon we hugged thecoast, explored and rock gardened.Andy and other more experiencedkayakers completed a few rolls.Bark Bay proved to be a boomerof a camp site. It had water that couldbe drunk without boiling and yes folks, flush toilets. We evenhad a kitchen and a fire that proved to be a focus for dining. The groupof 16 now really became as ‘one’ when we let our hair down and threwcaution and inhibition to the wind. Nikki and Catherine (Wellies) burst intosong as ABBA chicks. Yours truly and Harvey (Hamilton) regretted thatwe hadn’t brought guitars to accompany the talent.Most were in bed by 10:00 pm. Another day in paradise had come toHappy campers on the Abel Tasmanan end.Hey you Auckland Clubbies, it might be a long way to go (900 km oneway) but you have just got to do this trip...Saturday 3 rd of April was another day in heaven. We locked andloaded and headed for Tonga Island, famously known as a sealDiscover the World with...THE WORLD’S QUIETEST ROOF RACKIntroducing Prorack’s Whispbar TM .The most innovative, technicallyadvanced roof rack system thatwill radically reduce drag and fuelconsumption. Now that’s brilliantKiwi ingenuity!Now available from your localCanoe and Kayak store.Visit www.prorack.co.nz to see it on your carwww.kayaknz.co.nzISSUE FIFTY Five • 2010 19
Who will blink first? By Easter the babyseals in the colony are very independentand extremely entertaining.breeding colony. There were seals everywhere. Naturally we kept arespectful distance until we found an empty pool waiting to be explored.Quickly baby seals left their mothers and came to explore us. Withina few minutes, streams of bubbles rose to the surface as the babiesglided beside and under the kayaks. Soon they were climbing on tokayaks to investigate humans. One baby seal waddled up the frontdeck of Michelle’s kayak, took the bailing sponge, dived over one sideand popped up the other. The Penguin paddler retrieved herintact sponge.The mothers first watched,then ignored us, while theirbabies played.More than fifty dolphins thenappeared and were seen at closerange by some of us.We reluctantly left this trulybeautiful scene and headed forShag Harbour where nesting andresting Shags were everywhere.Shagadelic!! On the flood tide wepaddled into a stunning inlet andmet more baby seals who wereplaying in the warm shallowwater. There were penguinsand jellyfish and the scenerywas drop dead gorgeous.Wow, what a day!Our next night was atOnetahuti Beach’s fabulouscamp site. It too had freshwater and flush toilets. Wewere tired, relaxed butvery happy after anotherbrilliant day on the water.A couple of light showersduring the night helped tocool us down.Cleopatra’s Pool is well worth the walk.Sunday 4 th April the weather report indicated that a SEswell was building. We returned to TongaIsland where the low tide put the fabulousseal nursery out of reach but we had funrock gardening in the swell. Our nextlanding was at Mosquito Bay on anotherstunning sandy beach with a beautifuloutlook towards the sea. The flood tiderose quickly over the shallow beachand while we had a drink and a bite toeat, we repeatedly pulled our kayaksto safety!Andy provided the floppy Frisbeethat he found on the roadside manymoons ago. What a weapon! It fliesso well yet is so soft to catch andso forgiving – just like its owner,pancake Chef Andy.Back in kayaks we left the comfortof mother sea and paddled up theFalls River to see the swing bridgeand the crossing that trampersuse on their overland route. Giveme the sea kayaking option any day!Bill and Phil (the flower pot men from Hamilton) wandered overrocks towards a waterfall. Oops! Here is a tip for kayakers – rememberto tie up your kayak where water levels can change. They were lucky thistime but let’s face it, they had a big back up crew!Salt of the earth Jim Walker left his kayak, clambered up a steepincline and took a group photograph from the swing bridge. He will soonbe paddling around Stewart Island with Andy Blake. With Jim back inhis kayak we returned to the rivers’ calm, hot estuary for lunch and anattempt at kayak gymnastics. Just over the sand dune behind us theSE swell was building and the wind was a steady 10-15 knots. Andy,Harvey, Jim and Tony enjoyed rolling practice before we headed for thenext camp site at Anchorage.En route we paddled up the Torrent Riveron an outgoing tide andKnow the height ofyour vehicle and load.20 ISSUE FIFTY Five • 2 0 1 0 www.kayaknz.co.nz
Page 1: Our Most Excellent KayakingAdventur

Our Most Excellent Kayaking - New Zealand Kayak Magazine

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?