To the Corimandel Coast in wooden boats
Well the Dynamic Duo, Greg and Freya, myself, Grant from Waiheke Island and Tony from Wellington caravan from Paul’s house to Opito Bay where we meet up with Graeme Bruce at his families Batch. A Batch is what the kiwi call a vacation home. Graeme’s is located right on this little protected bay.
The north end of the bay is a large hill which was a “Pa” site. A Pa site is a fortified Maori village that was used when the village was under attack from rival groups. There are Pa sites all over. Any tall hill with step sides will have a Pa site on top of it. One of the rituals is for visitors to Graeme’s batch to walk up to the top before dinner. This is no small feat as it is right up the steep side of the hill that has steps carved in it. Hundreds of steps! But I can’t complain as our host is the first to the top.
Did I mention that Graeme has only one leg! Well really 1.5 legs as he lost the right one below the knee (he says to sand flies!). His boat “Chucky IV” has only one peddle to control the rudder. He has an ingenuous method of simulating the other peddle using bungee cords.
The next morning we all set out to go paddling around the point and down the exposed coast. Graeme in the lead (mostly because he is so darn fast!) and the rest of us are strung out behind him with yours truly bringing up the rear (mostly because I’m so darn slow). Greg and Freya are both excellent paddlers and have no problems with the rough conditions. Tony’s back starts to bother him and he decides to turn back early. Grant takes us to a couple of very nice arches and into a spectacular cave that has a giant stalactite hanging down in the center of the entrance. All in all it is a bout a 32 km paddle on a very beautiful coast. We return to the batch were we bbq up a bunch of steaks and have a massive feed.
The north end of the bay is a large hill which was a “Pa” site. A Pa site is a fortified Maori village that was used when the village was under attack from rival groups. There are Pa sites all over. Any tall hill with step sides will have a Pa site on top of it. One of the rituals is for visitors to Graeme’s batch to walk up to the top before dinner. This is no small feat as it is right up the steep side of the hill that has steps carved in it. Hundreds of steps! But I can’t complain as our host is the first to the top.
Did I mention that Graeme has only one leg! Well really 1.5 legs as he lost the right one below the knee (he says to sand flies!). His boat “Chucky IV” has only one peddle to control the rudder. He has an ingenuous method of simulating the other peddle using bungee cords.
The next morning we all set out to go paddling around the point and down the exposed coast. Graeme in the lead (mostly because he is so darn fast!) and the rest of us are strung out behind him with yours truly bringing up the rear (mostly because I’m so darn slow). Greg and Freya are both excellent paddlers and have no problems with the rough conditions. Tony’s back starts to bother him and he decides to turn back early. Grant takes us to a couple of very nice arches and into a spectacular cave that has a giant stalactite hanging down in the center of the entrance. All in all it is a bout a 32 km paddle on a very beautiful coast. We return to the batch were we bbq up a bunch of steaks and have a massive feed.
posted by CoastSide Kayaker at 6:10 PM
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