Tonga Quarry

Bark Bay to Tonga Quarry

Kaiteriteri Beach

Onetahuti Beach

At Tonga Quarry we found a place to hide our bags so we could walk to Onetahuti for lunch. It felt so light and amazing without the packs on. We only took 20 mins to get there uphill, then flat, then downhill.

I went and sat on the beach by myself while Liz went to the bathroom, it was so peaceful and lovely. I sat down and looked up and saw a little dark head pop out of the water right in front of me – it was a seal! I yanked my shoes off and ran down to the water but he moved quite quick smart. I tried to take photos, but I think I might’ve just got some dark shapes in the water.

Went back and ate lunch – carrot, crackers with cheese, tuna. We took some posey photos then headed back to Tonga Quarry.

Torrent Bay to Bark Bay

. It took us 3hrs to get to Bark Bay from Torrent Bay, it went uphill then flat then downhill. It seemed like forever as we’d left about 3:30pm and the light was starting to disappear behind the hills as we travelled. I was so exhausted from the kayaking and carrying the backpack. We crossed the Falls river bridge which was this huge long bridge, then got to Medlands beach where we’d had lunch earlier in the day. We’d wished that we thought to get our backpacks dropped off at Medlands, then we would’ve had a much easier time of the walk. I collected some leaves there, then hurried around and down the hill to the Bark Bay hut which was set back quite a bit from the beach. Luckily there was a glorious hot fire burning in the hut when we arrived and we had noodles and soup for dinner.

Bark Bay

Kayaking Trip

Adam was our tour guide, he was a cool guy and there was a german couple, Danny and Danielle, they were very fit. We grabbed water bottles and our packed lunch was provided (it was yummy food). Adam showed us how to kayak, warned us about not capsizing and what to do in case we did, told us how to board the boats and how to steer and then guided us to the water. Liz was at the front and I was at the back with the guiding pedals. Kayaking was seriously hard work, especially since I don’t have much upper arm strength. We went out to the open sea through this gap in some rocks, a couple of times our boat nearly hit the rocks and Adam had to intervene. He talked to us about different things that we saw but the other couple kept taking off ahead and he had to keep trying to be in the middle of both groups to keep an eye on us. He told us some interesting stories as we travelled.

We headed to Medlands beach and saw a seal on the way, Liz tried to take a photo of it but it kept ducking under everytime she went to click. We stopped for lunch at the beach it was awesome. Adam boiled some water and made us all a milo, then after we’d eaten he led us up into the bush to show us some fauna. There were kawakawa leaves, heart shaped caterpillar eaten things which he said was good for toothache and numbing the mouth, he said it could be chewed or taken as a tea – he got us all to try it.

There was another leaf he showed us nicknamed Bushmans friend which was very soft on the underside and could be used as toilet paper or to write on, he claimed it could also be written on and posted within NZ, not sure if that’s true. There were some strands on this tree, he said the bug burrows into the wood and leaves some wax outside the tree with a bit of honeydew droplets on the outside to attract insects that it can then eat, he got us to try the droplets, they were nice.

We headed back out to the sea, he told us we needed to speed up to get back in time it was such a struggle though. He told us a story about a guy named Verny and this DOC inspector Bob. The houses there are on 100yr leases and as the owners die the land has to be returned to the national park.

For years this guy Verny kept telling the doc inspector that his dad was on a fishing trip, or in Nelson or Wellington or different places and finally the inspector Bob checked and the guys Dad had passed away but he didn’t want to give up the house. So Bob said the house would be demolished and he wanted the stone oven in it. So Verny went and blew up the house with some dynamite and also the stove, which went flying into some trees, he didn’t want to give it away. Verny died sailing back home after the Rugby World Cup 1987 game, he’d gone to a friends place to watch it but didn’t make it home afterwards so they made a memorial on this rock next to Pinnacle Island, first with his toilet and then they later changed it to his boat radio. So if you kayak behind Pinnacle Island you’ll see this rock with a weird thing on top.

At Pinnacle Island we saw this mum and baby seal playing together. The baby kept playfully jumping on its mum like it was teasing her and she was snapping at him to go away and then finally he jumped into the water and she followed him, then they were frolicking for a bit. Danny had a video camera going but we didn’t get a photo, I was worried about having to control the rocks near the boat coz Liz couldn’t use her paddle and take photos at the same time. So we didn’t get photos of them, but at least I had some good memories of it.