After Craig left me I headed south from Auckland and went straight for my favorite place in all of the North Island Raglan! I spent a few days around town and just as I arrived so did the swell! It was the most consistent waves I have ever seen! When the tide got low I just stayed out of the way as the locals were getting tubed! It was great to watch, they would get sucked right inside the wave then get spit out again..if they were lucky! I Stayed till the swell died then worked my way around the west coast through little towns and cities. I have a little Surf Travel book that has directions to virtually every surf spot in NZ. Some require passing through farmers land...quietly...and has good info like weather to watch for sharks or seals or whatever. I followed this for the next three weeks, stopping where ever was working.
I stayed a while in New Plymouth. It has a great view of Mt Terynaki, where the last Samurai was filmed because of its likeness to Mt Fuji in Japan. I liked the city and the little downtown strip. I also changed my spark plugs on my van one Sat here. I thought it would be no prob...but little did I know that had to remove the drivers seat and the floor under it to get at the engine! I did it in a parking lot, I must have looked shady with my car parts scattered everywhere! I met a guy from California named Bryan while surfing on a New Plymouth beach Back Beach one morning. We ended up traveling together with our vans on a surfing convoy for a week or so. We scored some grreat waves in Opunake and all along Hyw 45, the surf Highway as its named. We said goodbye in Wellington and I stayed with some friends of mine here. I picked up a 4/3 steamer wetsuit here because the water was bloddy cold! My friends I had met in Laos at the start of my trip and in true Kiwi form they let me crash on their couch and I got rid of the 4 day no shower funk I was in.
Afterwards I went back north for the last week of my 3 week surf tour. I did not have the weather on my side this week, no favorable conditions on the west coast. The thing about surfing is its not like tennis, the playing field isn't all ways ready for you, even if you are ready for it! It forces you to look at weather patterns, swell charts and pay attention to tides! After a stop in Opunake I again went straight to Raglan cause it is such a swell magnet and I like the little Cambodian run Bakery there! I spent my last 4 days surfing here and picked up a used board for Jaclyn at one of the local shops as well. It had been 3 months since I had seen Jaclyn and almost 7 months since I had seen Holly! Needless to say I was pumped to see them when I went to pick them up in Auckland! The girls were just finished school for the year and I think equally as excited to get here! The lonely traveler aint so lonely any more! The girls were here! Me and Jaclyn have been on the road together for about 2 weeks 1 with Holly. I gave Jaclyn the laptop for this section of our trip......
"Here I am driving in Lou and Brandon suggested I write a little message about our travels here. Holly and I arrived in Auckland and had a great flight down sleeping most of the way here. The whether was a bit rainy our first few days, but that didn't stop our adventures from continuing on. Leigh was the first stop we made North of Auckland on the east coast to try out surfing for the first time. Brandon sure was patient as he gave Holly and I some basic tips on how to get standing on a board. I made it standing for the first time, but of course it didn't last long as the waves were very powerful. This whole surfing thing is a tough sport, but It's an awesome feeling when I get to ride a wave, even if it only last a few seconds!!
We camped out in a town called Whangmata and got to see some nice hot rods as there just happened to be the famous year round 'beach hop' where tons of restored vehicles spend the weekend cruising the streets. The sun started shining and we again headed out for another surf at the hot water beach. I decided to buy a wet suit so that I would be able to keep up to Brandon in the ocean as it is getting pretty cold in there. There was a really nice hike that we all did in Whangmata that we were able to view a beautiful waterfall. Then we dropped Holly off in the little town of Bethlehem, funny enough thats where she is teaching for three weeks. We said goodbye to her and headed south, going through the center, past Mt Ruapehu a volcano / ski resort (Mt Doom in the Lord of the Rings) to Wellington to catch the ferry to Picton on the South Island."
"We entered the south Island and instantly it seemed like a whole new world. There was vineyards everywhere and we decided to stop for a winery tour in Blenheim. It was just the two of us on a very interesting tour of the wine making process. We seen the large presses and the separating machinery that was used by this Montana winery. The tour ended with a little wine tasting of the different grapes grown in the region. We sat on a nice leather couch in front of a warm fire with a fluffy cat next to us as we tasted some of the finest wine in the area. Out next stop was along the coast line to see TONS of seals that were just relaxing in the ocean and along the rocks. I was just in shock....there was little babies swimming in the water and some huge seals sleeping on rocks. Brandon wanted a picture of one big seal and I think this seal just woke up from a nap because he was pretty grumpy as he gave Brandon a little hiss and snarl! The massive Southern Alps ran the length of the coast line where we drove to our next stop Kaikoura. This town had some amazing scenery where seals were living on the coast and the mountains made for some amazing views. It was here that we booked out trip to go swim with dolphins. These Dusky dolphins were explained to us as completely wild and we were told that if the dolphins were spotted we must be prepared to swim and play with them as they please. The dolphins were not enticed by any food, but the more playful we were the more the dolphins will likely stick around. The boat knew some main areas the the dolphins swam so as we approached the pod of dolphins we slid into the water with full wet suits ad snorkels and were encouraged to make 'dolphin like' sounds to attract them our way. We must have sounded hilarious as everyone made there own dolphin language up.......the dolphins must just stay around to laugh at how funny us humans sounded. We swam with at least 150 dolphins, and it was so amazing to look them in the eyes and swim in the water with such graceful creatures. The dolphins were all over jumping in the water and swimming circles around us, I never knew how beautiful and playful dolphins were until this moment. We have been really enjoying the South Island and Holly will be flying out to see us in Christchurch at the end of May. Cant wait! Its really amazing how different the two Islands are from each other"
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