Whangaihe Bay

[Kyle]From Whangaroa, we continued a short way further south along the coast to the deeply indented Whangaihe Bay for some more of the usual. We took the kayak along the eastern shore past Karaka Island to Frenchman Rock, where we enjoyed tucking into every kayak-sized inlet we could find while the swell either stopped us cold or rocketed us through.

Kayak and climb about - Whangaihe Bay and the nearby Frenchman Rock(s)

When we got done with that, we had the obligatory post-kayak hill climb. The coast on either side of Whangaihe is dotted with sharp little islets. The long views from the cliffs of the headland were worth the climb. The route up there passed through a ranch, so we had to edge our way past a couple dozen nervous-looking cattle along the way. They clearly thought they were sheep, because they were blithely grazing on 70° slopes that seemed too steep to hold onto the grass itself, much less a half-ton beast. The good news is they had already pre-dug lots of good footholds, so getting up and down the lesser slopes was no problem.

When we made it back to the kayak, we decided we hadn’t really done enough, so we took another lap around the bay for good measure. By the time we were done, the shadows of the hills to the west were pushing the cows up their hills on the eastern side of the bay. They seemed to be trying to hold onto the warmth of the sun as long as they could.