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Relaxation or Adventure?
Stuart Palmer
Setting off for another day on the water
ummer was drawing to a close far too quickly and we felt the need for a bit more sun and sea before winter. Head north. So as daylight saving came to an end we were driving to the Coromandel Peninsula. Driving toward promised beaches, warm water and sun. We were not disappointed. We had a week set aside for this kayaking adventure. Goal 1 was to enjoy some relaxed paddling with plenty of time to soak up the coastline and its I beaches. Goal A was to enjoy the adventure of rounding Cape Colville and seeing as much of the coastline as reasonable in the few days available. In Coromandel township we met Keith. Keith has lived on the peninsula and enjoyed paddling its coast for more than 20 years. He has an outdoor sports shop in Coromandel and is just expanding into the sea kayak hire business. At the time of our trip, Keith’s fleet of Sea Quest and Breeze sea kayaks hadn't arrived but somehow he managed to materialise a
Stuart Palmer
Puffin and a Penguin for Phil and Tom. The other three members of our party — Ann, John and I, had our own boats. After a study and debate of prevailing winds, sea currents and weather forecast (and of course a review of our goals) we voted to paddle the peninsula clockwise. We would paddle from Coromandel township up the west coast, around Cape Colville and continue down the east coast as far as Goal 1 (relax) would allow us or Goal A (adventure) would take us. Keith kindly offered to be on call to pick us up from wherever we ended up or got stranded. Our first day’s paddling was an absolute beaut! A slight breeze and tide was with us allowing relaxed paddling and plenty of time to enjoy the beaches and warm water swims. The coastline with its numerous islands was very picturesque. By late afternoon we slipped around the top of the peninsula and onto the long golden sand beach of Port Jackson, our campsite for the night. What a great day’s paddling. We had certainly achieved our goals: 1 relaxation and A adventure, today. From the top of the peninsula Great Barrier Island looked temptingly close. Only 18 km, we were told. Keith assures me it’s a great night paddle — “just head for the lighthouse across the sea”. Will leave that adventure for another time! We paddled on, exploring the rock gardens of Cape Colville and the peninsula’s north-east coast. A very relaxed day. By lunchtime we found ourselves in Shag Bay, a nice sheltered bay with great swimming, snorkelling and fishing opportunities. We had only travelled 15 km for the day (one-third of the previous day’s effort). Looks like it is a highly successful Goal 1 (relax) day. The next day we paddled on down the coast from Shag Bay to Taiharuru Bay with plenty of bays, beaches and rock caves to enjoy en route. We had been told that we would have to be unlucky to get winds from the south-east. We were unlucky! The wind in our faces made for slow paddling. The following day the wind continued to blow from the south-east prompting plenty of discussion about our goals. Will it be 1 — relax on the beach, or A — treat it as an adventure and battle on? The A’s won the debate and we battled on to be rewarded by a superb calm evening paddle. As the sun set we were paddling from Matarangi to Otama Beach. The setting sun made the rock faces glow yellow. Beautiful! With the last few minutes of twilight, our boats slid up the sand of Otama Beach. Well, the previous day had been a success, so why not battle on into this wind? We pushed off Otama Beach and paddled out to the rocky headland separating us from Opito Bay. Big rolling swells, 20 knots of wind, and a black rocky headland being crashed by white water and spray. This was stayting to stretch the limits of even Goal A! We turned to surf back to the shelter of Otama Beach and check the cellphone coverage. “Hello Keith. Stuart here. We are on Otama Beach and could get to the road at - ~Matarangi Beach in 17 hours. Any chance of a pickup?” “Will see you there.” Keith arrived at Matarangi Beach just in time to see a variety of sea kayak surf landing techniques. There was the “oh shoot, that’s a big one!” followed by some frantic paddling by Ann to slip off the back of the offending beast. Then there was the gung-ho Tom picking the biggest wave he could find. Whoops! —— spray decks collapse under the crashing waves leaving you in a swamped boat. And then there was i. uk ipsum E ee the super conservative Phil approach: sit out there for quarter of an hour until you find a big enough gap between waves and then paddle like crazy. Very tidy Phil, but no fun. After topping up the radiator on Keith’s trusty Land Rover we were safely ferried across the peninsula and delivered to the fantastic Coromandel town bakery. Once topped up on cream buns and apple strudels, Keith delivered us back to the water 15 km or so south of Coromandel. Another superb evening paddle toa beautiful bay to camp and enjoy our last evening around the campfire cooking John’s freshly caught fish.
Coromandel offers some excellent picturesque paddling. Plenty of sandy beaches to offer relatively safe landings and if it all turns to custard, good road access. And you would have to be unlucky to get a south-easterly! And our performance review relative to our goals — an Al paddle!
If you would like to go paddling along the Coromandel coast or just around the islands near Coromandel town and harbour and need kayak hire, transport, or local info, contact Keith at Pack n’ Pedal, 07 866 7753.
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7 Ge Trip Reports
A little adventure along the way
Stuart Palmer
Trip Reports