Motueka to Kaikoura New Zealand

Sent Saturday, February 19, 2011 12:30 am New Zealand time
Friday 6:30 am Eastern Daylight Savings time

Greetings from Motueka and Kaikoura New Zealand,

Sea kayaking. For two and a half hours. In the cold. Doesn’t sound like our thing. We tried to avoid it but went along with the group. But here was the plan: Wake up early, when it’s still cold. Then go to the beach and out in the ocean which means getting wet no matter what (still cold), paddling for two and a half hours. Lunch on the beach. Then when it finally gets hot out, go for a two hour hike. Sounds backwards to me. Packing list: long sleeve shirt, short sleeve shirt, shorts, jacket, tee shirt, bathing suit, camera, sunglasses, sunscreen. But pack light because you are going to have to carry it all on your hike.

We were picked up at 7:45am and transferred to the Sea Kayak company. After a short briefing and release signing we were transferred to the Abel Tasman water taxi. Life jackets were distributed and the water taxis (boats) are loaded (with passengers) on dry land then backed down a ramp into the water. The water was actually up to the ramp as it was high tide.

We saw some dolphins along the way. Finally we were dropped off at a beach through the surf. Not dry. We were issued dry packs but our change of clothes etc. do not go in the dry pack. Camera, wallet etc does so no photos along the trip. There is a dry locker on the kayak which we were told was dry 99.9% of the time. After questioning why we had to sponge water out of the 99.9% dry locker (I guess that is the .1% water) I was told they got wet on the way over to the beach we were on. Oh well, "no worries" as they say in New Zealand.

We were issued a kind of skirt which you wear under your life vest and water resistant (not water proof) jacket which was very welcome. The skirt keeps splashing water from filling up the compartment you are sitting in. Somewhat. However there is a catch. Sometimes the kayak will flip over in which case the passengers will be under water.

Orientation was straightforward until we got to the test:

What is the first thing you do if the kayak flips over? Choose from the options below.

a. Panic
b. Don't panic
c. Get out
d. Hold your breath
e. Recite the Sh'ma (say your prayers)
f. Call your lawyer

The correct answer is d. I guessed c. However d is a better idea.

What do you do next?

a. Panic
b. Don't panic
c. Get out
d. Hold your breath
e. Recite the Sh'ma (say your prayers)
f. Call your lawyer

The correct answer is b. I guessed c again.

Then?

a. Panic
b. Don't panic
c. Get out
d. Hold your breath
e. Recite the Sh'ma (say your prayers)
f. Call your undertaker

Finally, c is correct. However, that handy skirt is held on by a tight elastic band over a lip on the kayak which may hinder the actual performance of c. Sometimes it just pops off due to water pressure, or more likely due to a. If it does not pop off, you may proceed directly to e.

We never got to the part where they tell you how to get back into the kayak in the middle of the ocean. It was hard for me to get in on the beach. I can tell you that I was not flipping over because I would get all wet which would be unpleasant with all the gear I had on.

Laurie was in the kayak with our kayak guide, Harley, because she had a sore wrist (cause unknown (later determined to be new iPad Zagg keyboard used on lap)) and they thought he would be better paddling for two than me since my previous paddling experience was 5 minutes 20 years ago. I was in a Kayak with Beren, another member of our group because his wife decided to stay on the beach with a book. She is very smart.

We paddled out to an island and saw some fur seals. On our way back to the landing beach, we passed a small penguin lollygagging along the way. He was cute but would have been cuter waddling on land. He was alone. I do not have a picture for reasons stated above. (see note below)
Harley continually told Beren and I to slow down. I was paddling like he-- because my legs were killing me due to my position in the kayak and I couldn't get my legs into a comfortable position. The faster we got to the beach, the faster I would get relief so it was full steam ahead. Harley wanted to keep the group together so he could deal with an emergency but I had my own emergency. We could have towed a skier the way I was paddling. I would have been happy to tow all 5 kayaks if it would have gotten me to the beach sooner. Instead we waited.

Upon reaching the beach I had no problem extricating myself. We were treated to a fair lunch with excellent carrot cake which filled the void.

The two hour hike was a breeze despite the steep hill climbs. I would tell you more but I'm already days behind. It was a beautiful area and a nice path. I took a few pictures. After the hike there was another hike to the "restroom." Nasty but welcome. We had to wait for our water taxi pick up on the low tide beach which gave us a chance to get our dry clothes wet as our taxi driver didn't come in far enough and the tide was coming in.
Tractors waiting to haul more passenger laden water taxis out of the sea. Low tide is really low here. The actual ramp is a few hundred meters away.

There is more to say but not enough time.
In Motueka we stayed at the Nautilus Motel which was much nicer on the inside than it looked from the outside.

The most spectacular tree I have ever seen is in town. It is in front of a church. They probably settled the town just to admire this tree.

All I can say is that it is worth a trip to Motueka just to see this tree. It is an Araucaria bidwillii also known as Bunya Bunya.
It ranks up there with the Great Wall of China. I came back to take more pictures the next day.

Friday we moved on to Kaikoura. Nicer motel with a great beach view.

This morning (Friday) we went on a bird watch cruise. (The other option was swimming with the seals but the seals have fur coats and lots of blubber and we left our furs in Florida). That involved getting wet in cold water with a wetsuit and getting up close to sea creatures with teeth. Don't be fooled thinking staying on a boat will keep you dry however. I will be more careful with my electronic equipment in the future. Luckily my camera is still working.

Birds negotiating access to bag of chum

Anyway they throw a net bag full of chum behind the boat which attracts birds but the real attraction was the fishing boat we stuck close to as they reeled in an endless net full of big fish. The fishermen evidently had no use for the entire fish so they were trmming off guts and heads for the birds. It was actually more interesting watching these fishermen pull fish after fish out of their l-o-n-g net as they reeled it in. It was a deep net and one fish fell out and was retrieved by our captain by hand for his dinner. It was a deep water fish and according to the captain he was "in a bad way." Poor Mr. fish did not de-pressurize properly since he was not planning to surface so his eyes bugged out and his internals embolized (captains description). He was still alive which was bad news for him.
Captain with his dinner.

Welcome aboard.

Hanging around the fishing boat was more fun than poking into our chum bag.

However we came to watch birds which also put on a nice show. One bird had a reddish beak and knees which meant she had a new chick being watched by her mate

We stopped by a seal colony on the way back but I was busy drying my camera so I didn't get good shots there.
Some mini dolphins stopped by but we weren't supposed to stop to see them for some technical ecological reason. They are really tough to photograph.


Next activity was a whale watch flight. Even less security than New Zealand air. No carry ons so weight doesn't matter. They did weigh the passengers though. And it was right after lunch. So cruel.
Whales were hanging around for us.


Anyway it's easy to find the whales by air. Just go toward the whale watch ships. We saw some sperm whales which are very big. The whales have a predictable behavior pattern. They hang around the surface catching their breath. Around one breath for each minute they plan (do whales really plan?) to dive. Then one big breath blow out, the tail goes up and the whale dives straight down into the Hikoringi trench just off the coast of Kaikoura. The trench is about 6 kilometers deep. Mr whale will usually stay down for around 45 minutes feasting on giant squid (not fried but still probably tastes like rubber bands).

We had to be on the lookout for our whale friends as was our pilot but more important was being on the lookout for the whale watch helicopter. With everybody looking at the whale those two pilots better be looking out for each other.

The whales put on a nice show for the boats, plane and helicopter although they are probably wondering what all the hub-bub is at the surface.

We passed a school of Dolphin on the way back. There was plenty of jumping and there was a white dolphin but I don't think I got him in a shot.

Next activity for the day was a one hour hike but I'll spare you the photos because this email has gone on long enough. Nice views along the way and more seal action. No wonder we're exhausted.

Tomorrow night we reside at a farm-stay with a family. Our host is named Bill Stewart and his wife works in a department store two days a week. Should be interesting. Check back for the next installment.

Regards,

Steve & Laurie

Note: Kayak and penguin photos courtesy of Tom Goldsworthy who had a waterproof camera case.