Big Trip

Finally, we were persuaded to go kayaking. Or rather, the three of us that wanted to go backed Sarah into a corner. We found a slightly dodgy collection of people on Paihia sea front hiring kayaks, so got ourselves fitted out. They weren't terribly helpful on where we should go, but eventually we agreed on a little sojourn round the nearest island. It was fine, actually. We made good progress all the way round behind the island. Erin didn't do a great deal of paddling herself (she was with me, and Max with Sarah, in double kayaks), though when she did, she was reasonably coordinated. As we were in the lead, I couldn't see how Sarah & Max were doing, except that they were keeping up OK, but I was aware of a fair amount of shouting of "left, right..." from both parties. We stopped for a breather on a little beach at the end of the island, where another couple of kayaks and a Maori waka doing tours had also stopped. The waka departed first, in a reasonably well choreographed show of white paddles, and then all four kayaks. The other two were a bit more sleek & technical than ours, so they left us behind fairly quickly. Then we got to a point out of the lee of the island where the combination of the breeze and the current made it very hard to turn the corner and paddle along the beach, and both our kayaks were getting blown towards the rocks. I managed to turn my kayak by swinging the nose of it round in the opposite direction, but Sarah just couldn't turn hers, and I couldn't get close enough for her to grab on to the stern of mine for help. Oh yes, and by now we were in the middle of a squally shower. Fortunately, at that point, the guy we'd rented them from turned up on his jet ski & offered a tow, which was gratefully accepted. Meanwhile, I managed to paddle on & get back under my own steam. There was much talk afterwards of never going kayaking again. Not that we'll get many opportunities, I'm sure.
After lunch we caught the ferry across to Russell, NZ's first capital. It's a lovely, quaint little town, with white clapboard colonial-style buildings, probably benefiting from the fact that to get there you either have to drive two and a half hours round, or get the vehicle ferry. Mooched around, went into the little museum with its 1:5 scale model of the Endeavour and exhibition on whaling in the area (I still don't know what 'flensing' is, and I'm not sure I want to). Had ice cream and admired the sleek yachts around the bay, and then caught the ferry back again.