Winter Kayaking at Sandpit

The weather forecast didn't look great but it was my last weekend before heading off to Holland and we all know how the weather can change for better or worse. Fri evening I arrived just in time to see the group paddling back across the water (bugger, I was too late for the evening paddle).

We stayed at the Sandspit Holiday Park in little cabins right on the waters edge so as well as providing great views of the harbour they also offered us a place we leave our kayaks when we were off the water. Oozing with character the motor camp contained many of the old buildings from years gone by including the old post office and school masters house which were both cabins.

Saturday morning we headed around to the Matakana Village Farmers' Market which turned out to have a great selection of food and live music. Shame we had already brought all the food with us otherwise we would have had all sorts of goodies for the rest of the weekend and I didn't want to stock up before heading overseas.

 

Constantly monitoring the weather we decided to head out after lunch and it turned out to be a pleasant day sheltered from the wind. We headed out of the harbour and headed east for about 10kms making it to Jones' Bay. After a quick look we turned back making sure we would be back before dark. All in all we were on the water for about three hours. Upon arrival the tide had come in just enough that we were able to paddle almost all the way back to the camp across what at low tide is 500 metres of mud.

That night we had planned to have a BBQ but after seeing that it had fallen into disrepair over the winter months we opted to cook indoors and spent the rest of the evening discussing war stories over a few wines.

In the morning a few of us decided to stick around and head up the Matakana River into deep dark Matakana. We had a the wind and tide against us so it took about an hour and a half to make the 5km journey. Upon arrival we found a cafe and had a bite to eat and a coffee before making a return trip in about 40 minutes.

 

More information

• Map showing paddle from Sandspit to Jones' Bay
• Map showing paddle from Sandspit to Matakana