This past Friday, Kirsten and I wanted to explore up the Pokaiwhenua Stream, so we strapped a couple SUPs to our roof and headed to Lake Karapiro.
We paddled in and were in awe of the incredible narrow passageway of stone cliffs covered in lush green forest on either side of us. We stopped on a grass bank for some lunch, a quick dip in the water to cool off, and tried out yoga on the paddleboards (this was more challengeing than I had anticipated… But it was fun).
We then went a bit further up the stream until the current got much stronger and we had to turn around. Coming back from this mini expedition, the corners were sharp in places, and we had to dodge tree roots and sharp river banks.
At one stage I was headed straight into the riverbank, and due to fast river currents and an inabiluty to turn in time, I went from standing to sitting and bracing myself. Standing up I believe I would have definitely gotten knocked off. After we had passed the spot where we had lunch it became much more relaxing.
We drifted downstream, lying and sunbathing on our paddleboards listening to the birds and nature sounds. It was very relaxing and peaceful. Then when we got back onto Lake Karapiro we had a hardish paddle back as the wind was picking up and against us, so not much talking went on.
We arrived back at our car which was parked at Epworth camp on Finlay Road.
Overall it was a great day!