Made it to Bluff this afternoon!!

Hi Everyone,

It's been a pretty huge week but I have finally managed to have a day on land while some strong NE winds blow through.  I have made it down to the Taieri Mouth, south of Otago Peninsula.  Here's and update on my latest adventures,

After a few weeks off from paddling I finally headed back to Akaroa last Friday, ready for a big push south.  I approached this next leg of my journey with caution, as this part of the coast deserves a lot of respect with its reputation for lack of landings, dumping surf and steep gravel beaches.  Paul Caffyn had said to me that this part of the coast is home to some of the most violent bumper dumpers he's ever come across.  'Boat and body breaking violent dumpers' were his words.  Going solo, without a land crew to help me launch and land along this part of the coast was not going to be easy.  However, I was confident in my ability to land through the dumpers, and my main concern was more the possibility of not being able to launch again off the steep beaches.  It was looking like I'd have the weather window I needed to get down to Timaru, so I went for it.  

I set off on a grey rainy day, paddling about 50km from Akaroa before landing somewhere along from Birdling's Flat on the sand spit that separates Lake Ellesmere from the sea.  As it turned out my first landing went as perfect as could be and I got off the water just before dark and in the rain set up my tent in the dunes.  This had got to be one of the most bleak places I have ever camped in NZ, with nothing but gravel, sand and ocean as far as you can see.

South of the Rakaia Mouth this is all you can see for miles and miles

The next morning I set off early and had a brutal day paddling into a strong current flowing up the coast, as well as a head wind.  I was crawling, paddling about 2km an hour.  Approaching the channel of the Rakaia River I timed it between the sets and paddled into the mouth.  The only problem being that as soon as I got into the channel, the current was too strong to make headway.  Luckily I managed to tred-mill until the next set came through and I surfed a small wave in.  The forecast for the following way was for a 35K SW front to come through late morning so I decided to stay put for the day.  I had an entertaining afternoon as I sat inside my tent holding the poles as huge gusts and pounding rain tried to rip the tent to pieces.  Fun times.  

From the Rakaia I paddled about 50km down the coast and managed to pull off a dicey landing late in the day, right on high tide- not ideal for steep gravel beaches! I made a break through the dumpers and aimed for a tiny stream that cut at a 40 degree angle to the beach.. with a 2m high vertical gravel bank on one side.  Luckily it worked, and I didn't get slammed into the bank.. it was sketchy but I didn't have any other options.  I pitched my tent inside a mai mai and went to sleep contemplating how I was going to get off the beach!  I survived the break out early the next day without any drama, and put in another big days paddle all the way to Timaru.  Sim's sister came and found me and I stayed at her place for the night, thanks Naomi :) I ate a footlong subway and two large pizzas in the space of an hour, it was awesome.  

From Timaru I paddled about 50km south with a SW headwind for most of the day.  About 2 hours before dark I started looking for somewhere decent to land- there was nowhere, only nearly vertical gravel beaches with huge dumpers.. again high tide making them even worse.  I sprinted for the next few hours hoping to make it to the Waiho River where I was sure I could paddle into.  Right on dark I arrived only to discover the mouth wasn't open so my only option was to attempt a landing.  It went surprisingly sweet as, and I managed to ride up on the back of a big dumper and dig my paddle into the gravel before getting sucked back out again.  I called Sim's parents Paul and Gael, and they took me back to Waimate for the night for a feed and hot shower.  

Sim's dad after helping me launch from the Waiho River Mouth

As tempted as I was to spend a rest day there the forecast was good.. so I had to keep moving.  Paul helped me launch early the next morning and with a NE wind behind me I put in a huge 80km day all the way to Moeraki that day.  I was nearly dead by this stage but again the forecast was good!! So I pushed on, putting in another 65?km to the entrance of Otago Harbour.  I caught up with some friends Mike and Rosie who had my food stash, and declined their offer to head into town for a bed.  Unfortunately the forecast was again good, so I had to keep moving!!  So another early start and another huge day saw me arriving at the Taieri Mouth after another 65?km paddle.  Thankfully the forecast for today and tomorrow is not good!!  I'm staying with Eddy and his legendary parents which is awesome.  

Not sure when I will make a move from here, but if anyone wants to come for a paddle, get in touch! for some reason I haven't had any takers so far.. not sure why!?  Will get a post up when I decide to leave, its looking okay in a few days time.  

:) Tara

Another quick update to say I have made it down to Timaru this afternoon after a few big days on the water.  Paddling south tomorrow.. weather is good.. awesome!

Paddling south!

Just a quick note to say I'll be hitting the seas tomorrow.  Will hopefully get down to the Rakaia River mouth on Sunday and should be able to continue on south on Tuesday. 

Beautiful New Zealand weather

I thought I'd post this latest weather map up to show the folk up in the northern hemisphere what we're dealing with at the moment.. Tuesday is forecast for 40 knot south westerlies so I think I'll stay on land for a while..

recent happenings...

Our expedition has come to a turning point and Sim and I have decided to go our seperate ways, which means that I will be continuing on this journey alone.  Attempting to paddle around the South Island in winter was never going to be an easy undertaking, and although we started out about 3 months ago now, we have only managed to paddle about 37 of those days.  Exciting weather on the West Coast made progress slow, and on several occasions we were trapped onshore for a week at a time, as huge seas pounded the coast.

Paul Caffyn had said from the start that it was never going to be easy, and our lack of daylight hours in the middle of winter left very little room for error.  Luckly we managed to survive only 3 night surf landings, and at times like this, it's always a great peace of mind to know that you're not alone.. no matter how little it actually makes the situation any better!  It's been awesome to have shared a majority of this trip with Sim, who amazingly managed to conquer the entire west coast only taking 3 rolls.. that is if you exclude when he got 'Heaphy'd'.  I think its important to recognise Sim's achievement, having paddled nearly 3/4 of the way around the South Island in winter (that is if you include the Te Waewae Bay to Milford section we paddled last winter).  So a big thanks to Sim, you are a legend!

The South Island is getting pounded by some intense weather at the moment, and I'm afraid that its a mark of the beginning of the unsettled spring weather.  But I plan to head back up to Akaroa and get paddling south as soon as the seas die down.. hopefully I'll get some nice north easterlies!  People often ask me how long I expect it to take to get back to Milford- I really don't know, and I'm in no hurry as my focus at this stage is just completing the trip.  It's looking like Stewart Island is going to have to wait for another time, which I'm happy about.  So from here to Milford, progress will no doubt be slow, but I'm cool with that.

If anyone wants to come for a paddle, that would be awesome! flick me a message, my cell number is 0221987951

:) Tara

Kaikoura down to Banks Peninsula

Hi Everyone,

We have been pretty slack about posting lately so I thought its about time we got a wee update up.. We arrived into Christchurch about a week? ago- lets just say it was a.. long.. day, the day (or night) we arrived!! We left from Motonau beach (about 80km north of Christchurch) in 4m swells.  We soon realized that landing was not an option so we made the call to push on all the way to Sumner.  I got sea sick for most of the day and it got worse after it got dark.  The Waimakariri River mouth was by far the scariest thing we have seen this whole trip- all the rivers were in massive flood and there were huge 5m high breaking waves stretching out to about 2km offshore!! Later on we got smoked by a few smaller breakers way offshore in the dark, and Sims hat got pushed down over his eyes so he couldn't see anything but he just had to keep paddling incase there was a second breaker behind it haha. I was slow as and we didn't reach land till 12.30am.. 16hrs in a kayak is not ideal!!! i dragged my boat up onto the boat ramp and lay down on the ground for a few minutes before throwing up one last time haha.  We grabbed our tent and headed into the park in Sumner and slept in a bush.. still no freedom camping fines!
We are planning on taking a wee break from paddling for a week to refuel our energy levels and make sure that we are good to go for the next gnarly leg down from Banks Peninsula to Oamaru.  Its looking like we are going to get to claim the slowest circumnavigation- awesome! haha.

Kaikoura

Hi Everyone,

We've made it down to Kaikoura after a few good days on the water. Had a day off today. Getting back in to it tomorrow but its looking like it might be a wet week!

Sim and Tara

Sunny Tasman Bay, south easterlies and a portage through French Pass

Since arriving in Picton on Sunday afternoon we are still waiting for the weather to get better for our next push south.  Our focus this week has been on eating as much as we can whilst watching the Olympics..mean! Here's a wee update on our latest adventures.. pretty boring really with no rolling, no surf landings and no more 'time apart'.

Stephen's Bay

We left from Stephens Bay on the 24th of July in drizzly conditions, aiming for Cable Bay which sits about 35km across Tasman Bay.  About an hour into our crossing a south east wind picked up and the clouds blocked all visibility of where we were heading for.  After some 'discussions' on our direction I rummaged through Sims back hatch and pulled out a compass.  We blindly paddled into the driving rain for hours, catching glimpses of the far side between the squalls.. ahh, sunny Nelson.  About 7 hours later I made a sprint finish to a small beach at the entrance to the bay, desperate to pee.. relief!

Not so sunny Tasman Bay

The next day the forecast was for 35 Knot South Easterlies.  We battled into the wind all morning, watching huge gusts picking up water and willy wars speeding around us.  The going was slow so we decided to pull up on a beach and resorted to lying in tussocks, dodging face fulls of sand for the rest of the day.  The South Easterlies were still blowing the next morning but things seemed to have died down as we gapped it towards French Pass- a small gap that separates D'urville Island from the South Island.  We camped just on the Western side of the pass, a night of frustration as weka's attempted to steal our stuff.  I woke up in the middle of the night to Sim laughing, a weka was actually dragging my jacket away that had been under the tent!

We had been warned to get the tides right for the crossing, but for some reason it always seems so uninviting to get up in the dark to pack up and put on wet gear to get going.  When we finally did get on the water we arrived at the pass only to see a huge current pouring through.  It was impossible to paddle against so we opted for dragging our boats up the side haha.  It wasn't actually as bad as it sounds and after about 5 minutes we were past the worst of it and able to paddle away.  Making our way to Alligator Head we dodged dolphins and penguins for much of the day.

Rounding Cape Jackson the next morning we cruised along with a following wind- conditions I'm sure Paul Caffyn would have described as being 'a corker of a day for kayak sailing'.  Arriving on dusk near the entrance to the Tory Channel, we dodged the Interislander and pulled up on a farm where we were lucky to met Joe and Joy- legends! They let us sleep in their woolshed and gave us a shower.. i didn't realize we smelt that bad!  It's awesome how many amazing people we have bumped into along the way.  Rarangi down near Blenheim was our next port of call, and Sims uncle Richard picked us and our boats up and took us back to their home in Picton.  Thanks heaps Kaye and Richard!

Sim racing the Interislander into Tory Channel

So hopefully we will be on the seas chasing whales near Kaikoura soon.

:) Tara & Sim

PICTON!!!

Hi All,

Quick note to say that Sim n Tara have been through French Pass, around the top of the South Island and are now somewhere near Picton. Here hoping the weather is kind to them for the East Coast.