It was an early start for me this morning. We all planned to meet at the white water centre car park at 9am. I left Wellington at 7.30 with an hour and a half drive in front of me. There wasn't much traffic on the road, and after a stop at New World in Levin, I arrived in Shannon at 9am.

 

This section of the Mangahao River was dammed in 1949. The section directly below the dam has been turned into a 300m grade 3 water park for white water and slalom kayakers. The release of the dam is a bit sporadic, but Jo had arranged a release for the Victoria University club that day.

My weekend tramp started Thursday morning. I put on my 70lt pack and started the 3km walk to the office. This was the first time I had walked to the office from my new house, and I was pleasantly surprised that it had only taken me 30 minutes. Maybe I could make this a regular thing?

 

Sam dropped me off at the Interislander ferry terminal, and I waited for the others before we all boarded the ferry.

 

3 hours later we arrived in Picton, where our minibus was waiting to take us to Flora car park for the start of our weekend Kahuarangi tramp. We arrived at the car park in the early hours of the morning, and instead of walking to Flora hut, we decided to sleep in the visitors shelter at the car park.

Catherine, her flatmate Lesley and myself headed up to Rotorua Thursday lunchtime for the Xterra Triathlon.

At around 8.30 we found ourselves driving along a forest track in the dark, wondering where on Earth it was taking us. The only sign of life on the track was a startled possum, which was the third possum I have ever seen, the first 2 possums being only last week. After peering through the dark looking out for house numbers we eventually arrived at the Ruamoana Bach. Catherine's sister, brother inlaw and  Maia arrived later after we had gone to bed.

An hour after leaving the office, we were sitting on the plane to Nelson. We spent Thursday night at the Beach Hostel in Tahunanui. It was an early start on the Friday morning, the coach collecting us from the hostel at 6.55. An hour later we arrived at the Sea Kayak base in Motueka. After being introduced to our guide Robbie, we all piled into the minibus and drove the short but windy road to Marahau. The day of kayaking started at a beach close to Tonga Island and after a 20 minute water taxi ride we arrived at the beach where the kayaks were already kitted out and waiting for us. Our guide Robbie took us out, and around Tonga Island where a seal colony is located. From there we paddled down to Anchorage bay, stopping at Mosquito Bay for lunch and a swim.

This was set to be a weekend of dashing around the Lower North Island, but in fact turned into a very relaxing and fun weekend.