The Fab 4, CackleTV and the NZ's Greatest

I am greeted at the door by my host Paul Hayward. Paul is a tall Canadian with a close clipped beard and silver curly hair. He is about my size and very kind face. ( I say all these thing in case he ever reads this) Actually Paul is a really nice guy that has a bunch going on and a house full of people for the next several days. His partner is Natasha, a nice South African that seems to share Paul’s passion for adventure. Their house is fabulous. Located a stones throw from the water with a spectacular view of bay. Walking distance from the beach and just wonderfully laid out. Paul designed it himself. The garage is to die for. It is big enough for 3- 4 cars, a trailer for kayaks, about a half dozen kayaks and even more bicycles with out looking crowded. He has a complete room just for wood working tools. I could go on and on.

I also meet the Key note speakers for Coast Busters Greg Stramer, Freya Hoffmeister, Turner Wilson and Cherri Perry. All four are Guru Greenland style paddlers and instructors. You can look up their bios at the Coast buster’s web site, so I won’t go on a about it hear. (http://www.coastbusters.org.nz/ select Speakers and Topics in the sidebar)

I also meet Paul Caffyn who is the first man to circumnavigate New Zealand and Australia. Not to mention several other large Island based countries such as Japan and Great Britain. Traveling with Paul is the lovely Justine Curgenven who is the producer of the kayaking DVD’s “This is the Sea” and “This is the Sea II” ( known affectionately as Tits I and Tits II) Check out her site at www.cackeltv.com She does a lot of adventure kayaking and just finish circumnavigating Tasmania with two other women to become the first all women team to accomplish this feat. She is very bubble and every guy that meets her falls in love ( at least all the kayaking guys ) She is traveling with Paul Caffyn while in New Zealand.
I also meet Steve and Sue, paddlers and friends of Paul and Natasha’s that are going to be putting up Greg and Freya and Scott Waterfield who owns most of the boats parked outside (and all on his truck on a huge roof rack that looks as if it could carry 9 kayaks) is the Owner of Paddling Perfection, a New Zealand based kayak manufacturer. I also meet John Kirk Anderson (JKA as Sandy calls him) who is a very well know New Zealand paddler who lives in Christchurch as is a friend of Sandy’s. I meet a few other people but those are the ones I can remember from Thursday night. After the night winds down and the group splits up I end up parking Homey in the drive way in front of Paul’s house. This will be my spot for the next several days.