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WHERE DID YOU PADDLE? Nov. 2007

Cool! looks like you two had fun!

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And here I am stuck in my garage painting, while Mark is out there in beautiful weather. Supposed to whip up some force 10 winds here come Monday. Bet Mark and Wet Elvis will be getting, wet, for that!
 
LOL - thanks Darren! :lol:

Astoriadave said:
Supposed to whip up some force 10 winds here come Monday. Bet Mark and Wet Elvis will be getting, wet, for that!

Hmmm... tomorrow's forecast is windy but cold and I need at least a day to recover from today's paddle! Monday's forecast looks warmer but wetter here. Not sure about force 10 though - perhaps a road trip is in order! :shock:
 
All the sudden, I feel the competition 8)
Mark and WetElvis, you wanna compete how often we go paddling during this winter? I can't win for how fast or how strong, but I feel I can beat you guys for "how often" :) I am confident I can get out there at least 3 days ( for a few hours) a week.
Now Mark, if you take my challenge, you have to consider how many days I work and how many days you don't work :wink:
 
New Zealand 2007

I thought that I would take this moment to share some images of my trip to New Zealand in November. Hope that you enjoy them. :)

Scenic view of the countryside on the Coromandel Peninsula.
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Approaching the coastline.
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Cormorants aka shags in NZ.
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SOT Kayak surfers at Mercury Bay (Coromandel Peninsula)
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The MV Aretere. The crossing of Cook Strait from Wellington to Picton via Interislander Ferries takes about 3 hours. A requirement of Interislander is that you must check in at least 60 minutes prior to sailings due to the fact that the roll on, roll off procedure is time consuming. To board and leave the ferry, vehicles must make a complete turn inside the vessel since there is only one entry/exit point. Note the guy behind on the sea doo playing in the ferry wake.
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View looking out into Queen Charlotte Sound (Marlborough Sound Park)
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Fine day to be on the water. (Queen Charlotte Sound)
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Possum Tracks
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Pied Shags. This particular species is often mistaken for penguins.
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Green lipped mussels are abundant in the sound. We purchased a kilo of these tasty morsels for less than $4.00 NZ.
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Te Pukatea Bay (Abel Tasman Park)
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Watering Cove (Abel Tasman Park)
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Kiwi Rock
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Split Apple Rock (Abel Tasman)
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Irumahuwhero View Point (Paparoa National Park)
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Punakaiki (Pancake Rocks)
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More spectacular views. A stretch of road between Westport and Greymouth
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A flightless Weka or woodhen.
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A pair of Pukekos or swamp hens foraging behind our campervan site near Franz Josef Glacier
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Glacial U-shaped valleys of Eglinton near Milford
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Kea (Fjordland National Park)
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Deepwater Basin looking out into Milford Sound
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Bowen Falls
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Sterling Falls
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As far as landing spots go, this is probably as good as it gets in Milford.
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Otago Coastline
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Rare glimpse of a yellow-eyed penguin.
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Facinating Moeraki Boulders (Koekohe Beach, Otago Coastline).
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Totally enjoyed your photos Art - especially after just having finished reading Paul Caffyn's books about his circumnavigations of the NZ islands!
Must have been a great trip!
Can I ask where the last photo is from?
Kathy
 
I loved NZ twenty-three years ago when I visited BEFORE I kayaked. Now I have to go back again. Wonderful pictures. Thank you.
 
Glad to hear that you enjoyed the photos folks! It was an awesome trip despite the limited time that we had on hand. Another week would have been perfect. Pretty well covered most of what we wanted to see and do with the exception of exploring around the sea caves of Cathedral Cove. For me, it was those towering ‘In your face’ fjords of Milford Sound - Somewhat akin to being inside a giant amphitheatre. For my wife, it was the sublime sandy beaches of Abel Tasman.

From Kasey -Totally enjoyed your photos Art - especially after just having finished reading Paul Caffyn's books about his circumnavigations of the NZ islands!
Must have been a great trip!
Can I ask where the last photo is from?

Man, those Kiwis must come from some pretty hardy breeding stock. We also spotted this publication displayed in several bookstores on both Islands. Looks like a good read too. :)

http://outside.away.com/outside/destinations/south-georgia-1.html
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Regarding the last photo, I'm guessing that it's of Marlborough Sound Park at around 25,000 ft.

From Blondie - Wow, those are stunning!

Checking airfares to NZ....

Blondie,

NZ Air started flying direct from Vancouver to Auckland just last month. I believe that the flights leave three times a week. It definitely shaved off a lot of transit time for us rather than having to do a transfer stateside, not to speak of the major inconvenience that we would have faced. From what I understand, Kiwis love the skiing over here.

From Mark - OK, that was cruel and unusual punishment. What did I do to deserve that!?!

Mark,

If it's of any consolation, we thought fondly of you when we took these. ;)

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Awesome photos, Art. I'd sure like to go paddling there one day -- but after viewing your pictures, I'm pretty sure that I'd hate it. :wink:

*****
 
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