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Published: November 24th 2013
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Saturday November 23nd, 2013. Okarito, South Island, New Zealand
Over dinner last night we had discussed our plans for today. D wanted to go kayaking on the lagoon in Okarito and M wanted to see the New Zealand White Heron (also in Okarito) and to book a safari to see Kiwi's in the wild. The Kiwi's found here are the very rare Okarito Brown Kiwi. This meant we would need more time so we booked another night in the hostel. After breakfast of toast, wheatbix, juice and tea/coffee we strolled down to the Franz Josef Tourist Office. In here we met a very nice girl from Leeds who explained where we could find the Kayaks in Okarito and also where we could find Iain - her mate who ran the Kiwi Safaris. We bought a walking guide for the Okarito area along with a NZ Pau shell
fridge magnet and a roll on Sand fly repellent. A must for M whose ankles are really suffering from the sand fly attack at the lakeside picnic.
Okarito is a small town 123 km south of Hokitika which meant that we had to travel back on ourselves to visit this town which
the guidebook described as "arguably one of New Zealand's most special places". M would definitely argue - but only because of all the mishaps - the place was quite nice.
The area was originally inhabited by the visiting Maori for seasonal seafood harvests, but this changed once gold was discovered on its beaches. This caused a dramatic population boom. Now, however, the village is tiny. It is located on a small sand spit which divides New Zealand's largest wetland and the Tasman Sea. This makes the area a unique ecological gem. We entered the village and easily found Iain's pad. There was a note outside saying that the Kiwi Safaris were fully booked for tonight and tomorrow night. Number one blow for M - she is now unlikely to see a wild Kiwi (most New Zealanders haven't seen one either by the way!). She will have to settle for a captive one.
Next we went to the Kayak Place where there was a nice guy who told us there was a group going out soon. M asked about the White Herons and he said we would see some but that the White Heron Sanctuary was at the other
end of the Lagoon.
He also offered us a boat tour but D was determined to go Kayaking. M was all for coming back later but the guy said that the tide and wind would be against us when we would be coming back so it would be better to go now. So off we went! After a safety talk we were issued with life jackets and kayak skirts (the things that go round your waist and stretch over the boat), paddles and a dry bag. We were given a brief talk on the best way to paddle. This was not a guided tour so we were provided with maps and told to follow the sticks making sure we kept to their right and to turn right at the red arrow. The guy also said that double kayaks were known as "divorce boats" - how true this was to prove to be.
The guidebook said that "Kayaking was by far the best way to enjoy the flora, fauna and scenic grandeur of New Zealand's largest unmodified coastal wetland". Okarito Lagoon covers more than 3240 hectares of shallow (as we were to soon find out - very shallow!) open
water and is well known for its outstanding avifauna (birds to most of us). Apparently over 70 species have been recorded here. The lagoon also has a diverse flora both in salt-marsh and other wetland communities as well as in the adjacent shrub-lands, forests and dunes.
The kayaks had a rudder which was controlled by the rear person in a two person kayak. M was in the front and D was in the back. The rudder is controlled by two pedals. We set off following the sticks and took a wrong turn because we stupidly followed the kayak in front! We ran aground and D lost the rudder pedals so we had no steering. With great difficulty we made it back to the channel. We beached ourselves so D go find the rudder pedals again.
We continued along and it was fairly pleasant, we saw some Royal Spoonbills and one White Heron on the way up the channel. We turned right at the red arrow and entered the river channel which was very pleasant, surrounded by reeds and very calm. D took a few pictures but it was a real pain getting the camera out of the dry
bag. M stuck it down her life-jacket but it fell out into the kayak skirt which had a small puddle of water in it! End of M's camera! No Kiwi's and no more camera! We turned around to return to the wharf at the designated spot where a tree trunk blocked the way.
All was fine until we left the shelter of the river and started heading back down the main channel. The wind was either directly against us or worse, side on - which meant it was pushing us onto the sandbanks. The tide was coming in too so the boat was hardly moving. Add to these problems the fact that the rudder pedals had been set too long for D so he could either steer or paddle - not both! Eventually the nice kayak guy arrived in his inflatable boat and asked if we were OK. M said she was hating every minute, but D wanted to continue. M put her paddle down on this one (as she was the only one paddling!). The guy put us on a sandbank and said he would come and pick us up in 10 minutes which he did.
We
all got in the little inflatable boat and towed the kayak back to the wharf. We had a very welcome cuppa back at the kayak rental place. After we had rested we drove to the end of the village and parked in order to do the Okarito Trig Walk. This is an uphill 4.2 km walk which initially follows the Okarito Wetland Walk. The Wetland Walk was amazing with a fantastic boardwalk running through the wetlands. After crossing the wetlands we branched off to the left. and followed the track which wound steadily uphill until we reached the Okarito Trig Viewpoint. It was a very clear day and we could see the
Westland National Park, the snow capped Southern Alps, including Mount Cook and Mount Tasman, across to the lagoons and beaches of the coast. Unfortunately we now had no camera so M took a few shots with her phone but has no way of extracting them at the moment. On our return journey we saw a couple of Keas.
When we arrived back at Franz Josef we had a beer in The Landing pub. Dinner was lamb chops with purple asparagus, followed by some more pineapple cake washed down with wine. We retired about 11 pm. D read a few more brochures and M started on today's blog.
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