Tauranga Kayaker Tim Taylor departs Gisborne on Tuesday; a day behind schedule on his circum kayak of New Zealand.

'I lost one day going round East Cape,” says Tim.

'It got too bloody rough and I got turned back – I ended up staying the night at Lottin Point.

Tim Taylor.

'Friday or Saturday I was heading from Waihou down to East Cape and it got too big.

'And even when I did come round, it was pretty bloody hairy.

'It definitely wasn't nice at all, and when you get into the cape between East Island there, it was massive because it just amplifies there.

'It was a bit of an eye opener that's for sure.

'But other than that it's been real good.”

Tim rounded East Cape Friday, Overnighted at the top end of Tokomaru Bay on Saturday night, stopped at Tolaga Bay for lunch Sunday and arrived in Gisborne on Sunday at 6.37pm.

'I got a really good northerly and it pushed me the whole way,” says Tim.

'I was really roaring through there, I don't think I will be able to do that too often.”

On Monday, which was a rest day he enjoyed a massage.

'The body's pretty sore after yesterday, I did 103km.”

The plan is to try to be in Christchurch for Christmas.

'If I was down by Kaikoura, I would be really happy with that. It's a long way off and we are just playing it by ear. It will depend how the weather holds out and how the body's feeling.”

He's planning to take every fifth day ‘off' cleaning out the kayak, going through and sorting out the food, uploading pictures and catching up with people.

Tim set out from Tauranga on November 27, on the first leg of a 5500km journey he's not expecting to complete for 3-6 months.

Since his departure, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research has predicted a long hot La Nina summer.

The pattern of large high pressure systems, with light winds, is expected to continue until March, says principal NIWA scientist James Renwick.

La Nina brings cooler sea temperatures, high atmospheric pressure and drier air. Strong winds blow moisture away making for cloudless skies and dry conditions in equatorial countries from the International Date Line east to South America.

'The net result for New Zealand is we tend to get high pressures and more settled conditions,” says James.

Tim's progress can be tracked from minute to minute on his website, www.nzkayaker.com.

West Coast kayaker Paul Caffyn is credited with being the first person to paddle around New Zealand's three main islands.

In the late 1970s, he first took on the South Island with friend Max Reynolds.

The following year he completed a circuit of the North Island, and finished it all up with Stewart Island and Foveaux Straight. Paul Caffyn also notched up the first circumnavigation of Australia in a kayak during 1981 and ‘82.

More recently there's been a flurry of activity around New Zealand by both men and women kayakers, but no one has undertaken a complete trip around the whole country.