NZ: Piha

Piha on the West coast was fun. Ended up staying 5 nights or so. The waves were good so it was hard to leave... and why bother, it's not like I had anywhere to be. However, I wasn't aware that Piha has a liquor ban and they don't sell any at the small mini-mart there.... lame. You have to drive 40 minutes back to the nearest store. So I was sober most of the time except for the occasional beer at the local Bowling Club (Bowling is different here... it's kinda like Bocce Ball and played outside) and Brenda let me in on some of her white wine.

Extremely fun waves with 2-3 sessions a day, the place works on all tides and there's ton's of good bars and reefs up and down the beach.

A meal fit for a king, I've been gorging myself!

Here's some more pics of the place and the waves in this nifty slideshow....

NZ: Warm Waves, Warm People

This place is unreal! I wasn't expecting the weather to be this tropical and the water to be this warm. Trunks in January on both North East and North West coasts? Are you kidding me? Ha!

Taupo Bay Sunrise - go here!Beach AccessDid I hop on a flight to the Bahamas?

I made it back to the ranch alive... spent the last week just camping out and exploring all the little nooks and crannies around Northland. One minute you could be in the middle of a rain forest, the next you could be looking at 400 foot high sand dunes or stumble out onto a deserted white sand beach. If there's onshore winds on one coast, drive to the other side and it's offshore. Rad!

Mangawai Heads... not working.

So I Started out at Mangawai Heads, not happening but saw the potential. Then posted up for a couple days in Taupo Bay and scored some fun waves. It's a secluded little bay with crystal clear water and giant, lush cliffs around it. Went up to the tip top of the country and back down the west coast... the famous Shippwrecks Bay was flat but I got beach near Dargaville pretty fun.... long, headhigh, A-Frame, mushy sandbar waves.

Large native Kauri Tree... wish you could see how big (and old) this really is.

Campsites here are a lot different than in the states. First of all I haven't paid more than $9 US to camp anywhere (that won't even get you an extra vehicle pass in the states), they all have clean stainless steel kitchens with microwaves, fridges, stoves, 4 or 5 sinks, laundry, internet, nice showers and most of them don't charge for hot water. And the owners at Taupo even invited me up for dinner and wine on their deck... fresh fish and basil stuffed portabellos if you're wondering. Delicious! It throws you off how nice people are here... almost too nice.
So The Van (AKA Betsy II) is awesome but will need to have the inside completely overhauled. 2 layers of carpet don't go well with the wet and damp surfing/camping lifestyle. I thought it would nice to have an icechest with a drainplug at the bottom, WRONG! Take a long, bumby dirt road, add one leaky icechest drainplug topped with a scoop of wet boardshorts and a dash of damp towels then bake at 85 degrees for one week and voila! - Moldy Death in A Van-Cake!

The Stinky Van - look closely and you can see the leaky blue culprit just sitting there... leaking!

I just got some astroturf at the store. We'll see how it does.

And just so you know, I'm the official Gumboot Throwing Champion of the NZ Campervan Club for the month of February. Yep. Took gold. So what if it's one of the dullest, stupidest games ever played? I won so good they named a street after me...
Next stop... Piha to Raglan!

New Zealand: Auckland and beyond

Well, well, well, I'm finally here. The land of the long white cloud... actually it's been hot, humid and sunny and it feels a little like Cost Rica where you get that thin coat of slime on your skin. I love it. I'll be calling this country home for a year.

The 12 hour flight was relatively painless. I watched 3 movies (one was "W." - so glad that idiot is gone!), got served free New Zealand Chardonnay, and fell asleep listening to the sexy accents of the Kiwi stewardesses. I don't know what it is but when I hear a kiwi girl talk my body goes limp and I start drooling all over myself. Not the best first impression I know. Funny thing is a day later I'm walking down the street in Auckland and a car stops in the middle of the road, a blond girl stares at me, takes her sunnies off for a better look and starts screaming and pointing... it was one of the stewardesses, then she invited me for drinks. Ha! And so I hear that's the way shit goes down in New Zealand. Friendlyness squared.

On Saturady I picked up some hot wheels at the weekend car swap from a couple Brits. A '93 Nissan Caravan DX!! Pictures to come soon.. I'm waiting until I pimp my ride a little more, then I'll do a photoshoot in a proper NZ setting. And driving on the other side of the car on the other side of the road is absolutely nuts! Add a stick shift to the equation and you've got yourself a scary good time.

Right now I'm staying at a family friends place out NW of Auckland. They are super nice! 10 acres with horses, donkey, pig (see picture of Sophie below) alpacas, cats, dogs, pond with island... the whole bit. The home cooking and solar heated pool is definietly a plus. The view has the famous Auckland Sky Tower and a nearby island volcano in the distance. Pretty good gig. (Rebekah and Renny, you guys rock!) And I got a chance to clean out the van and wash some stuff before I go rogue for a while up the East coast to find some supossed swell that's coming to meet me for a barrel or three.