Okarito

This is the activity TJ and pals are doing today (well, actually tomorrow is today in NZ, so this is their activity for the 27th)

Okarito Nature Tours

TJ said the beach is fantastic.

One of the more colorful parts of this trip was getting there: The bus will drop you off at the Okarito junction, but it's 13 kilometres from the junction to town. So, you either need a car or a tent (so you can sleep and then finish getting there in the morning). You should've seen the looks on people's faces when we got off, literally, in the middle of nowhere. Actually, the pick-up was even better - we stood on the edge of the highway and flagged the bus down - other riders actually asked us, "Where did you come from?" We were incredibly grateful that Dave and Linda (Laura's parents, who hired a car) wanted to go to Okarito, as Dave picked us up at the junction (actually, we started walking and met him a few kilometres in.)

Okarito is an incredibly beautiful, quiet, and peaceful town, with a permanent population of 16. I almost hate to write about it - it will be spoiled if too many people visit...


Okarito framed by the lagoon and the Tasman Sea.  

We're staying at the lovely Kotuku Lodge, and we met a really neat couple from the U.K. They're both doctors, and they worked for awhile in Australia, and then toured Australia before coming to NZ.

There's some fantastic walking here. We started off the next morning with the demanding, 2-hour Trig Walk. Of course we finished our day with an equally demanding, equally beautiful 4.5 hour kayak with Ian, our guide from Nature Tours. I had a kayak to myself - another first - and I really enjoyed it. However, Melanie and Dave's jokes were definitely the best part of the day. After successfully paddling up very, very shallow rapids unassisted (much to Ian's surprise), Dave proclaimed to be the first 2-man kayak to have succeeded in this feat, and Melanie initiated a new, New Zealand national holiday: "Dave and Melanie Day!" The first anniversary will be celebrated 27 April, 2006. Hooray for Dave and Melanie! I made it through the shallows, but then I had a lighter 1-woman kayak. Ian had to give Laura and Linda a helping hand through the shallows - now you can see why we should have a ticker-tape parade for Dave and Mel.


View from the top of the Okarito Trig Walk 

My favorite part of Okarito, though, has been skipping rocks with Melanie and the gang. Melanie and I haven't done this since we were kids! Actually, the best part of my trip has been the time with Mel :-) We haven't had this much time together in over a decade. Funny how sometimes you have to go to the other side of the world to find your family ;-)


Skipping rocks where river meets sea.  

Signing off with love from New Zealand,
Teej