DOD -9. The surf roadtrip.
It was a Monday, Wilson and I packed a whole bunch of surfboards, some food, wetsuits, sun cream, etc.. and set off North for the beaches of Raglan and Piha - which i'd visited the week before. Some swell was supposed to be hitting the beaches of West coast of the North Island and so the two of us decided to go find it. Raglan was again found to be somewhat more akin to a lake than an epic break so we continued North to Piha, and it's Lion Rock. Wilson's parents have a beach house, also termed 'bach', out there. Joined by one of his mates, Richard, we had a nice bbqed bit of beef and some beers to finish off a long day of ... driving.
DOD -8. Piha, and localism.
The next day, we woke up in Piha, determined to get some surfing in. So we had a look at the beach and sure enough, some waves were there, accompagnied by about 30 surfers. Undeterred by the crowd we jumped in and tried to find waves of our own. That's when I found out how to act like an aggressive local. It goes as follows:
If someone you don't know tries to catch a wave on which you have right of way. You catch it, rip the crap out of it, paddle back to the unlucky surfer and with an arm around his shoulder you say:
local - 'you like Piha?'
me - 'eh? what?'
local - 'you like surfin' Piha?'
me - 'err, yep'
local - 'well don't do that again!...'
and then you paddle away, with the sun reflecting off the numerous tattoos on your back. This is localism. Localism is used to describe almost all beaches in the world in so far as you have to respect the locals or they get aggressive.
Well, in my defence, I didn't do anything (I never do ;) but i would've liked to catch that wave...). Anyway, after deciding the conditions weren't that amazing, we set off South again to Raglan, determined to find some waves to surf in that legendary spot.
DOD -7 Flat Raglan, Epic Ruapoke.
We returned to Raglan, stayed with Wilson's grandmother, cooked her a nice meal, and had another look at the waves. No mucho going on, so we hung around the surf shops until eventually, Wilson decided to spend a bunch of dollars on a longboard. After our heavy investment his shop, the owner told us about a spot down the coast which would be 'pumpin'.. Ruapoke.
Flat Raglan, Ruapoke beach and a happy surfer.
After a 30 minute ride on a dusty, rocky, sinuous track, we spotted the good lookin waves on a desert beach and the rest is history. The best surf session I've had... ever. Baskin in the glory of the session, we could finally return, victorious to New Plymouth, where the surf had been good but not 'that good'.
DOD -6 Thursday was quite uneventful, went for a run. A surf, then a few quiet drinks in celebration of Tom's return from another set of interviews in UK. The drinks lasted til quite late for those of us who weren't working the next day.
DOD -5 Woke up next morning feeling a little worse for wear, went for a 7 am run with Shands (my replacement in the house) as planned. To show him the Huatoke walkway, which is a nice track that follows an eponymous stream uphill for about 40 minutes. Needless to say I wasn't really up to it, and so after providing directions, I turned back halfway, wondering how the next day's big run would go. In the evening, I had an entertaining dinner with Deon and Alete (the Gouws daughter and son-in-law), who gave me some good Marathon training tips. They were also running the next day as preparation for the Rotorua Marathon in a few months time.
DOD -4 The half-marathon
Billy Conolly argues that there is no such thing as a Half Marathon, it's either a Marathon or it isn't. I'd probably have to agree. I ran the second half of the Moutain to Surf Marathon as part of a relay team (of 2).
I'd forgotten to pick up the race pack the day before, so set off without a bib or race number, but ultimately felt pretty good throughout the race and finished in 1h37min59sec or 1h37. Deon and Alete had unfortunately slept in and did not make the race on time, but kindly met me at the finish, which was a wonderful surprise. John Atkinson, a surgical registrar who i'd been on a long run with, finished in 3h55min. A useful target then...
In the evening, we had a 'sancos is leaving bbq' at our house on Hine St. It lasted til late, it was good times, and a nice way to say goodbye to some of the people I'd met over the past 4 months. I also invited Pepe, a Spanish guy, who was keen to buy Simon - the van. No transaction took place in the state we were in so we made a plan to meet the next day.
DOD -3 Chill, golf, cow's bday, camping
The next day was predictably slow, especially while Olly and I spent about 3 hours with Pepe as he proceeded to check every single little part of the van, from the mudguards to the ventilation at the back of the van. I supposed he did it correctly but it seemed to take forever, especially given my relatively low asking price. After all that he agreed to buy the van... once his driver's license arrived from Spain - which could be the next day or in two weeks time... Moving on swiftly.
In the evening, the Hine St crew were invited to a hearty meal at Lonestar which serves disgustingly large portions of delicious Western-style food. After which we took Simon and another car for a camping trip to a beach a little ways south of NP. The plan was to be there, when, in the morning, the waves would be perfect. But it turns out the waiting, making a fire, playing guitar and talking was way more fun than than the actual surf in the morning.
DOD -2 Taranaki Anniversary Day
We woke up to find average conditions at sea, so we made a breakfast on the fire. Bacon, eggs, toast and beans, with some brewed coffee as well. It was a true test of ingenuity, but we all ate something in the end.
We then went all the way back to NP via most beaches, where we ended up surfing one of the town breaks, Fitzroy Beach. The waves were quite big and difficult to get to. But Idris managed to get some awesome pictures, mainly because he's got a new awesome camera, a Canon Digital SLR that could make anything look like a picture from a magazine.
The round was most notable for erratic play by all involved but, somewhere in the 56 strokes I took, I managed to chip in for a par at one stage.
The house then had a very jovial 'last supper' at the house, which expectedly ended with some late conversations and 'just-one-more' beers.
DOD -1
We woke up the next morning, very woozy headed. I dragged myself out of bed, and went to the tax office to try to reclaim some taxes. Then met up with Pepe to see if driver's license had arrived. Nope. So moved on to the very important task of packing the surfboards for travel. This was mostly done by Tom and Idris in the end, as they 'expertly' put as much bubble wrap around the boards as possible and taped the whole thing up together. Caught the plane to Auckland, which took all of 35 minutes. Left some luggage at the aiport and stayed with the Gouws who cooked me a feast and helped me make some sense of my time in Enzed.
DOD -0
Got up at 4:45 am, caught the taxi to the airport, didn't have to pay a dime to add the surfboards to my luggage, and then spent about 36 hours traveling (on schedule) to get back to London. This included about 8 hours in a t-shirt, trousers and jandals in the fridge, also known as Hong Kong Airport, where everything seems to cost hundreds of dollars - HK dollars.
DOD +2
Well i'm in the flat in London, saw Holly yesterday, who's been doing work experience at the Great Ormond St Children's Hopistal during her spring break. Stayed up all of yesterday to right my body clock, but woke up at 3 am, took half a diazepam or something, and woke up at 1 in the afternoon today...
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