Te Wai Pounamu
Published October 2, 2007 | 
My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies
Fairytales of yesterday will grow but never die
I can fly – my friends
The show must go on!
- queen
Since then of course Justine has had some amazing adventures including;
- Paddling the coast of Kamchatka
- leading the first all female circumnavigation of Tasmania
- crossing the Bass Straight from Australia to Tasmania
- crossing the Maelstrom tidal race in Norway
- circumnavigating Queen Charlotte Island with Shawna Franklin & Leon Somme
So when Justine started talking about circumnavigating the South Island of New Zealand (“Te Wai Pounamu” in the indigenous tongue) it was pretty exciting. To this point no woman has made the attempt. (Of course on the other hand expedition sea kayaking is not a sport that should draw lines between men and women) She’ll be doing the trip with Barry Shaw of Wales. I actually met Barry this spring and I can’t imagine a more amiable and fun guy to do a trip like this with. They’ll be facing over 1,700 miles of some of the most beautiful, rugged and dangerous coastline in the world and I wish them all the best. The plan is to launch in early January.
* photo of milford sounds from wikipedia. open license.
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6 Responses to Te Wai Pounamu
Not a competitive sport? I’m not so sure. Certainly being first around is ‘everything’ for some paddlers, which I suppose it fine until someone get trashed in the rush.
Thankfully the only chance I have to be first will be in the ‘Octogenarian’ category. For example, I’m the oldest bugger to make it around Manitoulin Island as far as I know. Now I’m trying to deal with all the fame that has brought…
LOL! Yeah, remember my first decent in Chilton, Wisconsin. . . LOL! I still don’t know why the press wasn’t camping at my doors for that one!
Maybe there’s still hope for me to be the first woman around the North Island…
hey kristen. . you know, i was wondering why no one has done that? Just because it’s smaller maybe? More urban?
When you count up the kms there’s not a lot of difference – some, sure. And even though it’s more urban, there’s still a heck of a lot of coast line with no one around and no road access. The North’s west coast is certainly a real challenge with 2m+ constant surf and only a handful of real harbours, not unlike the South. The North does have a few more bolt holes, and I also think it’s a prettier coastline.
I just want to say stay safe and… you go girls.