Kayak adventure in BOI...

Steve and Donna at the start of our kayak adventure

In a weak moment, for our day in the Bay of Islands, we decided to go with Steve and Donna on a kayak tour of the Waitangi River near Pahia  up as far as the Waitangi Falls (don’t hold me to the names, I THINK I have them right). The weak moment wasn’t, of course, going with Steve and Donna, it was agreeing to go on a kayak adventure! Randy and I have paddled kayaks and canoes before—we even have our own beautiful laminated canoe paddles not to mention our very own canoe, courtesy of Bob and Liz—it’s just that we are a lot older now and haven’t done any kayaking in years. Eons even.

But there  we were, surrounded by a dozen much younger folk, including those mere CHILDREN Steve and Donna! Too late to back out now! So off we went in two-person kayaks, up the river, aided by the current (the tide was coming in) and the wind (which was at our backs). We didn’t think, until far too late, that the tide and the wind would be going against our aging bodies on the way back!

On the way we saw a fair amount of wildlife, that is to say we saw approximately six birds: five black and white water birds (can you tell I’m not a birder?) and a Australasian hawk of some kind (our guide told us). Actually we also saw a tree full of nesting cormorants but I don’t count them because they were just hanging out in the trees, not actually doing anything. After about 17 hours of paddling we arrived at a quite pretty waterfall, sort of looked like Niagra Falls in miniature. We were then suborned softened up by being given coffee and Milo—what! You Americans don’t know what Milo is? Hot Chocolate—before slipping and sliding and squishing our way back to the kayaks (did I mention that the tide was coming in?) to start our trip back INTO THE WIND AND AGAINST THE CURRENT.

Well, we made it but my aging body is going to need Ibuprofen for the next seven days!

We took the (complimentary!! Kudos to the “Profit before Pleasure” Princess Cruise Lines) bus to Pahia and gee, what a surprise, they had an Arts Faire that was very nice. We actually spent money there! (Kathy, I have a present for you, it’s the color of Blu [but which color?]).

We did, however, walk back.

We had some beer, bought some stuff, exercised our muscles and then—back to the ship for our last two days at sea before disembarking in Sydney. I can’t believe it’s over. Well, it’s not over, we have lots more to do and I will continue this blog until we get home to Tucson. We still have Sydney, Lakes Entrance, Ballarat, Canberra (we need hotel recommendations!), and then back to Sydney again.