Yesterday we spent the night at a typical modern day Maori families house. When we first got there Mike, Simon and myself hit the water in the kayaks. We first paddled around to some secluded beaches and took pictures. Then we came back to the main beach for a bit before heading off in the other direction and just floating in the water talking about various things. After this we had the brilliant idea to attempt kayak surfing paddling in and riding the incoming waves into shore. It was a lot of fun when it worked and looked really awesome but it also had a great propensity for hard failure in the form of getting chucked out of your boat and having it land on top of you while you got dragged on the beach. All of us succeeded in drawing blood on at least one occasion. I managed to make the highlight when I was bringing out my kayak to get back into the water. I had the kayak out in about waist deep water when I realized I had it backwards. I began spinning it around at rotated it 90 degrees when a huge wave came up. I saw it way to late and accepted my fate as the kayak got lifted up and smashed into me like the fist of an angry god. Luckily for me everyone witnessed so there was no getting away it. I was more embarrassed than injured at the time but I am quite sore today.
After kayaking we hit the hot tub. The hot tub was situated right above the beach over looking the sea so we could watch the sunset from it. We took a brief intermission for dinner before heading back down to the hot tub. Most of our bus chilled out in the hot tub for hours. Eventually we were joined by two Swedish girls who'd been there for a few nights. As the night progessed we got to see the sunset and then eventually the moon set. As promised the guys from the house came down and sang us a song and then we had to sing them a song. They sang us a cultural Maori song of welcoming so naturally we responded the theme song from "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air". After this we all sang as a group a cover of "Hotel California" titled "Homestay at Te Kaha" following this we sang a cover of "Hot Stuff" called "Hot Tub". The guys left us be at this point and we sat and marinated in the hot tub as one big happy family.
Slowly but surely the numbers dwindled (and the water level dropped significantly as a result) eventually leaving just myself, Mike, Swedish Lisa (not to be mistaken with Mike's girlfriend English Lisa) and Maria. The two girls offered Mike and I a beer which I accepted and so did Mike with a little arm twisting. After our beers the girls decided they wanted to go swimming in the ocean. Me being a veteran in these affairs instantly agreed and so did Mike with a little arm twisting. We made the painful journey across the rocks to the ocean which was suprisingly mild considering we'd just come out of the hot tub and it was extremely windy outside. One entertaining thing we learned quickly upon entertaining the water was that it had phospherscent algae in it which at first freaked everyone else out (except me because I already knew what it was from Paihia) when they started splashing around and the water would light up on contact. Fifteen minutes or so passed before we elected to return to the hot tub. The girls grabbed another round of beers and we resumed discussion in the hot tub. Mike and Maria discussed surfing and Swedish Lisa and I discussed books and languages. Following the next round of beers Lisa wanted to go in the ocean again. Mike staunchly refused this time and stayed back while Lisa and I went in the ocean for a second time. I did my best to explain the algae to Lisa as she still was quite freaked out by the whole concept, especially when it got in her hair. We swam around together for abut twenty minutes before heading back to the hot tub. Mike and Maria had wandered off at some point so the two of us continued to sit in the hot tub by ourselves. Around 2:30AM we finally packed it in and I agreed to go kayaking with Lisa in the morning provided she woke me up because I couldn't be bothered to set an alarm. After we got back to the room I showered and took a picture of my foot to illustrate what happens when you spend over 10 hours in the water.
This morning I was woken up as promised by Lisa but unfortunately half way through sun screening myself I was informed the kayaking was cancelled due to choppy seas. Shame, I was really looking forward to it. Now I have just finished breakfast and am working on my laptop. Today we are bussing back to Rotorua and then to Taupo where I have another night before heading south to River Valley
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