Our Most Excellent Kayaking - New Zealand Kayak Magazine

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