Sunday 4th Nov

It was our last day before returning back to Auckland. We had a free day to do what we want till 3pm pick up.

Previously mentioned earlier, we have booked the Kayaking session for the morning around the islands which starts at 9am. So not too early wake up call for us! Unforutnately the weather wasn't looking any good, showers and windy! We thought that it might be called off due to the conditions.

We made our way to the beach hut and it was still on!! Cold and wet! There was only 5 of us in the group. Daniel and I deciced to do kayaking on our own instead of being in the double kayak. Lisa was quite nervous cos she wasn't keen to do kayaking with plenty of waves going on in the sea!

We all started off quite well in the rain! We went towards to the small island which took us about a hour to get there. It was easy to canoe there as we all were full of energy. Once we arrived to the island, there was a mini beach where we stopped for drinks and biscuits. We all had a game of frisbee, had a bit of rest for about 15mins. Our tour guide, Andy found a shell with a hole in it. It was in a ring style. It didnt fit Andy unfortunately but he gave it to Lisa which the shell ring fitted her perfectly. She wore it throughout the day to remember the day.

After our break, we moved on to the another bay which took us about a hour again. Unfortunately the waves were getting bumpy. At one point, we had to canoe through the rocks which was full of waves so it was like a white rafting for a min! The guide went through first and indicated to Lisa that it was right timing to go through. Lisa succeeded without one wave hitting her!! She was relieved!

The other 2 people in our group who was in the double kayak unfortunately didn't wait for the guide's indication. The cause was that they were hitted by the waves and nearly tipped them over, but luckily for them they managed to fight against it. Daniel didn't know whether he should go or wait for the indication so he made a move. Again, he was hitted by the wave which pushed him towards the rock and was unable to get out of it. It nearly made him tip over but he managed to stay stable till the wave was stable to canoe through.

After the fun of fighting against the waves, we continued to the bay where they had a canoe museum. It was a strange entrance for us as we were the only ones who were so wet and walking around barefeet! We were pleased to see that there were toliets and dashed there to relieve ourselves(!) We also stopped by the cafe to have something to eat/drink, more like rest and getting the energy back to return ourselves back to the beach hut

Time to return back. It was still showering and the sea were getting bumpy. It was getting difficult to fight it, especially when we all were tired from paddling! The waves kept pushing us away from the direction we wanted to go, esepcailly for Lisa's! She was annoyed with it as her left arm was knackered and didn't have energy to use it to fight the waves.

We finally managed to get back safely after 1hr and 30mins at about 1pm, soaking wet! Unfortunately for us, we already checked out from our room. We were hoping that the hostel would have somewhere that we could get changed or at least dry off before boarding onto the coach.

We walked back to the reception, in preparation to beg to the reception to let us have a shower! Our driver from last Friday was there. He was so kind as he managed to get the hostel to give us a room so we can have a quick shower and dry off. Aren't we lucky?! After a quick shower, we had a quick lunch before boarding onto the coach at 3pm, aiming to arrive at Auckland by 7pm.

It was pouring down with rain on our coach journey. At the moment, we don't feel as we are in New Zealand cos everything reminds us of UK, especially with the weather!!