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.
Coffee & yoghurt were soon found (although I had to go for a sixpack of the latter – apricot, at least) and brought back for the feast. Coffee was superhot from the combination of boiling water to dissolve the stuff in and microwave. Eventually got it cool enough to drink. But best of all was the toast – just plain toast with butter (actually margarine). Time to start the day.
Rayna had suggested taking a stroll around Orakei Basin and she soon turned up – in hiking boots – and I was sure that nothing more than jandals were required. Short drive to the station to park the car, then a decision about which way to go around the lagoon. Eventually found the way clockwise, meeting plenty of very friendly walkers/runners, with and without dogs. At one point a dead fallen tree was providing a refuge for some shags, and we stopped for a longer photo session. In all this is a good walk for moderate distance views of downtown as well. The short circuit done (with Rayna huffing & puffing a little about the weight of photo equipment she was carrying around), we stopped by Ferg’s to get me onto tonight’s tour, and then to the Savage Memorial which was filling with various groups of people partying. As Ferg’s tour lasts until 10:00 or 10:30 it was deemed that I should have an early dinner & take just a couple of sandwiches on the tour – and that would be enough sustenance for the day.
Slide Show
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Back here had to decide on a plan for getting to Ferg’s on time. The depleted gimbal batteries had been recharged, so for electronics that just meant getting a couple of cards to run CHDK for the A1300. Went to the foreshore for lunch and chose the $10 fish&chip special from Hook Line and Sinker (55 Tamaki Dr), which was almost more than enough. Sat down on a shady bench to eat it and was run into by a little boy on a bike (with trainer wheels – who does that any more?) and returned for final preparations.
Beer & muesli bars still had to be bought and $400 picked up from a cash dispenser, then the cards/CHDK sections of the discs checked and everything packed away. I noticed that the electrical cable I had with EU sockets and an AUS/NZ plug was failing to complete the circuit, not because the wiring in the plug was loose (which I had connected by hand) but later down the line in the socket section which could be taken apart only once. In the meantime the second couple living here & their dog turned up to unload some shopping.
I was ready to catch a bus just on 3:30 down the road to Ferg’s. It was a few minutes late but that was no longer an issue – one bus later would also have worked.
Youtube Video
Record for the day was that all required equipment was found and packed away in a functional state. Only fly in the ointment was that I forgot that the GPS tracker was in the pack (from this morning?) and was only switched on from arrival on Rangitoto until the end of the evening.
Ferg’s wanted me to sign the Terms and Conditions which I did & they also needed a phone number or address which I eventually supplied as here. Then it was off to meet the others, get some aqua shoes, a spray skirt and a life jacket. I decided against an initial use of the board camera as it was going to be quite choppy and the gimbal does not compensate up-and-down movement very well. Anyway we were quickly kitted out and in the water with our leader Levi, and on our way to Rangitoto. My partner was Jay, a Bay Area computer program businessman over to advise a leisure company on the loyalty plan he manages for them. The boats were very new and handled very well, and we were fairly quickly across to the island. This was somewhat longer than the Auckland Sea Kayaks tour (from 2015), and we were on the island before them.
Once out of the boats I discovered the GPS and set it going, then it was up the hill for the view and the sandwiches I had brought with me. I always seem to forget proper shoes for the walk (I had jandals on, again). On the way we came a cross a whole family of saddlebacks, unfortunately not very photogenic, but impressive nonetheless.
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We were back down well before sunset and back in the water, and I think it was nicer to paddle into the sunset rather than just paddling into the dark. Bit of a headwind and a couple of larger waves but we made very good progress back and were back at HQ just after 10:00. Didn’t have to wait long for a bus and arrived back here just before 11:00. Very quiet house as everyone was asleep, except for one of the Korean women who complained about the heat, and a Kiwi woman who came in very late and who I have yet to fit into the scheme of things. To bed around 1:00.
