Words of Wisdom

"An unhurried sense of time is in itself a form of wealth." - Bonnie Friedman

NZ: 55 Km Trek on the Northern Tip

Click for larger view. Pics by Dan and I.

I'll try to keep this short and sweet and in a format that keeps all the ADD folks happy...

Pick up English Dan at random backpackers in woods where he's been spearfishing and living in tent. Dan talks me into buying Hawaiian sling, mask, snorkel and fins with him.

Drive up to the Northland, leave The Van, Hitchhike to Spirits Bay with German kid who blows our first photo with finger over the lense.

Start the 55 Km hike along long beautiful empty beach. Sun out. Water blue. Backpack full of food for first night feast. Sand flies in full force... bastards. Lose sweatshirt somewhere along hike. Stupid.

Set up tent on beach. Get scared of high tide drenching us in our sleep. Move tent. Dig pointless trench. Hang all gear from overhanging tree. Treat creek water with disgusting chlorine tablets. Turn into 2 baboons trying to light fire. Finally start fire. Cook Balsamic Vinaigrette marinated steak, corn on the cob, giant potato and beans. Enjoy king sized meal. Sip Whiskey from newly purchased flask. High tide passes without incident, move tent back under tree.

See giant red and orange flaming ball of fire shoot across sky and break into smaller flaming pieces. Freak out for a while. Talk about it for next 4 days... possibly rest of life.

Insane Sunrise from tent. Coffee. Wish I had surfboard. Hike to Tapotupotu Bay. Take detour down possum trappers trail. Talk Dan out of "Just keep going and find out where we end up." Curse DOC for lack of good trail signage. Fix sign with sharpie. Make camp. Boil water for drinking. Ocean is warm. Spearfish my first fish. Dinner is served. Deliciousness! Question reasons why I have missed out on newly beloved sport for last 28 years. Sleep on sand again.

Coffee. Hike straight up. Hike straight down. Repeat for several hours. Laugh at the fact Kiwis don't believe in switch-back trails. Experience jaw-dropping vistas. Take pictures. Make it to Cape Rienga lighthouse. See Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean meet. Hot. Dry. Sunny. Sweaty. Meet couple from Ojai, CA of all places who throw us apple from pocket. Marvel at fact that 2 hours prior was telling Dan I would giving anything for juicy apple. Admire strange ways of universe.

Cross long empty beaches. Wish I had surfboard. Cross dunes. Find white snail fossils. Cross Twilight Bay Beach barefoot. Discover backpacking barefoot is moderately painful. Not a soul for miles. Set up camp. Dan tries to spear dinner at sunset. Too dark. Dan fails, almost gets swept out to sea, almost dies. Noodles and Miso Soup with mushrooms. Good fire. Finish last of whiskey. Dan dreams of babies peeing on him, I dream of fixing pavement around manhole covers. WTF?

Coffee. Hike to top of 90 Mile Beach. Long beach hike to Te Paki Stream. Hike up stream in mud and water. Admire giant sand dunes. Make it to civilization. Resist urge to pop giant blisters on feet. Eat giant ostrich burger and fries. Drink giant Steinlager. End of trek.

Drive to Taupo Bay. Have extreme paranoia about testing waterproofness of Olympus camera while spearfishing. Spearfish with camera. Dan gets 2. I get 1. Watch Dan pet and molest his ugly, gutted, pet Leatherjacket fish for too long. BBQ catch. Eat like kings. Drink whiskey. Absolutely destroy Dan in Dominos! Sleep like rocks.

Drive back to Auckland. Party until drop Dan off at airport at 3:00 AM. Drive 20km back to downtown to sleep. Get call from Dan: "Dude I left my sea shells in your car!" Call Dan a f-ing hippie. Agree to drive back to airport. Dan flies away to drink tea in Bahrain. The End.

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NZ: New Plymouth

I've got a home that doesn't have wheels now! Got a room with some cool flatmates and the place has amazing views... the Tasman Sea, Sugar Loaf Islands, port and downtown off the back deck and Mt Taranaki off the front porch... and can walk to downtown, or stumble home from downtown, depends on the time of day I guess.

Just got barreled off my ass for several hours the other day here in town... definitely in the running for the most tubes in one session... what a day! The grin will be on my face for a while...

We had our first dump on the mountain 2 days ago. This was the view off the front porch last night. Beautiful place!

Traveling = Time to Read

Here's what I've had my nose into over the past few months. I recommend all of these...

1. Kon Tiki - Thor Heyerdahl: Thor's true 1950's adventure across the Pacific on a Balsa wood raft to prove his theory that Pacific islanders migrated from South Am. A Classic. Quick read.

2. Mr. Nice - Howard Marks: Wow! This guy did some serious pot smuggling. Found this at a campground, entertaining read.

3. Endurance - Alfred Lansing: Amazing story! The true story of Ernest Shackleton's voyage to the antarctic gone wrong.

Currently reading:

A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson: Not sure why I haven't read this already, I like this kind of stuff. Lots of good info that I'll never need to know.

NZ: Raglan Round 3 - Oh Snap!... goes another board.

Pulled into the Manu Bay lot at about 1:00 am to crash out after a spur of the moment drive from the City of Sails. There were about 10 other cars parked, something was definitely brewing. Woke up to find some great barrels rolling in but they were starting a contest so I surfed up at Indies... along with the rest of the circus. The crowds here are a complete joke. I think this is my last Raglan session for a while.
Indies had some bombs. I bagged some keepers. Ended up snapping my new 6'5". Guess that's what happens when you try to pull out of a big one last second because there are a dozen people on the inside paddling right toward you with deer-in-the-headlight stares... without a clue. Arrrrgggghhhhhhh! On the bright side, my board bag just got lighter!
Here's the theory on the increasing crowds in the water:
I'm blaming the recession, nobody has jobs anymore so they just decide to swarm the line-up. Mr. Obama please do something about this!

NZ: Somebody please pinch me...

I must be dreaming...

Camped out at a pumping Right point.
Beautiful volcano in the distance.
Can't begin to count the number of waves I got this morning, or yesterday, or the day before, or the day before that.
Flip Flops.
Boardshorts.
Just cracked open an ice cold Tui.
The Van turned mobile art studio. (My Vart Studio?)
Painting a new shirt graphic for Billabong.
Waves still getting better by the minute.
Wind still offshore.
A big Kiwi ham and cheese sandwich waiting to be made (and devoured).
Wetsuit almost dry for an epic afternoon sesh.
Surrounded by good people.
Not sure where I'll be tomorrow.
No end in sight.

I think this moment just goes to show that what you keep in your thoughts will materialize. Might as well think of how to get to paradise right?

A BIG THANKS to all those who helped made, or are helping make, this adventure possible in one way or another. I am grateful.

NZ: Taranaki Gold Mine

At first I had the video at the end of this post but I thought we should start'er off with a bang. Good place to wake up eh?

So I left Raglan with Lenny and Lawrence and headed South towards Taranaki. We stopped at a place where you can dig a hole in the sand at low tide and it fills up with hot spring water (Not the famous and super crowded Hot Water Beach on the East coast). So we drank some beers in our personal hot tub and camped in the parking lot. Good times.

TARANAKI: Basically a giant half circle peninsula sticking out into the Tasman Sea off the West coast of New Zealands North island. It's a swell magnet for a wide variety of swell directions, 180 degree swell window! In the middle is a giant active volcano, Mt Egmont (or Mt Taranaki) which has a slope open in the winter. Legend has it that there is a decent wave somewhere in Taranaki everyday of the year. I'll be living in New Plymouth for the next 3 months, Taranaki's largest city and right on the beach. Population 'bout 70,000.

Fitzroy Beachbreak, New Plymouth in the background

So after a fun surf in Fitzroy I took off down the mosty unpopulated coast in search of some gold. Long story short... I got rich!

Classic Taranaki farm road with Mt Egmont looming over

On Friday I pulled up to a nice right point/reef break and ended up camping right on the bluff overlooking the point. I met Bert and Gaelle, a cool Belgian couple and then Pipjn, the funny Hollander I met in Raglan, showed up. For the next 4 days it was like we were in Vegas at an all-you-can-eat buffet, except the salad bar had a big tray of long, pumping, shallow Rights and if you walked over to the other side of the salad bar you could find a bottomless tray of low tide A-frame peaks with a fast bowling Right hander and a long Left that I could never find the end of. Apparently the salad bar extends quite a ways down the beach and if you're up for the walk, you can find and endless variety of toppings all to yourself. We gorged ourselves like greedy little piglets. My arms are done, my eyeballs are sunburned and I'm sweating pure sunscreen. Taranaki, I love you.

If you've already been here I'm sure you know, this place is unreal!

Rounding up the wagons

NZ: Raglan Round 2

Whale Bay - Raglan, looking pretty delicious

It's been a bit windy (with a slightly unfavorable direction) since I got back to Raglan but there have been some moments in the last few days well worth writing home about. There were a few fun days and I had the best sesh of my whole NZ trip so far. An evening up at Indicators with a handful of people out and a belly full of excellent fish & chips. It was my 3rd paddle out of the day and the first time the waves were good enough to surf this particular point(Raglan has 3 main points), which added to the magic I'm sure. The wind died. The sun was shooting rays in all directions from behind the clouds. The waves were absolutely pumping. Non-stop, solid overhead sets. I was drooling all over the place. And Kelda had her camera... unfortunately Erin and I ending surfing a bit farther up the point, it front of the sun and out of camera range, but she still got some beautiful pics of the evening.

How much fun does this look. Pic: Kelda

Indies - So good. Pic: KeldaSomebody with a nice little one on the inside. Pic: Kelda
Drooling after a good sesh. Pic: Kelda

Manu Bay

The Hair Cut... I forgot how it came up but Kelda was cooking dinner one night, think it was Falafel, and I asked if she wanted to feed me, she said only if she could shave my head because she apparently has some weird obsession(fetish?) with petting a freshly buzzed head. Little did she know I was planning on finding some clippers soon anyways and doing my self in. So... we both got what we wanted, and, she got a good sequence out of it.
Here's the now standard slideshow of some more pics...