Jan 29-30: Auckland
Jan 31-Feb 1: Bay of Islands
Feb 2: Bay of Islands to Auckland
Feb 3-4: Rotorua
Feb 5-6: Rotorua to Wellington

Day Five: He who swims with dolphins kayaks, and the return to Auckland

The morning began with an early breakfast. On prepared meals in Connections tours, everyone pitched in to do dishes, a good system which spread the workload around and kept the trips economical.

I had signed up for the half-day kayaking trip this morning with Coastal Kayakers, and so had a bunch of others, including Stefan, a really fast Dutch guy (someone from the Connections Tour may be able to help me remember his name), Corinna, Rachel, Kerryn, Alison, Helen, and her friend whose name escapes me. Helen and her friend jumped in a two-person kayak and the rest of us hopped in our own sea kayaks and followed our guide out. Our first destination was a mangrove forest which some of us, like myself, wove through with some difficulty. I recall at one point crashing into a branch and, much to my horror, cracking it off. The mangrove trees grow straight out of the water and wending our way through their various interlocking branches in long kayaks required a level of skill I clearly lacked.

Then we pressed on to Hururu Falls, where we took a tea break. This was a pattern in all of our activites. You'd be in the midst of some intense, adrenaline-pumping activity, and then suddenly we'd stop to take tea and a candy bar, or cookies. Very strange.

The whole time we were kayaking, that one Dutch guy was out front. His stroke was effortless and yet he flew past me. Competitive as I am, I tried to keep my body still and to make long strokes, but I couldn't catch him. Then Corinna went flying by me as well. Something in my technique was wanting, though it wouldn't be the last time on the trip that Corinna outdid me in a sport.

After tea break the guide took us into Hururu Falls. We kayaked in along the right edge of the falls and then paddled hard directly into the falls. I volunteered to go first and as soon as I was under the waterfall the force of the water flipped me sideways and I tumbled out of the kayak into the water. So much for making a good first impression. We took turns doing this a couple times and then headed back. It was a great use of a half day, a good workout, and the weather was gorgeous the whole way.

We grabbed lunch downtown and met the bus for the trip back to Auckland. Before boarding, I learned that a bunch of folks, including Laura and Ryan, had gone swimming with dolphins that morning, on the very same boat I had gone out in a day earlier. Whereas I had spent hours and seen two dolphins and swum with none, they had seen dozens and swum with them all.

Angie found my dolphin watching debacle hilarious, and so on the bus ride back I was called up front to describe my misfortune over the mike. Everyone enjoyed a chuckle at my florid account of my misfortune, and it was at this moment when I became the laughingstock of the bus that I found my traveling legs and opened up to my fellow travelers.

We arrived in Auckland in the late afternoon, back at the same Imperial Hotel we had set out from previously, and I was in a room with Stefan and Brendan. A group of some 18 or so of us met out front for dinner, and we ended up dining at an Italian joint down the street. Tim introduced me to the Crown Lager, or Crownie, a more upscale Aussie beer. Somehow I ordered this seafood plate that could have fed half the table, and my penchant for over-ordering would become a tradition, part of my mythology.

We headed over to the Loaded Hog down in Viaduct Harbor afterwards, but it was hosting a private Team New Zealand party and we weren't invited. We ended up at the patio of some other bar and drank until they kicked us out. The liquor helped the conversation flow easily, and I had the chance to get to know a few of my travelers better. Kerryn and Rachel were classmates in pharmacy school in Melbourne, and Tim spoke of life back on the farm in Tasmania. Basking in the warmth from the heat lamps and the warmth beneath our skin from the liquor, everyone felt comfortable and friendly. Nothing like a pub for forging fast friendships.

When the bar closed, most everyone headed back. I stayed out to make one last loop of the bars to see if anything exciting was happening, but it was Sunday, a slow night, and the one hopping joint was booked by the New Zealand America's Cup team for a private party. Thwarted, I headed home. I had rediscovered my party-all-night powers.

Next: Farewell to some, greetings to others, and Waitomo