opotiki – Secala Kayak Adventures

Friday 5 April, 2019

It’s been a month since our previous trip through Thornton. With a view to my next; and last, big push (10 days) for this summer looming at Easter, this short trip was about both; making progress towards East Cape as the weather permitted; and sizing up the unfamiliar coastline ahead.

THIS TRIP: Torere to Te Kaha – 1 paddle day

Distance 31.6km Time 5.25hrs Average Speed 6.0km/hr

Encouraged by a good forecast today, an early rise at Opotiki Motor Camp and a 15 minute drive to Torere beach for a dawn launch at high tide. It was clear when we landed here last month with low tide and swell that this was a dumping beach. With some anticipation we pulled up at the beach at dawn to check out the surf.

The bigger sets were intimidating. After sizing up the break, Shaz suggested we move along the beach 100m where it seemed less severe. Of course, once we got there it seemed better where we were!

The challenge to get through the narrow dumping shore break seemed easy enough if you could get the timing right. There lay the problem; as I had to stay high on the steep beach to avoid the powerful backwash. Only option was to wait out the worst of the set and commit.

Canned out on first attempt, bugger!

Got through on the second attempt with some helpful pushing from Shaz. Good teamwork! With adrenaline pumping, I didn’t stop paddling until well clear before stopping and sharing the moment with Shaz via VHF, after she had run 100m back down the beach to get the VHF out of the ute.

My target destination today was Maraehako Bay, about 7.5hrs paddle. With an ebb tidal assist and light variable winds this should have been an easy day. The rugged and remote coastline made for pleasant paddling. Large tracks of felled exotic forestry opened up from time to time. Slowly, the trees of the low lying Te Kaha headland emerged on the horizon like masts of distant ships until eventually joining hands with the mainland.

Had not heard from Shaz all morning which was puzzling as the maps of the area seemed to show the road following the coast.

Inexplicably after 4.5 hours paddling I was starting to feel increasingly weary! Also not feeling a hundy today.

Decided to call it quits at Te Kaha after only 5.25 hours on the water.

Shaz guiding me in from Te Kaha Hotel balcony

A flat landing on a stony beach protected by reefs on either side. Shaz guided me in from the deck of the hotel above the beach. Disappointed with my progress today, but as always making the prudent decision is a no brainer. Looking forward to an easy launch from here next time anyway. Had a nice lunch and coffee on the beach with Shaz.

Decided to spend tomorrow doing a reccie of the coastline towards East Cape which is the next big objective of this adventure.

Hicks Bay wharf (derelict). Horoera Point in the distance.

Approaching East Cape around Te Wharenaonao Point

View south towards Waikori Bluff from East Cape track

Shaz ……….Arrived in Torere last night, ready for the next stage of Brent’s Kayak Adventure. Up early, just after 6am so Brent can get on the water by day break! Well that was the plan anyway.

Arrived at Torere at 7.10am, loaded up the kayak awesome morning however the sea’s a little rough. Brent drags the kayak down over the stony beach to the shoreline.

Oh dear, some real dumpers today with the beach being so steep makes it worse. Brent tried to launch, two or three times sitting in the kayak attaching his skirt to the kayak, but then releasing it as it was too rough. Once he finally gave it a go, but NO way, timing all wrong not the timing would have been good! He was dumped big time, managed to get out and had to run to catch his kayak before it got pulled out in the strong backwash! I managed to video it all, thank goodness, however I did get a laugh out of it sorry Brent!

Once he pumped all the water out, secured his paddle float and pump; time to try again. Realising that he lost one of his gloves, oh well its gone now!

Watching the waves and realised that he was going to have the same problem, I decided to take my shoes off, pulled up my trouser legs to my knees, leave my cellphone up on the beach and help! Told him I was going to give him a push to see if that helped at all. Oh my God, it must have looked funny from behind! Gave him a push and the wave came in and pushed him sideways, so I had to quickly twist him back around to face the on coming wave and pushed him again getting deeper in the water! Told him paddle quick before the next big wave came and off he went – yeah!! I was really worried that if he didn’t, I would have got really wet next time, as I would have had to go out deeper! Now that would have been funny I guess, at least no one else was around. Sadly with me helping him I never got the launch on video, oh well he had his GoPro on at least!

Made contact with VHF, and he was off! Meeting him for lunch somewhere near Te Kaha, I’ll make contact with him along the coast somewhere later on. Back to the motel in Opotiki, have a shower, pack up, get diesel, go to supermarket and get a coffee from ‘Two Fish’ Cafe before heading off.

Lots of road works along the road, no internet coverage and not to many places to pull over and make contact with Brent. Before I knew it I was in Te Kaha, so stopped at the Te Kaha Beach Resort.

Finally made contact with Brent and told him to head straight for the Te Kaha beach resort. I got a coffee from the beach resort hotel cafe and sat on their bar balcony with direct line of sight of Brent. Staff here were intrigued with what he was doing, they even gave me free wifi access (normally they charged $5). It seems to be taking a long time, was going to call him and say put your turbo boost paddle on but through better of it!!

Arriving at beach by Te Kaha Beach Resort

He finally arrived around 1.10pm, he was buggered! He said the last hour was hard work and he wasn’t feeling to good (glad I never called him now). We sat down and had some lunch, Brent has decided to call it quits for the day. Not like him at all, so somethings up!

Brent had booked us into Lottin Point Motel for the next 2 nights, so we drove on to there and see what tomorrow brings! We drove on past the road going to Lottin Point and went onto Hicks Bay for a look. Brent wants to check out the beach’s etc, thought about going onto East Cape but Brent said he had enough for today just wanted to go to the motel. If he’s not feeling better tomorrow we’ll go for a drive to East Cape checking out all the stops that he could safely come in and get water for when he comes up at Easter.

8 – 10 March, 2019

Getting to Uncle Vic and Aunty Jan’s place at Thornton has been a key motivating factor for us this entire summer campaign. At the end of the first trip of this summer, back in October (end of trip #5 at Taupotupotu), we had made a non-stop road trip from Taupotupotu to Thornton to check on Vic who wasn’t ‘shipshape’ at the time. Every day on the water since then has had Vic driving “shark bait” (me) along.

This is Taranaki Anniversary weekend offering a 3 and a half day paddle opportunity. Once again the weather forecast wasn’t flash, however on this part of the Bay coastline there was plenty of opportunity to get in short paddle stints as the weather dictated.

THIS TRIP: Papamoa to Torere – 3 paddle days

Overall Distance 122.8km Time 20.85hrs Average Speed 5.9km/hr

Friday, 8 March 2019

Papamoa to Thornton

**Distance 62km Time 8.55hrs Speed 7.25km/hr**

Stayed at Papamoa overnight Thursday in the hope of an early start. A weather front was due to pass over the Bay today so staying close to the beach and keeping a ‘weather eye’ would be key.

Launched at sunrise into an easy surf with the outer breaks concealed by the high tide. Didn’t get a splash on me as I timed the shore break to perfection; for a change. After the usual VHF check-in and farewell to Shaz, set off in glassy conditions on a gloomy morning. Okurei Point at Maketu is the next prominent landmark just two hours paddle away. Soon a light northerly came away just behind my port beam to provide a little assist .

From the north, rain showers made way to heavier squalls that were quite intense making the shore barely discernible at times, though it was only a few hundred meters away. Although the light northerly remained, the onshore swell had picked up a notch.

This was a trickle compared with what was to come

Made contact with Shaz at our scheduled check-in at Pukehina Beach and agreed to a lunchtime rendezvous at Pikowai, a couple of hours further down the beach. Conditions remained similar as I cruised close in to Pukehina Beach before a smooth enough landing at the roadside camp ground at Pikowai. Its such a luxury having lunch with Shaz on the beach and the chance for a stretch. Going to enjoy this while it lasts.

When it came time to launch the tide had ebbed further and the swell increased a tad giving the shore break bit of grunt. Got trashed twice on the beach before breaking out.
Thornton was now only 3 hours paddle away and despite the rain, the paddle conditions were good enough and we were excited to be reaching Jan and Vic’s today.

Soon after launch the wind and swell intensified and was now onshore NE (beam on) making paddling more challenging with white caps breaking over the swell, having to brace often against these as they broke over Secala. Maintained a close 400m proximity to the beach now while applying plenty of off shore leeway just to stay out of the surf zone. Comforting to have a lee shore. Could see the front approaching from the NE with wind gusts now streaking the white caps. This wind was short lived as, when the front hit with torrential rain, the wind died away completely. The sea surface was surreal with shore visibility reduced to an outline. Once the front passed the wind returned having backed around a good 60 degrees to NNW and the weather cleared. The following 10kt wind making paddling a lot more comfortable and progress was hastened.
Got to Thornton River and Shaz said the bar was OK to paddle through even though it was now low tide. Didn’t want to make a hash of this landing that would have an audience.

We have been looking forward to this arrival for a long time. Came in cleanly over the bar before snagging a fisherman’s line in my rear flag as I came in on the eastern side of the river mouth.
Short paddle up river to the boat ramp and a great reception from Vic, Jan and Gaynor. The first planned reception of the whole trip. A good sense of achievement for sure. ‘Stanton Hotel’ is just down the road with home cooking and hospitality.

Jan, Gaynor and Shaz at the Thornton boat ramp

Shaz ……………..Stayed night at Papamoa Beach Resort, in one of their cabins. Up early so Brent could get off to a good start as weather forecast isn’t that good! Today’s the day, we are going to finally make it to Thornton! We have been so looking forward to coming in there and seeing Vic on the beach meeting Brent! Twelve months ago we wouldn’t have thought this day would come.

He launched at 7.05am from Papamoa Beach in a cloudy overcast day. I headed back to our cabin, showered and packed up then headed for Pukehina. Got my morning coffee from Blackberry Eatery in Papamoa, good coffee and the best muffin ever (curry, cumin and vege), yummy! Drove down Pukehina Beach Road, to the waterfront to make contact with Brent.

Weather looks like its getting worse, but not too bad yet! Brent said that he was going to come ashore at Pikowai for lunch. I drove onto Pikowai, nice spot! I stopped at Pikowai Campground, several motorhomes parked up. Thank goodness flushing toilets also! Access to the beach all good, its going to be a while before Brent arrives, so settled in and read my book. Around 11.30am I put on my rain jacket as the weather conditions have worsen, the wind is up and the rain is coming! I walked down to the beach to make contact with Brent. He is making steady progress, heading back to the Ute it started to rain, then the hail started and I got caught in it, bloody hell the things I do! Standing under a tree to keep out of hail! I saw Brent and he is getting near now, back down to the beach to guide him in! It absolutely poured down with rain, really! Oh well what can you do, Brent came ashore at 12.52pm lunch.

Leaving Pikowai wasn’t easy, it took 3 attempts, it was much rougher than when he landed! Had to pump water out of the kayak twice, I even had a go at it. Launched on the 3rd attempt at 1.20pm.

Driving along the road I pulled into Kohiawa beach at 13.37 and saw Brent going by, then onto Murphy’s camp ground further along the beach, then again at Matata I made contact with Brent on VHF at 2.50pm. He said that it would take about 1.5 hours Thornton beach.

Looking east to Whale Island from Matata

I decided to drive onto Jan and Vic’s at Thornton, after having a cup of tea we all headed to Thornton beach. I saw Brent in the distance and before long he was approaching the beach, he wanted to come into the river mouth. He landed around 4.30pm, it was so nice that he had a welcoming committee for the first time!

Vic waiting by car, also welcoming Brent in

Saturday, 9 March 2019

Thornton to Ohope

**Distance 25km Time 6.0hrs Speed 4.2km/hr**

Checked out of ‘Stanton Hotel’ and a couple of kilometers to the Thornton River boat ramp. On the water a little later than usual. Jan joining us at the ramp to see me off, full of questions about the kayak and its setup.

Boat ramp launches are quite a luxury however not knowing what the river bar looked like at high tide, everything was securely packed down. Once out of the ramp the river current swept me swiftly out through the river mouth and cleanly over bar.

View back toThornton Beach having cleared the bar

Whisper of an offshore southerly to start with quickly turned into a SE headwind that varied in the 10-15kt range. A nice little morning workout, I figured, as the forecast was for the wind to turn to an onshore NE in the afternoon. After 4 hours of the workout, for only a 16km gain, I was ready to join Shaz for lunch at Ohope Beach. On the way in through the easy surf and fully under control, I tried to be a bit clever with the technique and promptly (and embarrassingly) canned out. Lesson learned!

Out of Ohope and into the same headwind. By 1530 I had reached the last access point down the east end of Ohope beach. With the next access point at Opotiki couple of hours normal paddle away (3 hours at my current rate) and no sign of the wind shifting or abating I decided to call it quits after just 6 hours and only 25km gained. On the bright side, ‘Stanton Hotel’, is just down the road

Shaz……… Late start today, hopefully the weather will be better today! So nice staying with family for a change! Left Jan and Vic’s for the beach around 7.50am, Brent got sorted and had a new support crew member today Jan! She helped Brent carry his kayak for the boat ramp, strong!!! Not bad for someone 70+!

Jan helping Brent carry kayak to the boat ramp

Brent launched from the boat ramp on the river at 8.22am and then paddled out the river mouth around 8.40am.

Too quick for me to drive from the boat ramp to the car park looking out over the river mouth to record him going out! Oh well you can’t catch them all! Returned to Jan and Vic’s, had a late breakfast and cup of tea and chat before packing up and heading for Ohope beach. First stop Blueberry Corner for coffee and a Blueberry muffin each for us! Stopped in at Coastlands beach for check on Brent around 10.50am, called on the VHF but no reply. I could see him quite clearly however. Going over to Ohope I stopped at Ohope lookout to see if I could see him but nowhere in sight.

Looked around the shops in Ohope before going down by the Surf Lifesaving club and Brent made contact at 12.05pm and said that he was going to the far end of Ohope for lunch. I decided to go for a drive down the west end of Ohope to have a look. At 12.29pm Brent called saying that he was going to come in now where I was, thank goodness I hadn’t left to go down the far end of beach! He was paddling into a head wind, so came in early for lunch break at 12.34pm.

After lunch he launched at 1.20pm and would contact me where he was heading, just depends on the conditions. I contacted Brent at 2.35pm to see how he was going, he said that it was ok at the moment. He asked me to contact him when he got closer to the south end of Ohope beach to see how he was feeling. Brent contacted me at 3.15pm to say that he was coming in as he was battling into a head wind. Landing on the beach at 3.25pm.

Jan has been in regular contact today, and said that we were welcome to stay the night there if we wanted. We decided we would take up her offer and go back there for the night, its only a 20 minute drive.

Sunday, 10 March 2019

Ohope to Torere

**Distance 35.8km Time 6.3hrs Speed 5.7km/hr**

Another farewell from ‘Stanton Hotel’ with Vic waving from his bedroom window and wishing “shark bait” a safe voyage.
Launched into a calm sea however the forecast was for more easterly headwinds.

Shaz check in at Waiotahe. Conditions good so to Opotiki for lunch.

Headwinds were now slowing me down. Came in to easy surf at Opotiki with an audience that Shaz had found. They were very interested in what we were doing.

Hikuwai Beach at Opotiki. Locals on horses riding down the beach.

Headwinds seem to have set in now. Not sure how long I would last so I suggested to Shaz to check in at Opape.

Once out on the water, the headwinds changed to a stiffening offshore breeze ahead of a front approaching over the ranges. Strong offshore gusts knocked me off balance a couple of times and was more concerning than the strong onshore winds of yesterday. Held a 100m off shore for security. Fortunately I just got the edge of the front as it passed through just before landing at Opape.

After seeing the front pass by l decided to push through to Torere while conditions were OK and trying to get the most out of a late start. Easy surf at Opape. Beautiful rock hopping around the points to Torere.

The coastal lowlands and long white beaches of the western BOP now gives way to a more rugged and menacing landscape where stony bays are punctuated by a succession of narly looking Points as far as you could see towards Cape Runaway. And then the adventure really returns with the reputation of East Cape (and beyond) looming; anticipation returning for the first time since North Cape.

On my way to Torere, looking back at Opape

Weaving through the rocks between Opape and Haurere Point

Haurere Point (Torere in the background)

Approaching the beach at Torere where Shaz is waiting to guide me in. The first stony beach since east Coromandel north of Whangapoua.
There was no surf but could see that the beach was steep so expected a small shore dump. Worked up some pace on the back of a wave so that I could get as far up the beach as possible, hopefully providing a second or two extra for a quick exit. Good practice anyway. Easy enough landing but wondering what a high tide could offer up.

Shaza…… Had breakfast and packed up from Jan and Vic’s place then head for Ohope beach.

Launching from Ohope beach at the far end, off Phillips Street beach access, dragging the kayak down to the beach.

Brent was on the water by 8.52am. He wants to make up for yesterday and try to make it to Omaio beach.

Drive to Opotiki , stopped at Ohiwa beach and called Brent on the VHF. He said that he was making good progress, I drove on arriving at Waiotahe beach at 10.20am what a beautiful stop and waited for him to go past to make contact once again.

He was still making progress, wind starting to get a little stronger. Brent suggested we meet for lunch at Opotiki along the beach somewhere.

Drove past Opotiki for about 5 minutes, no access to Opotiki due to sand dunes. Found a rest area which was also an overnight camping area for motorhomes/self contained vehicles. Meet some lovely people that had pulled up for a cuppa! OMG so looking forward to getting our campervan!

Lovely people really interested in what Brent was doing. They stayed around and talked to him which was really nice for him! He landed on the beach at 1pm.

The headwind was getting stronger, so Brent wasn’t to sure how much further he would go but to check in with him near Opape. Off I went heading for Opape, missed the turn off and went on over the hill to Torere. No cellphone reception here, so headed back down the road and saw Opape Camp ground sign so turned down there. Contacted Brent and he said that he was coming in, as a front was coming through.

After a short time the front passed through and he decided to continue on to a least Torere! At least it knocks off another hour of his journey. Torere is a very stony/pebbly beach, a little steep but should be ok Brent can handle it NO problem!

Landed on Torere beach at 4.55pm, he pulled the kayak up the stony beach to the Ute. Loaded up and headed to Opotiki for the night. May go for a short paddle tomorrow before heading home.

Tag: opotiki

12. Torere to Te Kaha

11. Destination “Stanton Hotel” – Papamoa to Torere