Kawau Island – Last adventure
Our last trip will be a day trip around Kawau Island. This trip we will be joined, in part, by Lance and Gregor and his wife whom I meet at CoastBusters. Gregor, who was a member of my pod and a former student of Andy is a Maori bloke and a really fun guy. His wife who is European was also delightful. Lance was Lance which is to say he is a funny guy. It turns out that Lance is a Neil Young fan. I discover this when he spouts out a line from Tonight’s the Night. Only a true Neil fan would know what it was and what its context was (which I am and I did). But I am getting ahead of myself.
We meet up with the rest of our group at Martin’s Bay which is part of a peninsula that makes up Mahurangi Harbour. There are several other kayaking groups going out today. This to me is unusual as I have become accustom to have the water to myself, but I remind myself that this is a three day weekend and that I’ve been paddling mid week most of the time. It different paddling with other people, different pace different objectives. Andy and I split off to look at a Beehive Island. Which is a very small island that looks just like, you guessed it. Well it did until the trees got bigger as Andy informs me. We take a few quick pictures then head over to Kawau to join the rest of the part at the old copper mine. Well all that is really left is the chimney stack. We turn south and take a peak at the back side but we soon discover that the water is a little too rough for our companions so we turn and head north to Mansion House Bay.
Mansion House bay is a favorite stopping spot for boaters and we find the little harbor and beach crowed with pleasure craft. We thread our way through the mob and land up on the beach to have lunch. After that Andy and I head north to begin our circumnavigation and Lance, Gregor and his wife head for the pub at the local.
Andy and I carry on north around to the back side of the island where we hunt for rock gardens to play in and cave to explore. We actually scare some sharks that were basking near the shore. So now we are paddling in shark infested waters! A new element! Not that I haven’t paddled in shark infested waters before, its just that I never had to actually look at the sharks so it made it less scary some how.
Once around the back side we shoot south for Motuketeketa Island and Moturekaraka Island. This we do in the failing light. We have donned our lights and markers. Gee I’m sure glad that my girlfriend bought me this light marker for our Baja trip. It really is coming in handy now! By the time we reach the Islands it’s full on dark. And the waning moon lights up the surface of the water. There are a few boats on the water but they are anchored and hail us to make sure that we are OK. We reach the island and land up to have a light dinner. Then we push off to the final Island in this long strange trip.
Our final destination is Motoroa Island, a Kiwi sanctuary. We land up in the dark and stow the boats high up on the beach. We take off our paddling gear and grap our headlights and head over to the DOC ranger site and Andy talks to the ranger about the best place to find the elusive bird that only come out at night. He gives us some red cellophane to put over our lights to prevent the birds from noticing us and we march out into the bush. We can here them rustling in the bush and finally Andy sees one but by the time I turn to look I can only see a blur heading deeper into the bush. But it’s enough for me. We head back to our boat and make the night crossing back to Martin’s bay and home. It is about 11pm when we return. We left the beach at 10am, returned to the beach at around 11pm and covered 47km. A great finally to a most excellent vacation!
We meet up with the rest of our group at Martin’s Bay which is part of a peninsula that makes up Mahurangi Harbour. There are several other kayaking groups going out today. This to me is unusual as I have become accustom to have the water to myself, but I remind myself that this is a three day weekend and that I’ve been paddling mid week most of the time. It different paddling with other people, different pace different objectives. Andy and I split off to look at a Beehive Island. Which is a very small island that looks just like, you guessed it. Well it did until the trees got bigger as Andy informs me. We take a few quick pictures then head over to Kawau to join the rest of the part at the old copper mine. Well all that is really left is the chimney stack. We turn south and take a peak at the back side but we soon discover that the water is a little too rough for our companions so we turn and head north to Mansion House Bay.
Mansion House bay is a favorite stopping spot for boaters and we find the little harbor and beach crowed with pleasure craft. We thread our way through the mob and land up on the beach to have lunch. After that Andy and I head north to begin our circumnavigation and Lance, Gregor and his wife head for the pub at the local.
Andy and I carry on north around to the back side of the island where we hunt for rock gardens to play in and cave to explore. We actually scare some sharks that were basking near the shore. So now we are paddling in shark infested waters! A new element! Not that I haven’t paddled in shark infested waters before, its just that I never had to actually look at the sharks so it made it less scary some how.
Once around the back side we shoot south for Motuketeketa Island and Moturekaraka Island. This we do in the failing light. We have donned our lights and markers. Gee I’m sure glad that my girlfriend bought me this light marker for our Baja trip. It really is coming in handy now! By the time we reach the Islands it’s full on dark. And the waning moon lights up the surface of the water. There are a few boats on the water but they are anchored and hail us to make sure that we are OK. We reach the island and land up to have a light dinner. Then we push off to the final Island in this long strange trip.
Our final destination is Motoroa Island, a Kiwi sanctuary. We land up in the dark and stow the boats high up on the beach. We take off our paddling gear and grap our headlights and head over to the DOC ranger site and Andy talks to the ranger about the best place to find the elusive bird that only come out at night. He gives us some red cellophane to put over our lights to prevent the birds from noticing us and we march out into the bush. We can here them rustling in the bush and finally Andy sees one but by the time I turn to look I can only see a blur heading deeper into the bush. But it’s enough for me. We head back to our boat and make the night crossing back to Martin’s bay and home. It is about 11pm when we return. We left the beach at 10am, returned to the beach at around 11pm and covered 47km. A great finally to a most excellent vacation!
posted by CoastSide Kayaker at 8:21 AM
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