Day 49 - Thursday 22 February 2024
I'm quite pleased to be doing a blog; putting the day in the title would you'd think give me an idea where in the week we are, but each day I come to do the blog I'm totally clueless as to what day it is again. So long as I remember which day I video call Mum I'll be OK ....no more pound coins in envelopes for me!
Today has been quite a day; one of those planned and booked in November that has turned out to be absolutely the best way to explore where I am. First up, when I did the cycle and wine tour in Napier, I teamed up with a couple from Vancouver called Bill and Eve ..... they are in Nelson currently and we met up last night.
I have had the Kayak, Cruise and Walk trip here booked since November, and on mentioning this to Bill and Eve a few days ago, they have also signed on for the same trip. So an early departure this morning for Kaiteriteri where we check in at 08:45, picking up Bill and Eve en route. We arrived in Kaiteriteri in good time for the check in for the kayaking out to Split Apple Rock, and after some instruction and handing out of gear we made our way onto the water.
This time I was paired with a Brazilian lady named Rose, and for the first part of the kayak she took the back seat and steered. After a brief paddle around near the beach, we exited the bay via a small channel between the headland and an island, and made out way along the coast to Split Apple rock. It's a bit of a famous landmark in these parts.
We then had a bit of a play around a cave; manoeuvring ourselves backwards into the cave before exiting forwards. I did try to capture video of this by sitting the Gopro grip into my flotation jacket, but it just didn't work. Then onto the beach, where I explored to the far end of the beach before taking to the water again.
Kayaking finished, we had a bite to eat for lunch, then boarded the boat which was to take us to Anchorage Bay for the 'walk' part of the day. We had a stop off at the Split Apple Rock, which allowed me to get some camera shots rather than Gopro.
We also had a good view of the transit point where we just cleared the rocks beneath us, and now there was no way we could have passed this route as the rocks were well above the water level.
On our arrival in Anchorage Bay, we decided that we were going to tackle the hour and a half return Pitt Head and Te Pukatea Bay loop. Away from the beach, and up a steepish incline; we were soon well above the sea as evidenced through the occasional glimpse of the blue water through the woodland below us. We came to a sign that pointed us to the left, so took that path, and soon found an outlook point with a great view of the coast.
Then onwards to another outlook that wasn't that impressive before descending to the beach at Te Pukatea. From here it was about 20 minutes back to Anchorage Bay, so passed the sign we turned left at earlier, and back down the steep decline back to the beach. This gave us the opportunity to catch an earlier boat back to Kaiteriteri than we had originally planned, so we made it back to the car in good time..
Back onto the road, and the hour drive back to back to Nelson. Bill and Eve were dropped off at their Air B&B before I returned to my accommodation to plan for tomorrow and to sort out todays blog and vlog updates. Then (if I can be bothered this evening) repack my luggage in preparation for departure tomorrow when I'll be back on the road again and on my way to Blenheim.
Today has been a most excellent day, and another experience that I booked way back that's lived up to and exceeded all expectations. Looking at it another way, it's another thing I've been looking forward to for ages that's now in the past. I still have loads to look forward to though; I just wish the time wasn't flying past so quickly!
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