Congratulations

Congratulations to the two Australian kayakers - James Castrission and Justin Jones - who paddled into New Plymouth early this afternoon; they are the first two people to paddle across the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand.  (although when I was at high school, one NZ foreign exhange students who went to America had her class convinced that she lived in a mud hut and paddled to Australia inorder to fly to the US     )

As they approached shore a fleet of Maori waka (canoes) greeted them, as did dozens of local kayakers.  During the past 62 days the pair have travelled more than 3,300 km and battled strong winds and tides that saw them go round in circles for part of the trip.

The kayakers paid homage to Andrew McAuley, also Australian, who perished during a solo attempt to cross the Tasman last year.