After checking in to the hotel we drove north-west up on the north end of the south island. We drove up quite a while and got to where there is a spit. Toshi wanted to do this off-road vehicle thing but because of the tides it only goes ones a day and we missed it. So instead we just walked out and back a little bit. We came back in to town and stopped at a pizza place for dinner.
Saturday morning we got up around 6. We had to be down in Kaiteriteri by 8:30 and with me driving (since we were making 2 round trips I told Toshi I would take 2 of them) we weren’t sure exactly how long it was going to take. We left just before 7:00 and it took just over an hour. We brought with us what we needed and went to the beach to meet with our team. They call everything team here – each person leading the group always says, ok team or let’s go team, or great work team. Our leader for the day was Tank. He got us all checked in and on our ferry (water taxi) to take us to the beach where our kayaks were. The problem? We got there and there were no kayaks. So, we waited. Then he finally got in touch with someone. We had one double and needed three more doubles and a single. The guy came and brought one single. So we waited some more. Although we got to that beach about 9 or shortly thereafter, which is when we were supposed to, it was nearly 11:30 by the time we got in the kayaks. We still did the whole thing just later in the day.
We saw seals. Lots of seals and one was showing off in the water and I got it on video! Toshi got a little frustrated with me because I get tired and I stop paddling. Totally understandable. We paddled around a while and then stopped for some lunch on one of the beaches. We did some more kayaking and got back around 6:30 instead of 4:30. We checked in for our ferry the next day, called Shannon and figured out dinner plans and changed in to dry clothes.
We met Shannon and Brian for dinner. We went to a Thai place in Motueka, not too far from Kaiteriteri and close enough for them – they were coming from Nelson I think and were headed to Ruby Bay to stay with some people they know. It was so fun to see them! And at one point Shan pointed out, it seems so weird we are in NZ, it feels like we are back home! We talked about Christmas and what they had been up to. They asked what we had been up to and what our plans were for the rest of the trip. It was really fun to get to see them since it had been a while and since they are here for a year (yesterday was their three month New Zealand anniversary) I’m not sure when I’ll get to see them again. They are talking about spending a year in Australia after they get done here although Shannon says that she really misses Christmas back home. We parted from them and headed back to the hotel.
This morning we got up about 6:30 and headed out about 7:30. We had to be there about 8:45. It took about an hour to get there again. I was worried along the way about the day in general. Yesterday when we had checked in they told us that there was a chance we weren’t going to be able to go because of the possibly horrible weather. We got there and things seemed fine. We got on the boat and found out that because of the predicted afternoon weather they weren’t going to be able to take us all the way up to our planned spot because our pickup spot they weren’t going to be able to get to. So they dropped us at Totranui. He told us where needed to go and about the place we were going to need to cross at low tide. He made it sound like not a big deal but it actually was…. We hiked for a while, stopped for lunch and hiked some more. The path is well marked so that wasn’t an issue. When we got to the place we were going to have to wait for low tide there were others there. We all waited together. Finally some people decided they wanted to go. The sign said 2 hours before and after low tide. It wasn’t even 2 hours yet so the rest of us waited. At about 2:15 Toshi decided we needed to go because our boat was coming at 3:15. We started waking and it was pretty gross. Our flip-flops (jandals in Kiwi) were getting stuck. I walked as long as I could in bare feet but it was too much after a while and I had put them back on. It was deep in some spots – up to my knees, not the best. I was not happy about it and honestly, it sucked. We finally made it across, cleaned off our feet and put on our hiking boots. We started walking and eventually found a sign telling us that our destination was 20 minutes away. Our boat was coming in 10. So we walked fast and Toshi found what looked like a cut through. It wasn’t necessarily going to be far enough but it would get us back to the beach (since the path had taken us away from the beach) in hopes we would see our boat. We popped out and Toshi saw a boat. Thank goodness! Good timing on our part. Our guy was out looking for us. He was the one that had dropped us off so he knew who to be looking for.
We got on the boat and he warned us it was going to be rough and that maybe we shouldn’t sit up front, however since I have a slight motion sickness issue I wanted to. HUGE MISTAKE. It was insane and we were getting tossed all over the place. So the first stop we made, Toshi and I moved back. Far enough for it to be a little less crazy but not so far back that we got wet. We picked up a lot of people along the way and it was really slow going and finally probably an hour later than normal, we made it back to Kaiteriteri. It was not a fun boat ride at all and I was incredible grateful when it was over.
We stopped and had some Indian food on the way back in Motueka and then came home to relax.
Tomorrow we drive to Kaikoura where the following morning we will swim with the dolphins in the ocean!
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