By the time we re-joined the highway at Fox Glacier we were ready for lunch, so we sat in the hotel carpark eating and doing a bit of work while we had internet available. There is no cellphone coverage south of Fox until you reach Hawea on the other side of the Southern Alps.
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Tag: kayak
Gillespies Beach
20 kilometres along a winding metal road out of Fox Glacier is Gillespies Beach. When Felicity was a teenager she and a friend rode all the way out and back on bikes, which is very impressive because this would be a big mission for me now. She has wanted to return ever since, so here we are.
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Okarito Lagoon
At the crack of dawn we leaped out of bed, scoffed some breakfast and headed for the boat ramp at Okarito wharf. The sun was just rising over the distant hills, and as we had hoped there was almost no wind.
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Lake Mapourika
There was a little bit of rain overnight, but by breakfast time the sun was shining and the sky overhead was mostly blue. We spent the night at a DOC campground at the north end of the lake, and were parked close enough to the boat ramp to be able to unload the kayaks without moving the van.
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Lake Mahinapua
Lake Mahinapua is just back from the coast about 10km south of Hokitika. Before there were any roads in this area, there used to be a couple of paddle steamers travelling up the Mahinapua Creek and across the lake transporting gold miners to Ross, the next town south.
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Lake Kaniere
Just south of Greymouth is the town of Kumara where the famous Coast To Coast multi-sport race starts. Joy suggested that we head out to the start line and walk along the beach to the mouth of the Serpentine River.
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Wairoa River
We only had a couple of kilometres to drive from our camp-site to the bridge over the Wairoa River. This is not to be confused with the river with the same name that we walked along at the end of our Richmond Range tramp a week ago; this one empties into the Whanganui Inlet out on the west coast past Collingwood.
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Lake Otuhie
After a stop in Takaka to stock up on food and diesel, and for me to do a couple of urgent web update jobs for clients, we drove out past Collingwood to the west coast.
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Waiwera River
After a long walk around Omaha Beach yesterday, we decided that we would rest our legs and exercise our arms today by kayaking up the Waiwera river.
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Sound of Arisaig
We have spent the last six days kayaking around the Sound of Arisaig with Wilderness Scotland. Most days we have arrived back at our accommodation with just enough time for a quick shower before heading out to dinner at a local pub, following which I’ve collapsed exhausted into bed with no time to write a daily blog post. For the last three days we haven’t even had wifi, so the only available internet has been outside where the midges attack mercilessly.
Moturua Island
For the final night of our Easter holiday, we drove back south and camped at Papa Aroha Holiday Park, again right on the beach.
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Fletcher Bay – The Pinnacles
Up at the northern end of the Coromandel Peninsular, past Cape Colville, is the beautiful DOC camp-ground at Fletcher Bay.
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Whanganui Island
In the Firth of Thames there are a group of islands running north from Coromandel. We visited some of them this Easter.
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Lake Okareka
With conferencing over, we spent Friday night at a DOC camp ground on the shore of Lake Okareka, off the road out to Tarawera,
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GP Conference in Rotorua
On Thursday and Friday last week Felicity was speaking at a rural doctors’ conference in Rotorua, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to have a few days away with her in the camper-van.
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Rangitopuni Creek
A recent newspaper article about king tides this weekend showing a photo of the Riverhead Bridge walkway under water reminded me that it has been a long time since we’ve been that far up the harbour.
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Waiwawa River
On Sunday the wind was forecast to be a bit stronger than the day before, so we thought about kayaking from the Ferry Landing at Cooks Beach into Whitianga Harbour. One look at the choppy current rushing past the wharf made us think again, and we decided to head further inland and have a play in the Waiwawa River.
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Hauhei to Hot Water Beach
Commercial kayak tours south of Hauhei are promoted as “remote coast”, and only leave in the mornings before the wind gets up. We were on the beach ready to go soon after 8.30 am, so we had a chance to talk to the tour guide before any of his customers arrived. He told us to beware of hidden reefs, and to check out caves carefully before paddling inside. Most importantly, he drew a map on the sand to show us where to find the ‘blow hole’.
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Picnic dinner at Silverdale
I’d got my heart set on a kayak yesterday evening, so even though the weather looked a bit dodgy we loaded the boats on the car and drove up to Stillwater about an hour before high tide.
By the time we were ready to unload, it was bucketing down, but since it was warm and no wind we decided to head up the Weiti river anyway.
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Lake Maraetai and Mangakino Creek
The last day of our summer holiday turned out to be the best adventure of the trip, despite being immediately followed by the biggest hassle.
Continue reading Lake Maraetai and Mangakino Creek