Okupe Lake

What an adventure! I had to get up at 5 to drive to Paraparaumu. Driving means myself in Andrew's car, which he was so kind to lend me for this trip. I had some exercise the day before driving around Palmy with Andrew next to me. Being alone makes quite a difference even more if the car is manually. Well, I managed to get there without any problem and shortly after I was on a boat to Kapiti Island. Overnight guests were brought to a different beach then the day tour visitors. This was a bit delayed because of three guys. They were on their jetski the day before - and then they were not anymore, couldn't get on, so they swam onto the island, stayed the night there, lit a fire and went to the lodges in the morning. So that was a big thing since Kapiti is a Reserve and the idea of fire taking over is scary and they could accidentally introduced pests. So we were brought to the middle of the island where we could climb up a little hill. I did it with Frauke, a woman from Göttingen. Up there we saw nothing since there was mist from the ocean. That made it very magical and i liked it a lot. Later on we overnighters, a group of eight, were brought to our lodges. After a coffee I went to the Western lookout for sunset, it was stunning. Then we had some wine and nibbles, diner and some Kiwi-information from Manaakai, our guide. Shortly after that we started for a kiwi spotting night walk. Now let me introduce you to our group: There was Bird-Fan, 45-ish with his huge camera; a eldery couple around 70ish, he a typical Mr. know it all; an older woman, around 80 with her daughter and finally Misses and Mister Tipsy, having started already with apero right after we got to the cabin, she around 55ish he more 65ish. All very nice and lovely people, don't get me wrong and I enjoyed it heaps to spend this time with them. But that walk was just so hilarious I have to share it: So, to begin with, we should be as quiet as possible with minimum lighting to increase our chances to see those unique animals in the wild. You know the situation when people at a certain age just can't whisper anymore and just talk quite loudly? So that started right away between Mr. and Mrs. Tipsy. They were right behind me and it went on and on and on. I am sure all Kiwis were warned. Then when you are quiet you get to hear all sorts of sounds, heavy breathing (again, Mrs and Mr Tipsy) shuffling feet - also the ones your body produces, for example coming from Mr. Tipsy. Which was commented by Mrs. Tipsy with: "Well honey, that wasn't the call of a Kaka." Already at this point I thought, what a walk. But then there was another fart and Mr. Tipsy said that this time it wasn't him and so the eldery woman made her excuses. Oh dear. Some time later our guide had a look if there were still 8 of us. It was ment as a joke but actually only 6 of us were left. Mr. and Mrs. Tipsy had decided to go back. Without telling anyone. So our poor guide had a day which began with some stranded dudes on the beach, a fire and big worries about pests and ended with some missing person. So that was sorted out and the walk ended at some point. I was quite happy no one I knew was with me because I wouldn't have been able to keep myself from laughing the whole time. Oh and Kiwis? We haven't seen a single one 😊Read more