Day 3

We woke early and had cereal and yogurt breakfast huddled in the campervan with the heater on, while we watched locals eating outside at their picnic tables. We then had to grab our gear and head out for adventure. We met a sea kayak guide on the beach at 8:45. Tyrell was our fearless guide. There was another large group with another leader, but because we had small kids, they gave us our own private tour group. This was the first time we had done sea kayaking with real skirted sea kayaks (versus the open top, more stable ones.) We pushed out through the breaking waves on the shore and realized this would be a heartier trip than a simple bay cruise. We headed out to an island where an ancient Maori declared that it looked like his nose, thus according to custom if it look like a part of your body than it belongs to you. The island then became sacred. We circumnavigated the island, including some rough waters crashing near rocks, a cave tunnel and a narrow rock passage. From there we headed inland to Cathedral Cove. Ally must have sensed that it rated one of the top ten most beautiful beaches in the world, because she asked if the Maori got married there. She also said, “It looked like a Masterpiece, a Masterpiece by God.” The only way to reach the beach is by boat or an hour hike. The water in front of it is a marine reserve. After surfing our kayaks onto the beach, we got out and explored the area. We walked through the large arch, swam in some waves and Steven was able to swim out to a large rock and jump off with some teenagers. After that we headed back to the kayaks where hot cocoa and cookies awaited us. Nice.

With one more dip in the ocean, we got back in our kayaks and headed back. We were able to kayak into one more cave. This one wasn’t a tunnel, but had a small beach. Only one kayak could fit in at a time. We also passed a snorkeling trail with guided buoys.

The original plan was to rush to hot water beach afterward to catch the low tide. But we got back a bit late and wanted it to feel like a vacation, so we figured we’ll stay late tomorrow and see it then. Instead we made a really nice picnic by our campervan and then headed back to the beach to swim, snorkel and collect sea shells.

When we were all sated of sand and sun, we showered up and jumped in the campervan to head 12 km to the town of Whititianga. This is the biggest commercial town nearby. To give you perspective of the size, it got its first grocery store two years ago. To get there by car it takes an hour and 40km, but we got there by boat. We drove to the oldest wharf in NZ where we caught a tiny passenger ferry that runs back and forth continuously. Once across, we went to The Fireplace for dinner. The restaurants here have had great atmosphere and been kid friendly in such perfect ways. This restaurant had a great park and playground across the street in front of it. We could see the kids from our table (but don’t worry grandparents… I went with them, while Steven waited for the food.) We ordered a pizza with strange sounding combination like chili sauce and yogurt. I was very skeptical, but it was excellent. After dinner we tried to walk to ice cream and the grocery store, but found out we were too late as the store closed at 8pm. But we found a small market still open and really enjoyed walking through the small town. We caught the small ferry back watching the families fishing off the pier. Ally fell in love for the second time on the trip with a cute, teenage guy who was fishing. The night and scenery were so beautiful, who could blame her for feelings.

Back at the holiday park, we got excited by two discoveries. One we found a hedgehog right near our campervan. It tried to play dead, so we were able to get great photos. The other was that we looked up when we went to the bathroom and were completely taken aback by the brightness, the number of stars overhead.