We finally got to go kayaking today. The weather forecast had been for an overcast day, but in fact it was gloriously sunny much of the day. The kiwis have a delightful way of putting this. Instead of saying “decreasing cloudiness,” they say “increasing fine periods.” I love the positive approach!

We rented kayaks on the Paihia beach and spent nearly 3 hours kayaking along the shore and then across the bay. Some of the time we were kayaking between the lovely moored sailboats and powerboats in the harbor, which are much larger from the perspective of a kayak than they look from the shore. Some of the time we were passing attractive homes and vacation places. And some of the time we were paddling along wild shoreline. So it was a nicely varied day.

No photos, unfortunately. We were cautious enough not to take our camera out with us … and that’s just as well because we did both tip over in the surf getting out of the kayaks.

Besides the usual terns, we saw quite a few Stewart Island shags. We also saw a number of fish jumping out of the water. Not sure if they were jumping to eat or to avoid being eaten!

One highlight of the kayaking was an extended time watching a white faced heron. Their shape is similar to a great blue heron, although they are smaller. When they fly, the light gray wings with black tips are stunning. When they land on the beach to hunt for food, you can see the white neck and face as well. We just drifted near the shore and got to watch him hunt for quite a while. Much fun!

This will probably be our last blog post. Tomorrow morning we head back to Auckland, and we fly to San Francisco tomorrow evening for a couple of days visiting with family before heading to Detroit. It's going to be tough to return to real life after this wonderful vacation!!