Kayaking at sea and NZ’s national pastime

Having got up, the first task of the day was complete. Next came breakfast in the form of a lot of porridge and the packing of the rather small tent. As before we packed everything we didn’t need in to a bag to be collected by the water taxi. We then joined the day kayak group on the beach. For some reason the day kayak was called the Royale With Cheese. God knows why, all I remember about that name is that according to Pulp Fiction, that’s what they call quarter pounder with cheese’s (in McDonalds) in France. Still don’t see the relevance. We weren’t that fussed to ask so it remains a mystery. The kayaking was great, a little choppy at first but it soon became calm. We saw lots of seals and stopped off at a few bays on the way. For one stretch we rafted 4 kayaks together and sailed using a special bit of tarpaulin. That saved the arms a little. Time passed very quickly, at least 3600 seconds per hour and we were soon back at Kaiteriteri. With plenty of time left in the day we decided to attempt the drive to Greymouth. This involved partaking in one of our new hobbies and the national sport of New Zealand – “How are we going to get past that camper in front of us”. This country is great for driving, they have signs saying “If there’s a queue behind you, pull in and let them past”. Can’t imagine that going down too well with the UKs middle lane hoggers. The only problem is that most tourists (i.e. the ones from the UK) don’t realise that this is the system and continue to stubbornly stay in your way. This can be extremely frustrating but also makes the game much more of a challenge. We got to Greymouth in good time and only one other driver gave us the finger. That was fine though as he was clearly a twat.