April 17th; Gifts from the Cray Fishermen

 

Log

Date: April 17th

Weather: overcast

Swell: 2M SW

Wind: 10knots SW

Distance: 10 NM

Camp: Mikes Bach, Flat Point

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I awoke to find the surf area at low tide riddled with rocks awash, hmmm. The surf was big enough to be tricky though there was a good channel through the rocks straight out from my camp, and swell lulls were often. I packed up camp without a rush, allowing the tide to come in a bit more and to let the morning sun dry my wet tent before I packed it. As I ate breakfast and loaded the boat down on the beach, big dark clouds rolled in and the sun started to get covered, by the time I decided it was time to work my way off the beach through the rocky surf, only patchy sunlight came and went.

I Sat and watched the surf to find some patterns, but when I launched and held my ground amongst the rocks in the wash, the waves seemed to pick up in intensity with no lulls. I sat and sat; fighting to keep in the channel and off the rocks, waiting for the gap in the surf; so I could safely break out back and not risk getting back surfed on to an exposed reef. Finally after 8 or so minutes the gap came and I powered my ass out through the green lumpy swells that started coming in again; breaking left and right. it was well timed and I had no incidence.

I was only paddling a short way today, to find a good place to camp up for 2-3 days to let the coming bad weather pass and then I can move on, though as I paddled south, the wind blew up in my face a bit, and I got worried that I was getting caught out by the bad weather early, however I could see my destination, flat point, ahead; so I pushed on. Nearing flat point I could see only rocky shores, and started doubting whether I was going to be able to land; though as usual, when I am in doubt, I see a tractor and boat trailer and know that if they can launch and land a power boat in that part of the surf, then I can land as well.

I came up next to the tractor, through surf much smaller than it initially appeared, just as the EL Toro (a Cray Fishing Boat) came blasting up onto the beach on the other side. I had always wondered how they got these big boats up onto the trailers, now I got to see. The Cray boat was now high and dry on the beach, after a full speed landing; now the Trailer was backed up to it, and a winch pulled the trailer under the boat as the tractor backed up. The boat didn’t move until the trailer tilted forward and lifted clear, then it all went like normal; however I guess in this case the whole process was normal.

At this point I meet Mike and his Son Luke, they where instantly intrigued by my story and within 5 minutes of talking, I had been given a Cray for dinner, had help lifting the fully loaded kayak onto part of their boat trailer, and  transported up to their ocean side Bach.

At the front door of the Bach I was given the key and told to make myself at home. “ sorry we can’t stay and talk, though we need to get going back to town, we will be back 3 days probably, so as long as you can figure out the stuff inside by yourself, we will see you once the storm passes; enjoy!” said mike as he and Luke then drove off up to their Lobster shed.

Here I was given the use of a brand new, fully furnished modern beach Bach and I didn’t even know these guys, wow awesome. I had been prepared to hunker in a tent for 3 days while some crazy winds and rains came through and now I had a warm little house to hide in, but still also be right on the water. Perfect; even had a Fur Seal as a neighbor.

The evening went very still and got very sunny, so I cleaned some gear and hung it to dry and had my doubts about the coming weather. I then cooked the Cray for dinner, sat out and watched the moon rise over the ocean, while eating my meal and drinking a beer, then very quickly the night turned, the Calm before the storm was over and the storm was here, the winds picked up fiercely, clouds rolled in and I went inside to listen to music and read a book. Soon rain came and poured down while the wind whipped the sea into a fury; while I was warm and comfy inside eating chocolate, reading a book and listening to music. I am  happy I am not in a tent. Thanks Mike.

April 16th; Rain and Sand

Log

Date: April 16th

Weather: overcast and rain

Swell: 3M S and 1 M E

Wind: Light NE

Distance: 15NM

Camp: Uruti beach

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Back Country Cuisine Food Review

www.backcountrycuisine.co.nz

Meal: Thai Chicken Curry and Apricot Crumble for desert

Impression: Yum, this meal is great on a cold rainy night huddled under a tarp! Good flavor, great spice to warm you up, and very filling. I have eaten this before, though last time it was a hot evening and I don’t think it went down as well.

Stars: 8 out of 10

Blog

I sit in my tent, it is raining! I like the rain when camping, off course; as long as you are warm, well feed and comfortable, which I am. I came in through some good sized surf this evening, in the rain; nothing to extreme, though enough to make you think (some big sets came through quite regularly).

I left Castlepoint quite late this morning; almost 11am, but I was in no rush as I needed to check weather well and also I knew I wasn’t going too far down the coast and the longer I waited the more the swell was supposed to drop. I am apprehensive about large surf and not knowing how rocky these beaches are. I pushed out through some pretty punchy little surf as I left the camp ground, then I set into a good rhythm down the coast, my brain a buzz with what the beach might be like to land on. Eventually I found peace in my mind and enjoyed the beautiful coastline and the amazing way a lot of farm land could go right up to the water’s edge and have waves breaking on a reef just feet from sheep grazing lush green grass. In my mind there should be meters of sand before grass!

 

Eventually I came to my target spot, Riversdale beach, I looked at coming in on the quite populated village and lined up the surf life saving club as a good spot to seek free camping, as I begun looking at the surf and setting up to come in, I came across to knee board surfers in the waves. They told me about a nice beach a bit further round where it would be nice to camp and the beach is sandy, so looking to avoid camping in civilized areas all the time I thanked them for the info. During the conversation it was an interesting game of keep an eye on the big sets and back paddle like mad to stop them getting you, then paddle back in to talk to the knee boarders, as I finally paddled out to move on, a real big set came in and if I hadn’t moved off as early as I did, I would have been surfing all the way in to Riversdale anyway.

Around the next head land I found a nice little bay, the rains came in and I worked in through the surf, easily pulling up on to the sandy beach between big sets (despite my mind making a huge deal out of it all). I dragged the kayak easily up into the dunes, as it was high tide and I pretty much surfed on to them, and then set up camp. Later as the heavy rains came and a number of walkers and bikes went along the beach now the tide was dropping, I noticed that there were actually quite a lot of rocks on the beach, and I wondered if I would be able to get off it at low tide. Maybe there will be a whole reef blocking me?

The rains set in hard and I cooked up a hot yummy back country meal, sitting in my kayak gear the whole time letting my body heat dry it out from the inside (Gortex Dry pants and tops are awesome like this, you stay comfortable in them and they are only slightly damp inside from a bit of sweat, so I wear them until I am about to go to bed, that way they’re dry on the inside for the morning).

Now I go to sleep, and I will awake to decide if I move another 14NM down the coast tomorrow, or hunker in here for 2-3 days; the storm will arrive tomorrow night.

April 14th; Blowing To Kingdom Come

Log

Date: April 14th

Weather: sunny

Swell: <3m SE

Wind: 20 -30 W

Distance: 20 NM

Camp: CastlePoint

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Back Country Cuisine Food Review

www.backcountrycuisine.co.nz

Meal: Roast Chicken

Impression: YUM YUM AND YUM!! good

Stars: 9 out of 10

Blog

I awoke early started packing, got my Cray fish on the boil in a pot I borrowed from Lyn at the shot night, moved the kayak down to the water ( I had to unload the whole thing, carry it on my shoulder down the beach till there was no reef in the way). Once the Crayfish was cooked I let it cool as I loaded the gear into the boat, then I ripped of the tail and some legs, put them in my lunch bag, got everything ready to go and started chatting to a chap on a quad bike.

The wind had picked up this morning from the west, and I remember the Cray fishermen the other day warning me of the westerly’s between Akitio and Castle Point, though everyone here seemed to think it was just a little offshore breeze and would actually help me down the coast, hmm ok. I dragged the boat into the wash and fought a bit to keep it straight and water out of the cockpit, as there was wash from all directions, at this point I really started questioning why I had to do this?

It is a funny thing to start doubting why you are doing something after over two months and only a couple of weeks left of doing it. Perhaps it was the anxious feeling I had about the surf the day before or the uncertainty of the coastline ahead and all the bad stories everyone keeps saying, or perhaps, and most likely, I am just exploring my weaknesses and my fears in my head, giving them there moment and then choosing to accept them as right or wrong. I climbed in the boat, stretched on the spray skirt, took paddle in hand and worked my way through the little surf, one little wave actually broke hard on me and unexpectedly gave me a whack in the chest, Hmmm that shook me a bit more. I paddled out around the big surf breaking on the reef that sheltered the shore and worked my way south as usual.

OK a gentle sea breeze, my rear end, HELP me down the coast, F*#% that! The wind picked up more and more, blowing me away from the shore at quite a pace if I stopped paddling, I instantly thought of the Cray fisherman telling to watch out for the westerlies! He has a grin on his face in my mind, as I paddle my balls off along the coast, working hard to angle at and down the coast at the same time. I didn’t want to get to far out in case it increased and stopped me from getting back to shore though I wanted to get down the coast as much as I could at the same time. It ended up not being so bad, I made reasonable ground,, that’s until I hit my first river valley. As I crossed the valley, I was buffeted by strong gusts funneling through from the west. A number of times the boat got shoved on its side or my paddle pulled me to the side; I can’t say I have almost being blown over so many times in 10 minutes. I started to worry ‘is is the wind for the rest of the day?”, but eventually I got passed the valley and the wind dropped slightly.

I again started to think why am I doing this? I mean really what am I trying to prove? That I am Hardcore, that I am stupid, that I love to be hurting all over and uncomfortable, that I love having a wet bum all day, that I love smelling of BO and piss (It is hard not to spill a bit while peeing in a bottle on the ocean), being unshaven, having pimples on my bum from sitting in a kayak for weeks on end in the same pair of board shorts? I mean really, there is a bit of glamour, though there is lots of non glamour especially now it is getting colder ( at least up north you could go swim naked and bath in beautiful streams in the sun), there “IS” beauty though also ugliness, both sides of the gun, a double edged sword. I think of what I had originally hoped to achieve, paddling to Stewart Island, and here I am almost three months later and still not even off the north island. Man! Why continue?

I then think of how, I would have never been happy if I had never tried, How much I had wanted to do this trip, how much work I had put into planning, organizing and setting this up. I remember the exhilaration of paddling the loaded boats out through the big surf on 90mile beach on day one, the ecstatic feeling of finally being underway, the nervousness at what adventures lay ahead. I remember all that has been achieved and experienced so far, and that if I can’t get to Stewart Island I will at least get to Wellington and the bottom of this island before I finish. I choose to do this as I want to know what I can do, I want to learn more about me, I choose to do it as I love too kayak and explore and maybe I will inspire someone else to step up to the challenge of their dream as others have inspired me. “the only true failure is to NOT try!” Right that sorted, let’s get back to business.

I slog it out all day, the only respite is that the bay starts slopping out Eastward to Castle Point and so I finally do get that slight push in the right direction, my back aches between my shoulder blades, my old injury in my right shoulder is flaring up, but I have a great rhythm and despite my late start and the strong winds I have still almost done 20NM by 3pm. As I near the beach of Castle Point, I spot the camp ground and at 4pm, I work my way through the surf and pull up on the beach in front of where I now camp, 20 nm done and I am very tired.

 

Castle Point is an amazing place, a big arching north facing beach that runs out to a spit of sand that connects to a long rocky island, on top of which stands the castle point light house, tall and regal. The rock is long and narrow and runs south stops abruptly, allowing a channel (the Gap) between it and the next huge rocky headland that I believe gives the place its name, as it looks like a big castle on top of the hill. A very cool place and very beautiful.

I have had a shower, eaten a hot meal and lots of desert, and I am now really scrutinizing the charts, this part of the coast IS very rocky, there are very obvious places you can and can’t land, and some just not so clear. The weather is looking edgy in the coming days as a new low system moves in. tomorrow I rest here, enjoy the amazing scenery and also plan out my moves on how to best get to wellington safely along this rocky stunning coast.

April 13th; The Spooks Come Out

Log

Date: April 13th

Weather: Sunny with slight to flat seas

Swell: small E increasing

Wind: Light NE - W

Distance: 23nm

Camp: Akitio Beach Campground

Food Review

Meal: Fish and Chips, cooked at the store, though using the fresh blue cod that the Cray fishermen gave me.

Impression: BLOODY FANTASTIC!!! Two huge pieces of the most succulent tasty fish I have ever eaten, great chips on the side. I don’t think I have ever eaten such fresh fish used for fish n chips, wow, and Lyn only charged me $2 to cook them.

Stars: 10 out of 10

Blog

Awoke to another beautiful chilly morning, there was fog lining the valleys up the coast, so I knew it would be another hot day. I lingered a bit waiting for the sun to rise and warm my wet gear and dry the dew soaked tent. It was an awesome morning for a bit of filming. Eventually I loaded up heaved the loaded boat along the sand into the surf wash, paddled out through the small surf and turned right heading south again along the coast.

Near lunch I paddled past Cape Turnagan, another dramatic and stark headland, steeply cliffed, powdery grey and weather beaten. Near the tip I meet the crew of the Costa Rica, a Cray Fishing boat from Napier. They boys where quite excited by me and my adventure and after checking the weather with them as well as the channels on the vhf I should use for heading south, they then gave me a Crayfish and a Blue Cod to cook up for dinner. Very happy by the gift I thanked the guys profusely and continued on my merry way.

Quite funny though, my merry way is growing darker and darker mentally the further south I go, I am really stepping into unknown territory now. I have not explored any of the coast from here down to wellington and I don’t know what to expect, except wind and rocky beaches; these things I don’t look forward too. My mind is becoming more and more apprehensive, especially now that I cannot get any cell coverage to let people know how I am going. The feeling of being truly alone is now sinking in.

As a paddled on, every now and again, a huge set of swell would come out of the east and thunderously become surf on the shore, hmmmm, something is brewing. 20NM later I near Akitio river and township. I look at coming in on a nice flat bit of grassy dune, however the charts show that there is reef in front of the area. The waves a breaking OK, there are no exposed rocks but what about at low tide, Will I be able to get back off the beach, and will the surf increase? As if on cue, one of the monster sets comes through and tears over the reef in front of me, growling and slashing as it goes. I back paddle out of the zone before I get caught and paddle on south again. I “could” have got in once the big stuff went away, though I didn’t like the feeling of the dark rocky reef in the shallow water at the bottom of the waves, and you get far more cautious when you are alone!

A little further down the coast I again look at coming in on a sandy beach, though it is hard to see if there is a good camp site anywhere, as I am now looking straight into the sun and the sea spray from the surf is adding a harsh haze. I look around just in time to see another monster set coming, I back paddle my ass off, first over one cresting wave, then still paddling hard, over another bigger one, and I paddle harder still to just avoid being swallowed by the third and largest of them. Man! I look further south to the township of Akitio, and I see and off shore reef protecting the beach where boats launch from trailers, I am there!

Pulling onto the beach through small surf, I walk up and meet two Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) officers and some local fishermen. We have a good talk about my adventure, the coast to come (doesn’t sound fun!) and the increasing swell for the following days (not fun either and combined with the coast to come double not fun). I will get to Castle point tomorrow and probably stay there till the swell and the forecast look good to push on. In the mean time I got directed to Lyn at the Akitio Camp ground.

Lyn graciously let me camp for free and I found out that Tim Taylor, who is kayaking all of NZ solo (www.nzkayaker.com), stayed here for a week, and so did Alex Asher (www.capetostrait.org.nz) , who ran the length of the North Islands East coast this year from Cape Reinga to Wellington. Funny that we all ended up staying here!

I pitched my tent, got help carrying my boat up onto the camp area by some visitors from Woodville who were curious about my kayak, and then I ate a great feed of fish and chips that Lyn made for me in her Fish ‘n’ Chip shop from the Blue Cod I was given, which made the best fish ‘n’ chips ever! I enjoyed a long hot shower and then hit the hay after eating about 7 mint choc biscuits.

The spooks in my mind are coming out to play. I am very apprehensive about the coming coastline, mostly I don’t want to damage the boat coming in on rocky crap, though also I don’t look forward to big windy cold seas that beat you onto rocky crap, it is getting late in the season for kayaking south, and it will take me at least 6 more days to get to wellington (though I doubt I will get there that soon). I look forward to the mental challenge of doing this hard bit of coast on my own, though I know it isn’t really going to be fun until I look back on it, Or is it??

April 12th; Where the Albatross Roam

Log

Date: April 12th

Weather: Sunny and Hot

Swell: Small E

Wind: Variable

Distance: 18 Nm

Camp: ?

Back Country Cuisine Food Review

www.backcountrycuisine.co.nz

Meal: Nasi Goreng (an Asian, egg and veggie, rice dish)

Impression: Yummy yummy, full of great veggies and seeds. Awesome color and texture, a great vegetarian option and very filling. Nice subtle refreshing flavor.

Stars: 9 out of 10

Blog

 

Awoke early at my dad’s place to a beautiful light over the grass covered hills and a fog in the valley, it was an awesome morning. I ate a big breakfast while talking to my step brother Mathew, I trimmed my beard with and electric shaver (it was becoming annoying at the length it was) with the help of my little nephew Andrew. Then we all loaded into my Dads police car and headed back to the beach.

We found Rodney just returning from the morning Cray fishing trip and he brought the kayak back down to the beach for me, then ran off to load Crays in the holding tanks, wishing me well before he left. I loaded the boat, improved my hard set with some foam that Mathew gave me, hugged them all good bye and set off onto the water through the small surf. It was another hot day and a late start 11am, a police siren went off, I looked back to shore to see Dad, Mathew and Andrew driving along the beach road a bit more with me, then veered off back inland and to town.

The day was like yesterday, though today I was a little more tired, I ate a lot as I went, the big fish I caught yesterday was now my lunch and I snacked on pieces as I went. After lunch I came across the albatross again, this time I saw them a lot and eventually came across them sitting on the water next to a huge school of Kahawai feeding on the surface. This was the biggest densest school of Kahawai I had ever seen; the see was black with them. The albatross let me get quite close and I got some good pictures, the Black Browed Mollymawk (Albatross)  is smaller than the wandering Albatross though very striking with dark eyebrows that give them a grumpy look.

I paddled on across the bay, it was almost 4pm and I had to start thinking about where to land the night. The coast now becomes covered in reefs and much harder to find sandy beaches or ones that aren’t blocked by reef, therefore I can’t just paddle till its dark and come in where ever, I have to plan and think now. I paddled at a spot that looked good, only to find it blocked by reef and also to be a jagged rocky beach, so for the first time in the trip I back paddled to a good spot, as the way forward was all rocky reef and beaches. Around behind the corner lay a long sand beach, there where houses, though I pulled in far away from them. I found a gap in the scattered rock reefs to land and made camp on a lumpy bit of grass above the sand. Not ideal, though good enough.

I reflected on how little fear I have of camping by myself in NZ after doing solo trips in BC and having to think about Bears and Cougars, here only the weather or Katipo spiders can get yah.

April 11th; Hot Day of Long Distance

Log

Date: April 11th

Weather: Sunny and Hot

Swell: small E

Wind: Variable to light NE

Distance: 30NM

Camp: Boat left at Pourerere Beach, I stayed at my Dads place in Otane.

Blog

Awoke early around 5.30 am to the wind battering my tent every now and then, I remained in bed till 6am when my need to pee finally got me to stir. The sun was almost to rise and there was a red sunrise coming, this along with the sometimes strong gusts of westerly wind, had me wondering if the day would turn sour? The forecast was for good weather, but I put my Gortex over trousers on just in case.

I packed up moved the boat down the beach, loaded the boat, ate breakfast, filled water bottles, made lunch, got snacks ready and measured my distance for the day; 28 -31NM, then by 7.50 am I was paddling of the beach in the warm sun. The surf was small, however I still got a bit wet, and it ran down inside my over trousers….. GRRRR! I should have worn the Storm Cag over the top for the surf launch to avoid that, oh well. The day was stunning, the water flat, the sun hot and when the wind did decide where it was coming from it came from behind. Despite the dry pants I was quite a comfortable temperature, however the sun baked down and I needed to wear my full face protection to help relieve the intensity on my face from the reflected rays.

By 11am I had already chewed up over 10NM, and after lunch at 1pm I had done about 18. I pulled into Pourerere beach at about 4.30pm, after relaxing a bit near the end to catch a large Kahawai and question which part of the beach to land on, I was now in no rush as I had told my dad I would be there about 5pm, and I could have arrived at 3.30pm. coming into the sandy beach the waves where small, though I timed one that was bigger than the rest, not on purpose, and it again sent water down my over trousers ( as I again didn’t put on the storm cag jacket). This mistiming of course defeats the purpose of the trousers that are supposed to keep you dry, now they just keep the 3 cups of water inside. Hmm.

I got some weird looks from the local Cray fishermen (Crayfish are a spiny lobster) as I pulled up on the beach, then one came over to ask where I had come from and what I was up too for the night. I told him I was waiting for my dad, and he invited me up to use the phone and also offered to store the kayak near the beach over night so I could easily access it in the morning. This fisherman’s name was Rodney, and I quickly meet his friends Andrew and Tracey, they where all quite excited by my adventure and had been watching me paddle into the bay with binoculars. My dad turned up at 5pm and Rodney came down with a tractor and trailer and loaded the kayak on to it and we drove it back to the boat yard. I thanked them for their help and friendship then headed back to my dad’s place for a home cooked meal and a catch up with nephews and nieces. I slept well that night as it had been a big hot day of paddling. Oh and I got to see my first albatrosses today, I hope to see more soon