Kayaking the Puhoi River

This weekend I enjoyed a leisurely Kayak up the Puhoi River. Puhoi is a small settlement about 40 minutes north of Auckland city, famous for it's cheese and it's historic Pub. I was with a group of about 20 work colleagues enjoying an afternoon of team building.

The people at Puhoi River Canoe Hire sorted us out with some fantastic kayaks. The paddle started at the Wenderholm, a gorgeous Regional Park complete with beach, inner harbour, parkland and bush walks. We set out from the inner harbour and paddled up river with the incoming tide. It was a slightly overcast day and we we paddling into a breeze which was almost strong enough to negate the helpful push of the tide, at least until we reached the calmer sections up river and away form the openness of the harbour.

I'm a pretty inexperienced paddler having only done it about three times previously and this would have been my longest paddle yet. I eventually found what I would call an easy paced and economical technique which I was able to keep going for reasonable periods before either slowing to take in the scenery and bird life or to chat to workmates. All up the paddle took about two hours.

In total by the time I explored a small tributary and the upper reaches of the river before turning back to finish point in Puhoi, I estimate (with the help of Mapmyrun), I'd covered about 7 miles (11 K). Here's a map of the river.

After the paddle we jumped into the cars we had left in Puhoi earlier and headed back to the Wenderholm reserve for a barbeque and a few quiet beers.

Weekly wrap

Not much training this week. One swim of 40 minutes about 1300 meters. One aqua run session of 30 minutes. The aqua running was the longest session I've done yet and I put a lot more effort in this time.

Back into the running this week. Have a good one.

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Puhoi River Kayak

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