Our last day. We tried to avoid talking about it and acted like everything was normal. We should have woken up early to catch the ebb tide but instead we ignored the alarm and slept in. We chatted at the campsite and had tea and coffee until it was almost lunch time. We packed up from our last camp site and got into the kayaks for our final paddle. The sun was shining and there was no wind, it was a perfect day to be on the water. When we got in our boats I said to Ngaio “ let’s just take it slow and follow the coast line” she just smiled and nodded. We chatted about some of our favourite parts of the trip, the parts we found the most difficult and of course our favourite camp sites. To say today felt surreal would be putting it lightly. We floated along in what felt like a dream world. We watched fat glossy black bears forage along the shores, listened to eagles call above us and saw our favourite sea otters fishing off the rocks. When we rounded the last corner and saw Port Hardy in the distance, we both smiled. We couldn’t hide our excitement! It was like we finally realised we were actually going to do it. The entire trip we tried to keep an open mind because so many things could have gone wrong and prevented us from finishing. But today, we were excited, we knew we were going to finish and it felt amazing.

To go on an adventure like this with Ngaio has been such a magical experience. We have had beautiful days and terrifying days and everything in between, but every day has had a purpose. It’s been a raw and wonderful trip, nature has its grip on our souls and we wouldn’t have it any other way.