Days 46-51, Jan 12-18 2010
I spent my first two nights at the Westshore Surf Club and enjoyed it immensely. My only complaint was that there were too many good people around, and too many distractions. If I was going to have to wait around I wanted to ensure that I did not enjoy myself too much, and that I addressed as many tasks as possible.
Gisborne had not delivered on all my requirements with the most important being a replacement GPS of the same type I’d broken nearly two weeks earlier. It had proven to be an almost essential navigational tool and one that I decided I could not do without. The coastline and conditions once I rounded Cape Kidnappers, were likely to only get tougher and I was not prepared to proceed with it.
The port of Napier at dusk.
A visit to the local ship chandler on the day of my arrival i.e. Monday, had seen one ordered from Australia. They had almost every model in stock, except for the one I needed and therefore it had to be freighted from Sydney. I was informed to expect a delivery on Wednesday.
On Tuesday I ordered a replacement camera mount from Sydney. It’s loss when the kayak was tossed and rolled up a beach by a wave had dramatically affected my ability to capture video images whilst on the move. It would arrive on Thursday much to my delight and I’m very much looking forward to capturing some exciting images on the camera.
I had cause to revisit the chandler whereupon a gentleman overheard that I was kayaking along the coast and asked me what I was paddling. I advised him of the brand and was surprised when he indicated that he knew it*. He made kayaks and skis so I explained to him my concern about the effect that dragging the kayak up the beaches was having on my otherwise indestructible hull.
* I was amazed whilst at his factory to be shown a mould of my Australian brand kayak sitting up in the rafters.
I was soon in his car hooking up a trailer so that we could collect the kayak from the surf club and get it back to his factory where he promised to apply an aluminium oxide strip along the area of concern. It would protect the hull from the cutting effect of the sand that replicated a coarse grit sandpaper. It would be ready the following day and for just NZ$75 I felt I was getting excellent value and service.
On the trailer and ready to be dropped back at the Surf Club.
That afternoon there was a carnival on between the kids of Westshore SLSC and Ocean Beach SLSC so I volunteered to help in any way I could but mainly ended up watching \as children of 10-16 years competed in cold blustery conditions. With the wind it felt like it was 15° C and I was in awe of their toughness. I told them that it was no wonder they bred such tough rugby players, whilst also explaining that in Australia we’d only step out of the house to grab more wood for the fire in such conditions!
It was freezing!
On Wednesday I relocated to a motor lodge a short distance away but slightly closer to the town centre, where I later purchased a cushion that I hope will alleviate some of the discomfort I’m experiencing in the glutes (buttocks).
On Thursday I walked to the kayak factory and then returned to the surf club with the kayak in tow. Extremely happy with the result. Further discussions regarding my kayak’s design have almost certainly convinced me that it will not handle surf conditions and I will need to weigh this up carefully as I proceed down the coast.
I later returned to town and visited a computer service and repair shop and have finally had my Sony software loaded onto my laptop meaning that we can at long last view the video footage I’ve been taking and more importantly load clips onto the web to share with everyone.
I have been attempting to purchase some desiccant for my waterproof camera housing for the past month without any success. It is meant to absorb moisture and help reduce condensation from forming on the interior of the casing. Having tried camera shops, camping and adventure stores, hardware stores, pharmacists, electrical appliance stores, dive shops, and chandlers I made a search of Google and was pointed me in the direction of tampons as a substitute. I am now travelling with a packet of ultra absorbent tampons onboard the kayak.
The GPS had still not shown up by the following Monday. Very ordinary on someone’s part, but I’ve remained productive and have been able to get familiarise myself with the new Sony software and load a number of videos onto You Tube with links on the blog site. The weather too has been very ordinary, so this has lessened the frustration but I am now getting restless. I am less than 40km from having covered 1,000 km and do not want to stall any longer. Tomorrow, we hope!
The weather was ordinary. This enterprising couple of campers took advantage of the cover provided by the lifeguard's tower to cook their dinner!
