Saw this boat going up the river, was quite impressed with his speed for a gondala type thing until I zoomed into the photo and saw the outboard motor in the middle of the canoe!
Maori Boat
Kayaking on the Waitangi River
I loved being on the water! I’m not very elegant in it mind ;) But it was excellent fun. This is shot from our tent – pretty sweet view. You could paddle right up close to the waterfall… Looks a lot larger and more fearce up close! On a high tide they say you can get under it.. Sounds a bit dicey ;)
We have a fair amount of paddling planned this holiday so thought it would be a good idea to get in an early practice. Both naturals I think, looking forward to more :)Haruru Falls Track
Wicked path following all round the edges of the river estuary down to Paihia. Wooden bridges and looking down into clear blue green water with sun beaming through the head height ferns. A good start to the day.
I bet if I’d have taken me fishing rod in that kayak I’d have bagged us a fine fish fir dinner here… Although i hear those mullets are notoriously tricky to get bitting. Next time!
Penguin Bird?
Some kind of bird here – walked like a Penguin but with a long gangly neck… A Ganet is it? Let us know if you know. There were bunches of them in the trees as we paddled and strode past. Pretty tame and busy with a whole load of shrieking raucous baby ones. How come babies are always louder than adults no matter the species?
Getting clean in Punaruku Stream
When we arrived here, we both got the urge to go no further today ;) Great to have a wash after the hot & sweaty day, although we found out the morning after there’s loads bigger and better pools for swimming in down stream.
Longest pedestrian bridge in the southern hemisphere!
This bad boy connects Whananiki North to Whananiki South, over an estuary. Unfortunately it was low tide when we crossed, so the size of this massive footbridge seemed a bit wasted on the small stream in the middle..
Finally we set sail!
For all the hours of waiting, it only took us about 10 minutes to cross this short section of water. We were dropped off at a huge marina (which isn’t on the map), got our bearings and made our way to Ruakaka for the night via some Fish & Chips enroute :)
Crossing Waipu River
Easy day today, just walking around the Bream Bay coast line. Heading to Waipu Cove where our friend Jane & Nick have kindly arranged for us to stay at their parents Beach Bach :) The only thing standing in our way is Waipu River. I’ve read that it can be quite a tricky bugger to cross, but even though we had some rain yesterday I think the previous few weeks of unusually dry weather meant the river was quite low, just above my belly button and not much flow. We had no trouble getting across.
Pakiri Stream Crossing
We were already pretty soggy from the driving rain so getting a little more damp didn’t matter :) It’s hard to tell the exact depth of a stream. Turned out I’d not rolled my trousers up quite enough ;)
Last obstacle of the day was an easy fording of Pakiri Stream before pitching our tent in the nearby campsite.Puhoi River Canoe Trip
We nailed it down Moir Hill from the logging area to the historic village of Puhoi, for some messing around on the river. Instead of kayaking we opted for the old fashioned open top canoe and single paddles. It was a little less stable feeling than the sea kayak even though the water was flat as a pancake, but against all the odds we managed not to fall in! :DWe decided to give the Canadian Canoe a go on this one. I think we both found the heavy paddle hard work compared to the lightweight double-ended jobby on the sea kayak.
Puhoi was a lovely little town, they even sold enourmus 1 litre bottles of Tui in the store, got two for our picnic lunch :)
