Drunken Sailors

After a very long driving day out of Auckland we arrived at our hostel in Whanarua Bay. I loved this hostel when I stayed there several years ago. I made a reservation while we were still several hours away but when we arrived well after dark, the already inebriated owner was startled to see us. He didn't remember speaking to me though he had taken the reservation and copied down my name and credit card number. They didn't have a room for us, but the campervan was available which turned out to be a comfortable and comical place to sleep. The door didn't lock, or even fully close, but the window did look out onto the bay so that when we woke the water greeted us first. The owner, who is a very friendly Maori fellow, decided he would awkwardly attempt to engage Jessica and at one point came into the campervan while I was in bed with my pajamas on while heavily intoxicated. The high point of this hostel, besides the fact it is basically a treehouse that looks like it's out of Swiss Family Robinson, is that they let you use their sea kayaks for free. We enjoyed several hours of paddling about the bay once the sun began to shine. This is an extremely relaxing stop on a long drive around the cape.


From here we are heading further east and on towards Hawke's Bay.

roasty toasty

Congratulations are in order here, as Kip and I rented a sea kayak, paddled our sorry selves to an island about two kilometers away and lived to brag. About half way into it, we were moaning about our shoulders and swearing we'd never make it. But in just one hour we pulled the kayak up onto the shores of Poda island, just west of Rai Leh. After a brief cool down, we hopped in the boat again and rowed ourselves around to a hidden cove where we enjoyed some snorkelling on our own private beach. On the row back we pushed ourselves, rowing fiercely, fearing that the enormous grey cloud looming over Rai Leh beach would explode into a thunderstorm and we would be tossed from the kayak. We made it somehow.

Surprisingly we weren't sore when we woke up this morning. But our legs are badly sunburnt and that is making it miserable to walk around. There are some dangers in Thailand that you just don't account for. As we sat by the water eating our breakfast a fleshy, green nut, about the size of a walnut, fell from a tree and smashed on our table. It was obviously aiming for Kip, but luckily it missed. We had enough pain to deal with.

We are on our way to the bus station in Krabi to leave our blissful paradise. It was gorgeous weather for us and well worth the effort to get here. Tomorrow morning I'll be heading to Don Muang airport to collect Ross!