Day 5 - Sunday
With our dolphin trip cancelled, we decided to have lazy morning then wander (and clamber) into town to have a look round the shops.
Unfortunately, we both took “lazy” a bit too far and suddenly realised the sea was coming in at a rate of knots and if we didn’t get our skates on, we would be cut off again.
You have never seen 2 women get ready so fast and this time wearing sensible “rock clambering” footwear, we set off for town.
We had a good look round the shops, exchanged life stories with everyone we met and experienced the full force of New Zealand’s customer service.
We bought the obligatory NZ teeshirts, a few gifts and had we had the space and weight allowance in our luggage, I would have definitely bought a huge decorative mermaid for my bedroom at home.
Despite Lottie’s snorkel playing up at Goat Island, she had loved the snorkelling so much (her mother’s daughter), I wanted to get her a decent mask/snorkel of her own. Sticking something in your mouth when you have no clue where it’s been isn’t a very nice thought, so we popped into a dive shop and got her a decent quality Red one.
We found a ‘cool bag’ in a “dollar” shop and a supermarket, to top up our supplies.
Even though I was smoking a lot less than normal (unsurprising at those prices) I decided to buy a few more packets, while I had the chance. We went to the checkout and looked around for the locked cupboard. Yes - there it was, so the conversation went something like this;-
Me - Can I buy some cigarettes please
Her - (Big smiles) Of course, what brand would you like.
Me - I don’t really know - what have you got
Her - I can’t tell you
Me - Sorry - what?
Her - I’m not allowed to tell you - it’s against the law
Me - Well can you even give me a hint
Her - Nope - you’ll have to guess
Me - Well have you got Marlborough?
Her - Nope - guess again
Me to Lottie - what was the name of that brand I bought the other day?
Lottie - No idea mum
Me - I think it began with W
Her - Sorry - I need the full name
Me - It was like Winston
Her - No - we haven’t got those
Me - It was definitely Win something…..
Her - Keep guessing you are nearly there.
Me - I’ve got it, I think it was Winfield
Her - (with huge relief) Yes that’s it (Round of applause from the shop assistants)
Her - I think they have Marlborough in the mini supermarket over the road if you prefer.
We stopped for a late lunch at the Rib Shack, which might seem an odd choice for non meat eaters, but it was sunny and they had outside tables. They also had loads of vegetarian options, so we went for veggie burgers served, as always, with big smiles from the waiting staff.
I called Vanessa again to see how things were looking for the Dolphin cruise the next day and she said not good. They had been given a gale warning so she was cancelling Monday’s trip as well and would refund our money. We were really disappointed so decided to stop by the Tourist Information booth, to see if there was something else we could do. We had a Kayaking trip up the river to a waterfall, planned for Monday evening, but we were desperate to get out into the bay.
The super friendly, smiley, helpful lady explained that although the sailing boat had cancelled ( because in her words - they had their own special issues to deal with when it’s windy), the other, motorised boats would still be going out. We had a big old discussion about the weather, the gale force warning and what we could do, if it was too bad to do the trip. Lottie then had a flash of genius and suggested that as this trip was only a morning, unlike the original one that was all day, we could always do it Tuesday before we left.
The journey down to our next destination was going to be 5 hours + and we had planned to leave early and take a nice leisurely drive down with lot’s of stops along the way. So this idea would mean leaving much later and a straight drive down with very little time for stops (or pies). Lottie had, by now, become the designated driver and I didn’t want her to be worn out, but she assured me she would be fine.
So we had a new plan. We booked the trip for Monday morning, with the proviso that we could move it to Tuesday if the weather was bad. Happy in the knowledge that all was not lost on the Dolphin front, we headed back to our apartment, positively skipping over the rocks.
We both decided we needed a little siesta. I woke up 5 hours later to a raging storm outside, knowing that, having slept so long, I was probably going to be up all night. Lottie on the other hand, woke up briefly, asked what time it was and promptly went back to sleep.
Watching the wind blow the chairs and tables down the terrace, the trees bent double and the rain lashing the windows, I felt it was highly unlikely that our boat trip, starting at 8am was going to go ahead. I dropped a note to Fiona at our next destination, to let her know we may be arriving much later than planned on Tuesday and then decided to check all the camera batteries were fully charged.
Sony - check. Go-Pro - check. Olympus (underwater camera) - no sign of it. I pulled everything out of my cases, checked everywhere in the apartment (including in the fridge) and there was no sign of it anywhere.
The only place it could possibly be was still in Bertha. So decision time - do I wait until the storm passes and spend the whole night worrying, or do I brave the elements to go check. So it was totally worth both me and my pyjamas getting completely soaked through, to know that I hadn’t lost the camera.
By 5am the storm seemed to be gathering in strength and I just knew there would be no boat trip today. So as I had finally started to feel sleepy I set my alarm for 6.30 and went to bed.
Day 6 - Monday
Lottie woke me up just before my alarm went off at 6.30 and after stepping outside to see if it felt as horrible as it looked, we decided that even if they were doing the cruise, we would switch to the following day. We already knew the water would be freezing, so adding gale force winds, pouring rain and rough seas into the mix didn’t make it terribly appealing. We had also been told that the weather forecast for Tuesday looked warm and fine, so we called the tour company and said we would take the trip tomorrow instead.
That left us with another free day until 6.pm when we were meeting up for our Evening Kayak Safari.
At the time we called to cancel our Dolphin trip the storm was still raging, but at exactly 8.00am - the time the trip was due to leave, the rain stopped, the winds died down and the sun came out. We couldn’t believe it - it seemed like we had cancelled for nothing. As it was, we later found out that the boat didn’t go anyway, because the weather might have looked fine, but the waves out in the bay were meters high.
We had decided to take Bertha to town with us, so we could fill her up with petrol and drive to our Kayak meeting place. It was a good job we did, because as we were getting into the car, the clouds returned with a vengeance and it poured with rain again.
We drove through town and parked on the other side, so we were nearer the Kayaking. During the 15 minute walk back, the weather changed every few minutes and we got rained on at least 5 times.
We were both craving the Snapper Sliders we had had on our first night, so returned to the restaurant over the water. We were there quite a while snuggling under our blankets and munching on the delicious food and during that time, the weather continued to change every couple of minutes. So we wrote a little song (to be sung to the tune of hello mudder, hello fadder)
It is raining
it is sunny
in New Zealand
the weather’s funny
now it’s raining
and now it’s sunny
raining, sunny, raining, sunny, raining, sunny!!
We were sat in the sheltered bit, but a large section of this place is open to the elements, so we watched the poor girl who was serving - stack the chairs and tables, unstack them again, wipe them all down - stack, unstack, wipe - repeat! The minute she decided to give up and leave all the furniture stacked, some bright spark would come along ( during a sunny spell) and want to sit at that end. Of course the minute she got everything unstacked, wiped down and had them seated, the heavens would open again and they would have to make a mad dash for shelter.
We gave her a good tip!!!
About an hour before our Kayak trip, we went to pick up Bertha so we could fill her up ready for the long journey the following day.
So far, everything had cost about the same as it does in the UK, or a little more, so as Bertha is a big old broad, I expected a tank of petrol to cost a small fortune. Lottie filled her up and I went to pay. “That will be 50 dollars please”. (about 30 quid). I thought he must have made a mistake, so I handed him my card and held my breathe, waiting for him to say “no sorry that should be 150 dollars”. but no - apparently that was correct. As I walked out, another thought occurred to me - maybe the pump had clicked off early and we only had half a tank, so I got Lottie to check the fuel gauge and the little pointer was exactly where it should be - right up over the full mark.
It’s very hard to get your head around a full tank of petrol costing less than 2 packets of cigarettes, but that’s New Zealand for you.
Lottie thought the tires looked like they needed pumping up a bit, so she drove to the air pump and looked for the slot to pay. No sign of anywhere to put your money in, so I went back into the shop to ask.
“How do we use the air pump” I asked. The bloke looked bemused.
Him - “Well you pick up the pump, attach the end to the valve on the tire and press go”
Me - “well yes, we know how to do it - but where do we pay”,
Him (with a look of incredulity) - “what do you mean - where do you pay - it’s air - and air is free of course”
Me - “ it’s not free in the UK or in Spain - we have to pay”
Him (looking more shocked by the minute) - “ are you serious - you actually have to pay for air”
Me - “fraid so”
Him - “Well now I’ve heard everything”
As it happens, Bertha has the sort of tires that look almost flat but have more than enough air in them. Still at least we won’t look stupid next time.
We arrived at the rendezvous point for the Kayaking earlier than everyone else, which was a good thing because we needed to change and we planned to do it in Bertha.
Being lovely and spacious, she transforms into an excellent changing room and with one of us keeping a lookout to make sure no-one was peering in the windows, we managed to strip off all our day clothes and get kitted up in our “it’s fine if it gets completely soaked through” gear. We knew that kayaking under the waterfall itself was optional, but even if we had opted out of that, we would still have got soaked because the weather was still doing it’s famous raining, sunny, raining thing.
Ben, our guide arrived promptly, greeted the small group (only 7 of us) and helped us all onto the little boat that was going to take us up river. He explained the safety procedures, cracked a few jokes about sinking, life jackets etc and then asked us to introduce ourselves.
He suggested we give our names, where we were from and one really exciting thing we have done in our lives. A couple from the UK were in the process of cycling 3000 miles around New Zealand (the sound of jaws hitting the deck). There were 3 girls from Canada - two had been chased by a bear the other had climbed Kilimanjaro (lot’s of ooos and wows). Lottie said this whole New Zealand trip was the most exciting thing she had done (ahhh bless). I didn’t want to let the side down, so related my swimming with wild Dolphins, seals and turtles in the Galapagos, to which, everyone said they were insanely jealous.
Ben explained that he was going to take us upriver in the boat, then when we were about a 30 min paddle from the falls, we would get into the 2 man Kayaks and make our way at our own speed. He would follow us and once there, would join us in his own Kayak. He also told us that in most placesX, the water was very shallow, so if we capsized we could just stand up, but we had to wear life jackets anyway, because the water was a lot deeper at the falls.
Once upon a time I was quite a good canoeist, but that was over 40 years ago and being the oldest in the group by about 30 years, I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be much help to Lottie. The Brit cyclists were the first out and set off like a bat out of hell. The Canadians were next - Kilimanjaro girl and one bear escapee in one and the other on her own. They took a while to get settled and seemed to mill about in the same spot for a bit, so by the time Lottie and I were in our Kayak the Brit cyclists were long gone.
We set off and I quickly realised that Kayaking is exactly the same as canoeing and it’s a bit like riding a bike - you never forget.
We settled into a lovely rhythm, shot past the Canadians and were on our way - until I realised I had forgotten to take off my glasses. I had already decided, following Ben’s advice to leave them on the boat and was gutted that we were now going to have to paddle back to give them to him.
We drew up alongside, I handed them over and set off again.
I now couldn’t see very well (which turned out to be a bonus when we reached the falls), which made things a little tricky as I was at the front. Lottie called out helpful gentle little hints:- “left Mother left - we’re going to hit the bank - LEEEFFFTTT”. “Why are you taking us on to that sandbank - go right right right!!”
But despite not being able to see, we felt very smug that we reached the falls only a little way behind the cycling Brits and ages before Kilimanjaro girl and her gang.
I’m not sure, what I was expecting, but given that the photo’s on their web site had shown people happily paddling under the falls, I hadn’t envisaged a powerful torrent of water thundering down from above. Of course, those pictures hadn’t been taken following a storm where many inches of rain fell, swelling the river and falls to monstrous proportions. We milled about a bit at the foot of the falls, riding the White water and generally having a lovely time. The Brits had tried to paddle under but the girl at the front had bottled it every time and the Canadian girls were still miles back. Lottie was determined to go for it, but as I was at the front, I was less keen. Still, you only get these opportunities once in a Blue Moon so we decided to give it a try. The noise and power of the water was indescribable, even from a few meters back and trying to keep the Kayak in a straight line when the falls had other ideas, proved almost impossible. Nevertheless, if at first you don’t succeed and all that, so in we went again. This time, I nearly lost my paddle and we were spun around and spat back out.
Several tries later, we had established:-
The left side of the falls was very slightly less powerful,
That there was a rather inconvenient rock in the middle that you kept bashing your paddle against
That the closer you got to the falls themselves, the harder it was to see where you were or indeed what you were doing.
Once the water hit you, the sheer force of the water prevented you from even moving, let alone paddling.
If there was a medal for doing pirouettes in a kayak - we would have won it for sure.
I lost count of our attempts, but according to the Go Pro which captured it all for posterity (when it hadn’t slipped down inside Lottlie’s jacket) it was a lot.
We never managed to get the whole Kayak under - just my half, so sadly, Lottie never got to experience the delights of icy cold waterfall down the back of her neck.
It was an exhilarating, incredible, experience, but very very scary and in all honesty, had I been able to see properly, wild horses probably wouldn’t have got me under there.
The lone Canadian girl had a few attempts, but never got close. The Brits had a few more tries, but failed because the girl at the front kept closing her eyes and forgetting to paddle. The other girls just stayed way back and didn’t even get into the White water.
According to Ben, we had far exceeded his expectations and he said he was deeply impressed. The fact that he had taken loads of photos (which we could all buy on a cd for a few dollars) and most of them were of Lottie and I spoke volumes. We felt a bit bad for the others…….. Nah we didn’t really, we were just super proud of ourselves.
Kayaking back down stream was much quicker and more relaxing as the current just carried you along, so we were back on the boat, trying to get dry and warm in no time.
We bought the CD and then realised that the Mac doesn’t have a disk drive, so were unable to have a proper look. Still that’s something to look forward to.
Back on dry land we were freezing cold, soaking wet and neither of us fancied trying to get changed in Bertha again, so going out for a nice dinner was out of the question.
Instead we bought some yummy fish and chips, had a good laugh with the girls in the take away as we dripped all over their floor and headed home.
After a hot shower and food, we got ourselves all packed up, so we would be ready to leave at the crack of dawn, to finally see and hopefully swim with some Dolphins, before heading straight off to the Coromandel……
Day 7 - Tuesday
We were up bright and early, had the car loaded by 7.15 and were on our way in what we thought would be plenty of time to get parked and be on the dock by 7.45.
We had already established, that the maximum amount of free parking available was not long enough to cover our trip, so planned to use the public car park. Now we are as happy as the next people to pay and display, if only the bloody machine would actually let you do it.
You had to pay with coins or card ( no change given) and sods law says you are always just one coin short of the required amount.
So I ran over the road to a bakery that was;-
open at 7.30 in the morning,
full of smiley helpful people and
only too happy to change up 10 dollars because “we rely on our tourists and so need to bend over backwards to help, wherever we can”.
Armed with a handful of coins, I ran back to the machine. As far as I could tell, it would only let me put in 4 dollars which expired half an hour before our trip finished. I asked a passer by if they were very strict around here and she assured me they would have your car clamped or towed away if you went five minutes over.
Now I was beginning to panic as the time was ticking by and having waited so long to do this trip, I didn’t want to miss it because of an obnoxious and temperamental pay and display machine.
Next I tried the credit card option, and as fast as I was putting the card in, the machine kept spitting it back out. Whether I was putting it in the wrong way round or the machine had taken an instant dislike to me - who knows, it just wasn’t playing ball.
In the end I lost my temper with it, called it some very rude names and gave it a swift bash. Well that did the trick. It accepted my card and gave me a ticket.
We grabbed our stuff - swimwear, cameras, towels etc, and ran down to the dock. we needn't have worried, the tour operators didn’t show up for a full 10 minutes later.
We boarded the boat along with all the others who had had their trips cancelled due to bad weather.
As we got under-way, we got the usual safety briefing, the rules around swimming with dolphins in this region and a big talk about the Dolphins we we were going to see.
Except we didn’t!
The captain assured us they had a 96% success rate in finding and swimming with wild dolphins, but sadly we fell into the very disappointed 4%. Lottie opted to spend the whole trip out on the front of the boat (everyone else came in after the first 5 minutes because of the wind and cold). She wanted to be where the action was and despite the risk of hypothermia, got the best view of the beautiful bay of islands.
I spent a most enjoyable 20 minutes chatting with the rather dishy skipper of the boat, which went some way to compensating for the lack of Dolphins. Apparently, there were 5 boats out that day searching in different areas and not one Dolphin was spotted - maybe they had all buggered off because of the bad weather - but at least we knew that it wasn’t just us.
Strangely enough, I wasn’t anything like as disappointed as I thought I would be. When I had the privilege of swimming with them in open ocean before, it was unplanned, unorganised and truly magical. There were only 5 of us in the water so completely outnumbered by the Dolphins. There were 35 on this boat and although they were going to split us into smaller groups, I just had a feeling it wouldn’t be the same. It was Lottie I felt really sorry for, but she was philosophical about it - “maybe the dolphins just didn’t want to be found mum, so I’m cool with that”. What a wonderful attitude to have!
At the end of the trip we had a small portion of the charge refunded and were presented with a free trip voucher with a lifetime guarantee.
Maybe that’s a good excuse to go back there one day - who knows..........