It was the last week of the school holidays we decided to take the kids for a kayak out around Rabbit Island and then lunch on
Matakana Island. Although it is the middle of winter
Tauranga is blessed with a very mild climate and the conditions were perfect. With two adults and four children we took a couple of doubles. We have seats made up that fit into the middle storage compartment so the two smallest kids rode first class. With six pairs of eyes scanning the terrain we were hopeful of spotting plenty of wildlife. There was a nice small wave washing into the Mount
Maunganui main beach so at the kids request we had a bit of a surf before heading over to Rabbit Island. Here is where we got our first big surprise. A rather large seal was sunning himself on the rocks on Rabbit Island. With a large hawk over head scattering smaller sea birds
it was an amazing site. The seal was unperturbed by our presence and after a few large yawns and several attempts to get comfortable he lay down and went back to his sunbathing. We carried around Rabbit Island and then the kids spotted another seal. We went in closer and to our surprise there were a total of 5 . All in the same mood as our first big male around the corner. We could have stayed there forever but after taking a few photos we headed off towards
Matakana Island. The tide was coming in so once we got into the entrance we had an easy paddle to
Matakana, after a short stop to watch some penguins bobbing up and down. We set up for lunch, closely watched by a couple of Oyster Catchers as the kids went off exploring the New Zealand
Dotterel nesting site and with previous explorations of the island they
scanned the shoreline for any ocean life including octopus, fish and stingrays. However as always it all went to fast and we soon had to head back. Tide assisted we gently paddled back and enjoyed another encounter with a small group of curious penguins. An amazing day and something the kids will be telling for news when they go back to school.
It was the last week of the school holidays we decided to take the kids for a kayak out around Rabbit Island and then lunch on Matakana Island. Although it is the middle of winter Tauranga is blessed with a very mild climate and the conditions were perfect. With two adults and four children we took a couple of doubles. We have seats made up that fit into the middle storage compartment so the two smallest kids rode first class. With six pairs of eyes scanning the terrain we were hopeful of spotting plenty of wildlife. There was a nice small wave washing into the Mount Maunganui main beach so at the kids request we had a bit of a surf before heading over to Rabbit Island. Here is where we got our first big surprise. A rather large seal was sunning himself on the rocks on Rabbit Island. With a large hawk over head scattering smaller sea birds 
it was an amazing site. The seal was unperturbed by our presence and after a few large yawns and several attempts to get comfortable he lay down and went back to his sunbathing. We carried around Rabbit Island and then the kids spotted another seal. We went in closer and to our surprise there were a total of 5 . All in the same mood as our first big male around the corner. We could have stayed there forever but after taking a few photos we headed off towards Matakana Island. The tide was coming in so once we got into the entrance we had an easy paddle to Matakana, after a short stop to watch some penguins bobbing up and down. We set up for lunch, closely watched by a couple of Oyster Catchers as the kids went off exploring the New Zealand Dotterel nesting site and with previous explorations of the island they 
scanned the shoreline for any ocean life including octopus, fish and stingrays. However as always it all went to fast and we soon had to head back. Tide assisted we gently paddled back and enjoyed another encounter with a small group of curious penguins. An amazing day and something the kids will be telling for news when they go back to school.
1 comment:
pretty place!
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