Category: Travel Advice

6. Ohakune – Taumarunui-Cherry Grove – Ohinepane (WRJ 1)

Thursday, February 14: Warm & sunny throughout with occasional cloud

Kayaking: 22.5 km
Tramping (Lauren’s Lavender excursion): 0.4 km

Ohinepane Campsite (Doc, $20)

The alarm hadn’t been set, but I was fairly confident of my ability to get up on time: 6:00 was being aimed for, practically it was 5:30. Had a breakfast of cornflakes, peaches & milk, coffee & two slices of plain toast in the still very quiet house. Alan showed up briefly, and then it was off to pack the final items, shove the suitcase into the room across the hall. Everything I wanted to take with me fit into the two backpacks, and I now have them with me. Which turned out to be a good decision. Read more…

5. Ohakune

Wednesday, February 13: Quite cool to begin with, somewhat cloudy, becoming hot & sunny

Arawa Lodge

I was in no rush this morning and arrived at the tail end of the little girl’s breakfast. I helped myself to some cornflakes with apricots and milk, some toast, about two glasses of orange juice, and a coffee. With Jo and her granddaughter out of the house I was free to pursue some planning.

This seemed to go fairly well and by 10:00 I was ready to go to the supermarket for the shopping spree. On the way a couple of gas bottles were picked up from the hardware store, and at the end of the New World spree the small backpack was already filled, with the beer having to be carried extra. Unpacked the shopping onto the kitchen table to contemplate for a while, then went back into town, first to see the swimming pool, then to find some lunch (no hot sausage rolls in the supermarket) and went to the Sweet Pea Cafe (19a Goldfinch St) across the road which had a sausage roll with sauce to eat in for $4.5. Thus strengthened I took the walk to the carrot-themed playground (along the way a brick commemorated the fact that Simon & Sue had paid for it – the brick or section of the path) and then back into town. Here I discovered the laundromat on the main street – so washing could be done here, if not at the lodge. Read more…

4. Auckland – Ohakune

Tuesday, February 12: Very cloudy to begin with, some drizzle, later changeable & somewhat warmer

Arawa Lodge, 43 Arawa St, Ohakune 4625 (airbnb, $50.8)

I was awake from about 5:00 onwards and got out of bed just before the alarm rang at 6:00. Not an eardrum bursting experience, but will do just in case I snooze off. Turning the thing off seemed to require going through the whole procedure.

No one else was up, although eventually Adam did make an appearance. I was concentrated on finishing the liquids, the yoghurt and the toast, and when that was done, the rest of the stuff had to be packed into the suitcase and the large backpack. I was wearing the boots today, but the shopping of the last couple of days made up for the space saved. Anyway an elephant was required again, but it all went very quickly and I was all set @ 7:15, waited around for a while and then decided to push off for the bus. Read more…

3. Auckland: Shopping

Monday, February 11: Hot & sunny, barely a cloud

Nadia’s

Fragmented sleep again but this time I was up just after 8:00 and had my breakfast just as the Korean women were finishing theirs and starting to pack their stuff up. Finished off yesterday’s diary entry and skyped Ranya who wanted to take me to Botany to collect the PLB and then to Sylvia Park mall for a selection of shops where I might be able to get the remaining equipment together.

We were fairly soon @ Hunting & Fishing in Botany, but the friendly staff had no idea of my order, so Rayna and I went in search of some wifi for me to access my email account and try to contact the bloke who was hiring me the stuff. At some point Rayna realised she could use the data on her phone for this purpose and after reaching my provider, Ionos, and a couple of attempts at the password, I finally got into my account, identified the guy, sent him a mail to contact H&F and we were back in the shop. They had their act together after a little while and we had all documents filled out and signed, cash changed hands, a flap cap with a chin strap was bought for $20, and we were on out way to Sylvia Park for the remainder. Read more…

2. Auckland: Orakei Basin, Rangitoto

Sunday, February 10: Completely clear skies very early, a couple of clouds turning up later in the morning & by late afternoon only a few land clouds

Walking: 8.6 km
Kayaking: 14.0 km

Nadia’s

Sleep was quite fragmented and when I was awake at 6:00 I could hear bellbirds. Short contemplation led me to the conclusion that I might record them – or at least attempt to in the quiet of a Sunday morning, so I got out the voice recorder and went downstairs to leave it out on the balcony.

The time needed to be reset on the device (not quite accurately achieved without glasses or a clear mind) but it was recording OK, so that was worth the effort. Slept another hour after that then had to buy some stuff for breakfast before such could be partaken of. Read more…

1. Auckland, Mission Bay

Saturday, February 9: Some rain on the approach, a couple of showers on the way into town otherwise becoming sunny and hot

Nadia’s (airbnb, $62.1)

Spent some time watching the flight path while listening to the music, and tried to decipher the Arabic signs for what are almost always transliterations of the Latin alphabet. Sunrise was becoming visible as we flew over Kingsford-Smith itself. Then after a longer lull there was a rush for breakfast (I had the scrambled eggs) and the collection of all of the used equipment before landing. My English neighbors were going on a cruise; apart from that they had owned a house in Spain for some period of his retirement, and so were obviously Brexit opponents. Anyway after landing they were keen to get off & I wished them well, then looked for and found the pen I needed to fill out the entry form in the top compartment of the pack, and not in the satellite vanity bag where it should have been. Anyway there was enough time to fill out the form while I waited for people to actually move forward. In doing so I had dropped the passport into the chunderbag pouch and everything had to be systematically searched before the pack could be closed, and by then movement along the aisle was possible. Read more…

SE: Klädesholmen – Glöskärviken

Tuesday, August 28: Cloudy to begin with but calm, becoming sunny & warm

Sea kayaking: 26.1 km

Glöskärviken wilderness camping

Time to get back onto the water today, and that meant an early rising for everyone from about 7:30 onwards, breakfast with the luxury of a table, and packing away everything and carting it all down to the boats, which were quite full of water after yesterday’s storm. Once the hut had begun to empty somewhat, some cleaning, sweeping and vacuuming could be done, but all were very enthusiastic again after the day off, and we were ready to go by 10:00. Read more…

SE: Hälsön – Klädesholmen, storm day in Klädesholmen

Sunday, August 26: One shower in the night, otherwise quite cold; a couple of clouds remaining in the morning, clearing in the course of the afternoon; fresh sea breeze

Sea Kayaking: 24.4 km

Holiday home for six at Klädesholmen harbor

The cheese had lasted well (the same cannot be said of the crispbread which was rapidly becoming soft) and was now finished. Still a lot of coffee & sugar to go and the milk may well last the length of the trip. Anyway, breakfast was dealt with, the tent packed up and we set out on our hardest day, which was planned to be a lot of paddling into head winds or along the coast with side winds and parallel waves. Read more…

SE: Brattön – Ellös

Thursday, August 23: Rain starting just before dawn and continuing as showers throughout the rest of the day

Sea Kayaking: 24.6 km

Malö Familje Camping, Ellös

We had gone to bed fairly early but the onset of rain meant that we slept in until after 7:30. After that there was not much to do except try to have some breakfast during a break in the rain. But by the time we should have been leaving it had started to rain again and the tent had to be packed up in a completely wet condition.

Anyway we were off, and for the first couple of kilometres it was at least fairly calm. A double sea kayak turned up close to the shore and was seen once more briefly but most of the views were much greener than at the beginning, with higher hills. At one point it looked like we were in a dead end but the fiord arm did continue on, but it was very shallow so that we got out for a pee before continuing on. Read more…

SE: Stenungsund – Brattön

Wednesday, August 22: Very cold in the night, rain towards dawn, and overcast and windy (south) for most of the rest of the day

Sea kayaking, 31.8 km

Brattön wilderness camping

My stuff was almost dry by the morning despite the overnight rain. There was a bit of a loud disco on last night and we were up about 45 minutes later than usual but no one else was up. Breakfast was quickly dealt with and everything was packed up, except for the tent, which we allowed to dry for as long as possible.

As we were getting into our boats I noticed that my spray skirt was inside out, had to get out of the boat, put it on the right way and back into the boat and then we were off. Read more…

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