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 From
Auckland we drove north, aiming for Cape Reinga, the north-western
tip of New Zealand. On the way we enjoyed a good surf at Shipwreck
Bay. When we finally got to Cape Reinga we sat in the car
and watched a rain squall. Lovely! The next day was better
though, and after staying at an honesty
campsite and honestly appreciating it, we left to see
the rest of New Zealand.
Our
next surf was at Raglan. We spent 5 days there, and surfed
two of the three points. Whale Bay was good, but Manu
Bay was amazing. We scored it at 4-6 ft, and it was easily
one of the best waves that we surfed on the trip. The take
off is just superb. The only problem are the crowds. Even
on a weekday it's mobbed.
We
had a bit of car
trouble while we were in Raglan, but we got that fixed
pretty quickly. We left Raglan to celebrate Craig's birthday
in a multi-storey car park in New Plymouth with a carton of
wine and some beers. The plan was to go to the Taranaki region
and score some quality uncrowded waves. Unfortunately we didn't
get very good conditions while we were in the Taranaki area,
but we did get a couple of ok surfs at Opunake beach.
 While
we were at Taranaki it rained so much that we decided to look
for accommodation instead of camping. We scored it again,
and ended up getting to stay in a hostel that slept 14 but
had no-one else in it. Luxury. We built the biggest fire that
any of us had ever seen at Weld Road, Taranaki, and managed
to keep it going all night. It was probably the highlight
of our first visit to the area. As we weren't getting any
waves at Taranaki, we decided to go to Gisborne to get a surf
on the East coast, but were forced to turn back because the
road was closed. There were at least 40 landslides and we
nearly didn't make it back because of a flood. The rain was
so bad that we had coke bottles catching the water running
into the car along the roof rack straps.
 Normally
we pitched the tent wherever we could. The night before we
were due to catch the ship to South Island, we couldn't get
anywhere to put the tent up. We were in a suburb of Wellington
called Eastbourne, and were stuck without a campsite. For
the first time on the trip we decided to try sleeping out
under the stars on the beach. We woke up in the morning soaking
wet because of the dew. After building yet another fire and
drying out our clothes and sleeping bags, it was time to catch
the ship to South Island.
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