Blonde on a Road Trip

Kai Iwi Lakes

We’d agreed to hire the kayaks from 10:30am, despite check out being at 11am, but the owner very graciously let us leave our stuff in the accommodation while we went out kayaking for a few hours because she had three properties to clean anyway.

We tidied up our stuff ready for when we came back and headed to the lakes. Luckily the weather was on our side again and it was another glorious sunny day with a mild breeze.

As we pulled up to the lakes, we were very happy that we’d managed to source some kayaks and enjoy them to the fullest.

Seeing as it’s not quite peak holiday season in early December, and kids haven’t broken up from school yet for their summer holidays, there are limited options for hiring kayaks. The upside of that is that the lakes are still pretty quiet and there were only a handful of other groups there.

Not long had we arrived before our host Julia turned up with her trailer of kayaks and paddle boards. We dragged them over the sand to the water and put our things in the pocket storage behind the seats.

Before we set off, I just couldn’t resist the opportunity to get in the water and go for a swim. My back was feeling pretty stiff and sore and I thought a swim might do me some good.

What I didn’t realise was that the water was basically knee deep until it shelved off to a 30-metre depth where it goes dark. A strange floor for a lake, but good to know before you set off…! It’s also freshwater, so while I was expecting salty skin and that unpleasant saltiness you get around your lips when you’ve been swimming, it was like being in a still bath with no bubbles. Weirdly, there were some little waves, but this may have been caused by the occasional speedboat or the wind.

We got in our kayaks and set off from the south east side by Pine Beach Campground and headed out into the water and left, to a small empty beach. We took our sweet time and plenty of photos and videos, documenting the tranquil surroundings, or at least attempting to.

The water’s crystal clear and there don’t seem to be any fish in it… not that we could see anyway. Maybe there are some lurking in the deep, but we weren’t prepared to go looking for them even though I’d optimistically brought my snorkel set with me.

As we neared the secluded beach, we heard some interesting bird noises and tried to see what we were hearing. Eventually we laid eyes on them and saw that they were pied stilts.

Next, we decided to cross to the other side of the lake to… another beach. It was pretty easy going as the wind was behind us and if we didn’t paddle we kept drifting towards it anyway.

Once beached, we lay down our towels and enjoyed the sunshine for a bit.

Soon enough 12:30 was fast approaching and we were conscious that it had been very easy to get to the beach we were sitting on, but the water and wind might be against us on the way back and we didn’t want to be late for Julia, especially since she’d kindly let us leave our stuff in the room while she cleaned her other holiday lodges.

The kayaking back to shore was sure enough hard work, and we were pretty puffed out by the time we got back to the Pine Beach Campground kayak pick-up spot. Nevertheless we made it back in time to see Julia pulling up. We had a brief chat with her and she told us she’d bring her dogs out (two dachshunds and a mutt) for us to meet when we got back to the holiday park. Yay!

We packed up the Hilux, made some chicken wraps and headed back to the other side of the Lakes that we hadn’t reached with the kayaks. Some girls were playing some R&B through speakers nearby and a few people went out wakeboarding or something, but other than that it was very peaceful and we happily polished off our picnic, ready for the road ahead.

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Portland

We quickly stopped in a liquor store to get some wine for our hosts, but we got IDd and neither of us had viable ID on us. This had actually happened three times at this point, but there was little we could do about it since Anneke’s purse was stolen a while back and she didn’t have a physical driving licence available, and her passport is… expired. And my UK driving licence is irrelevant in NZ, and my passport was outside the shop in the car and I couldn’t possibly be caught sneaking liquor out for my young friend beside me… Anneke. So anyway, we tried another store and they let us take a bottle out with us. Phew!

They had an impressive port selection… Always tempting.

Alas, this is not the Port Land we are heading for. We were actually just about to get to Portland, where Anneke worked for a few years for a man called Dave, who runs multiple businesses and owns a large plot of land.

Shortly after passing the Portland sign we pulled into Dave’s property, which has several entrances and is home to a smattering of warehouses, workshops, animal enclosures and his swanky home.

Dave and his wife Vanessa had very kindly invited us to have dinner and stay the night as part of our trip back to Anneke’s home in Puhoi. We walked in to find Vanessa cooking up a storm, but in the most relaxed and amazing setting. I really wanted to take a picture of her kitchen but it seemed rude to while she was busy making dinner. Instead, we gawped at their outdoor setup opposite the open plan kitchen.

Their 8-year-old son Ari was playing a video game, which I quizzed him on and pretended to understand. After nodding along and winning his confidence, he invited us to play football. They had a generously-sized garden but it was about as flat as the Welsh valleys, so I knew it would be a challenge to look good, given that my feet hadn’t touched a football since… I don’t even know when. Sorry, Ollie…

There were only two of us playing and Ari had no trouble bragging that he was captain of his team. I, on the other hand, bravely offered to go in goal and see if he could score. I don’t know if he could sense the fear in my eyes like a drug smuggler at security when they bring out the German Shepherds, but it didn’t stop him pelting it at my face. However, I maybe underestimated my survival reflexes and managed to protect my face from the onslaught of extremely close penalty attempts.

We went back inside and I was duly informed that Ari thought I was a good goalie. Thank you and good night. I shall retire now. It was an illustrious football career while it lasted and I’ll go out on a bang.

We had a lovely dinner with Dave, Vanessa and Ari and then called it a night at about half 10/11.

Anneke and I each had our own room and huge bed, much to our delight. I think I slept through the night for the first time since leaving the womb.