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!