The Next Day: Te Pukatea Bay

The next morning couldn’t have been much better: calm waters!! That was all we wanted.

We also had countless Weka friends at our campsite. At first, we had encountered them on Rotoroa Island and marveled at the cute little birdies. Now, we kept shooing them away—they are quite crafty! We had been warned at the beginning of our kayaking tour not to leave anything unattended, or they would snatch it up and quickly wiggle off into the bush.

We were also instructed to leave the tent zippers out of the birds’ reach, up high in the middle of the entrance. Otherwise, these intelligent and persistent little creatures might open the tent and invite themselves in. ^^Read more