Llegamos a Okains Bay, un camping espectacular en medio del bosque, con accesso directo a la playa, todas las comodidades como cocina grande, banos con ducha caliente, mesas para picnic, y espacio suficiente como para que entre mucha gente, pero sin sentirse todos apretados. Tomamos un spot a 5 metros de la playa, disfrutamos del sol, nos relajamos, leimos, jugamos telefunke (juego de cartas que nos acomapana a todos lados), nos banamos en el mar (frio es poco, pero el sol estaba que nos convertia en brasa, asi que un chapuzon frio, nos venia bien de rato en rato).
The Banks Peninsula is an extinct cone volcano a few km out in the sea. The gap between the volcano and the mainland filled up with gravel over millions of years and the crater eroded on one side and filled with seawater. We stayed in one of the beautiful bays on a spectacular camp spot, with the beach only meters away and the sound of the waves accompanying us during night time. We had a few very relaxed days of reading, swimming, walking a bit and enjoying the beach with an exceptional spell of very hot weather. With a few musselbanks accesible at low tide, we got our daily quota and then I tried to remember my Grandma cooking them. With a dip made by Belen, we had our own harvested mussels on the beachfront. Also during a nightly fishing trip for flounder and sole, wading knee deep through the calm waters with a spear looking for the shape of the flatfish on the bottom, I had an encounter with a big eel, which I followed for several minutes, counterbalancing the good opportunity for catching an eel with being ignorant in how to clean and prepare them and considering it would be too much fish for both of us, I finally decided to just observe this strange creature until it took notice of me and disappeared in the sea.
Una de las actividades que mejor recuerdo, es cuando acompane a Johan a marisquear choros a una punta de la bahia, esperamos a que baje un poco la marea y a eso de las 6 de la tarde trepamos rocas, y nos situamos en puntos estrategicos para la azana. Johan abajo sacando choros de las rocas cuidando que no venga una ola y lo deje estampado contra una de ellas, yo arriba recibia los choros en una batea con agua, donde los lavaba y contaba para no pasarnos la cantidad permitida por dia (50 choros). Fueron dos noches que nos dimos un festin de choros hervidos con una salsa tartara que improvise, quedaron para chuparse los dedos!
After three relaxing days, we left this camping spot and drove all around the rim of the crater with breathtaking views in 360 degrees on the ocean and the peninsula to get to Akaroa. Akaroa seems a French village, with french street names and restaurants, and is a reminder that New Zealand was at the verge of being a French Colony, with many French settlers, and to be claimed for the french Crown and that just days or weeks before the Treaty of Waitangi was signed between the British Empire and the Maori chiefs, definitely giving New Zealand an Anglosaxon destiny. Wouldn't it be amazing being able to rewind time and shuffle a bit and see what Nouvelle Zelande would have been? Would a country converge to being something roughly the same through its environment and surroundings or would it diverge to something completely different due to one of its initial impulses? Would gastronomy have thriven and jeux de boules replaced rugby and cricket? Anyway, Akaroa.....
Despues de Okains bay, salimos a recorrer un poco la peninsula pasando por lugares increibles con vistas espectaculares, llegamos a Akaroa, un pueblo turistico por su avistamiento de delfines, nadar con ellos, acercamiento a una colonia de pinguinos, y a veces avistamiento de Orcas en el muelle. Lo que mas queria era nadar con delfines, y tambien deseabamos ver pinginos, pero ambas actividades eran solo a traves de tours privados que el precio escapaba bastante de nuestro presupuesto, por lo que un poco resignados a no hacerlo, decidimos irnos a hacer un picnic al lado del muelle, con unos quesos y vino. Al rato despues de descansar un poco y esperar que el sol baje, decidimos salir en kayak por nuestra cuenta, empezamos a seguir a los kayak que hacian los tour, y las lanchas, y despues de un largo camino (16 km remando y con el viento en contra) ... tuvimos una de las mas lindas experiencias en el viaje, que fue ver a los delfines alrededor de nuestro kayak nadando, saltando, nos rodeaban, fue increible. Johan decidio meterse al mar, y de pronto los delfines empezaron a acercarse otra vez hacia nosotros y nadar alrededor de Johan. Despues de ver los delfines, nos quedamos quietos mirando el horizonte, y de la nada aparece frente a nosotros a menos de medio metro, un pinguino que andaba solo por ahi (parecia perdido) saco la cabecita por 10 segundos para luego volver a sumergirse y no salir mas. Esa tarde sin esperarlo pero si deseandolo mucho, vimos los delfines y pinguino que tanto queriamos!
A veces cuando crees no poder tener algo, basta desearlo realmente de corazon para que las cosas se vayan acomodando y sucedan! Gracias Chiwawin por haberte animado a que salgamos en Kayak, y por haber remado tanto (mas que yo, claramente, porque mis brazos no tienen tanta fuerza). Gracias a la naturaleza por dejarnos disfrutar y tener estas experiencias.
Once at Akaroa, we were welcomed by a relatively touristy town and infrastructure and a baffling sun on our head. Day dreaming with all the marine fauna to be seen around Akaroa we headed into the local tourist bureau and sat down in front of the church, trying to digest our disappointment in that all this natural beauty was only accessible through private land and by means of spectacular but overpriced tours. Once digested and seeing the calm waters we inflated our kayak and set out on the bay. After rowing for about an hour through stunning landscape but without any sight of fauna, kayaks coming back with smiling faces confirmed us there was dolphins in the bay and pointed us in the right direction. With renewed force and enthusiasm we continued rowing until a first glimpse of a black fin again renewed our energies. All of a sudden our determination, creativity and desire was rewarded in several dolphin sightings some of them coming very close to the boat. Once they were gone I decided on a refreshing dive before rowing back and floating in the water Belen started shouting "there they come, there they come", I was surprised, then scared and then heading for the boat as quick as I could, when Belen got out the camera and said "stay in the water". I was surrounded by dolphins and started calling them out by flapping and whistling in the water. Again, I was amazed by the curiosity of the animals which has something very human, it is a curiosity, combined with trust and understanding of the human being, which makes them come close being inquisitive and communicative but not intrusive. I put on my goggles and a mother with a small dolphin below her belly swim just underneath me. While all the cruises had left the bay, the sun was setting and only ourselves and the dolphins in the evening light were left, this was certainly one of the most amazing experiences of the trip. Though, determination, enthusiasm and desire were not enough to pay the price for this sighting and we had to compensate by a relatively serious dose of suffering rowing back against the wind and the waves, wondering if we would make it back to town or had to camp somewhere on the shore hoping conditions would change. The same night we sat on our campsite next to the ocean sipping a glass of wine* enjoying the experience and happy to be back on shore.
*While in NZ read a glass of wine as a plastic cup of "dry red wine" out of the box "made of the best grapes from NZ and Australia" without further specifications. In one of the wine tours we did, it appeared that due to the cost structure of the wineries in NZ, the labelled bottle often accounts for a big share of the cost and the sales price, as such, wine in boxes.
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