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Exploring with locals

My loud cackle broke the silence at Gees boat ramp on Ōhiwa Loop Road. It was so good to be able to laugh like that again. It was Friday and there were only four people at the boat ramp that morning - a lone fisherman and our group of three getting ready to set out on our kayaking tour. After a couple of minutes getting to know each other, Teresa (the other woman on the tour) and I just realised that we actually work together, although we had only communicated by email previously. Talk about two degrees of separation.

It was mid-morning and there was still a slight dew in the air, the kind that tells you that you’re just far enough from town life. The harbour was so flat that you thought you were looking out at glass. Kenny told Teresa and I to paddle around while he locked up the truck. A few minutes had passed when Kenny called out to us to come back closer to shore - it turned out we had floated quite far out and were heading in the opposite direction. We soon realised how strong the current was, especially in the flat conditions.

The sand moves with the current in the harbour, though it was still surprising to see how shallow it could be. It reminded me of boat rides to Subic Island in the Philippines - where if the conditions were good, you could easily see the coral reefs at the bottom. As we headed towards the mangroves near Hokianga Island, Kenny gave us a brief history of past inhabitants of the islands. It was the kind of history lesson you don’t seem to get at school, and it gave me an even greater appreciation of the resilience of the harbour’s ecosystem.

Teresa and I must have drifted to a shallow sand bank near the mangroves because pretty soon Teresa bottomed out. She hopped off and walked her kayak to deeper waters. It’s a surreal feeling to stand up in the middle of the harbour - from where we were the cars on the shore were the size of flies.

The Story of Lily Ducker

Uretara Island (also known as Ducker’s Island) is now a scenic reserve, and Kenny shared with us some of its rich history from both its past Maori and European inhabitants. The island is mostly native kānuka, some of which was cleared when The Duckers moved to the island in 1909 to make way for cattle grazing and crops of potato and maize. Frank and Lily Ducker had nine children.

Leo Ducker, one of their sons, shared what life was like growing up on the island in his memories. A life tending the land, snorkelling and collecting shellfish with cutt-off gumboots as makeshift fins and even swimming to the mainland for school. When we heard this, Teresa and I looked at each other and she asked, “What about their books?” We all laughed, then Kenny continued to recount one of the stories from Leo’s memoirs.

It was said that when Leo was five years old, his mother Lily boarded one of the merchant ships that frequented the island, never to return. She decided to move to Taranaki and left her husband and family on the island. Seeing the isolation of the island, I can only imagine how hard life would have been, let alone with nine children. The Duckers eventually left the island in 1919 and moved to a farm in Woodlands, near Ōpotiki.

Morning tea at uretara island

We had a late morning tea on a beach at Uretara Island - Kenny’s wife’s home baking of apple muffins went down great with my cup of coffee. Although the morning’s kayaking was pretty relaxing, my stomach’s grumbling reminded me that breakfast was only a soy mocha and I needed a top up. While enjoying the views with morning tea, Kenny and I began to chat about the impacts of tourism on the environment. As much as I love exploring nature, I also think a lot about the impacts of overuse - how do we find the balance of promoting tourism, while making sure access is sustainable for future generations? We both agreed that learning from and maintaining good relationships with local iwi is a vital component of ecotourism.

The kayaking tour took about 2.5 hours, and includes a life jacket and neoprene shorts. Kenny uses ocean kayaks which are sturdy enough to go kayak fishing in I reckon, so they’re great for any skill level and experience. There’s an abundance of bird species that call Ohiwa Harbour their home, including my favourites the oystercatchers and godwits. Discovering our Local for me is seeing our backyards in a new way - with the same curiosity of a tourist, to listen to and share the forgotten stories, to become ambassadors of this beautiful place we call home.

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fivefootronna is Ronna Grace Funtelar - a thirtyish adventurer, graphic designer and writer. A woman with a curious mind who lives for hiking mountains, outdoor adventures and eating pizza. She has a unique brand of optimism that is a combination of her great enthusiasm for life and cups of coffee during the day.