West of North

West of the North
Raglan & Hamilton

Only drove for 2 minutes before stopping to have a coffee at our usual spot in Taupo. The sun is out and it's hot already. There's a huge road cycling event in full swing now. The event that evicted us from our hostel as it was fully booked out by cyclists a year ago. No matter. We're off to Raglan. A destination I've been excited about. We booked 6 nights.

Not a big drive today. Only a couple of hours. We arrive in Raglan and we're surprised at just how small this small town is. We drove the entire thing in less than 30 seconds. As a course of habit, we get the sat-nav out to locate the hostel. Pointless in retrospect as there are only two roads. All the rooms of the hostel point inwards to a small, central courtyard to encourage everyone to mingle. Wetsuits are drying in the sun and surfboards are standing in racks. Nearly everyone is bare-foot. Some people are gently swinging in hammocks and others are lounging in the hot tub. There is a bohemian feel to the place. They make their own washing up liquid and laundry detergent from all-natural and sustainable ingredients and there are notices everywhere imploring you to use water and energy responsibly. How much better our world would be if everyone took a leaf from their book.

Just under an hour spent in the town and we really have seen everything now. We rent some surfboards and head to the beach in the late afternoon. The tide is coming in and there's a pretty big swell and they're breaking clean in a nice left-hander...whatever that means.

The sand is a dark graphite colour. We're told it's due to the rich iron content. No green waves for me yet. I'm destined to muck about in the white waves as they wash in, at least until I can stand. Something that wasn't achieved on that first day. Not through lack of determination though.

We attended a KASM (Kiwis against Seabed Mining) event on the Saturday. Someone who apparently owns the entire west coast of the North island is proposing to dig it all up to harvest the iron ore from it. It would destroy habitat of endangered species of whales and other sea dwelling creatures. It would also kill the surf and the tourism with it. The locals are understandably pissed off and we went to a 'gig' to donate and show our support. How does one person or cooperation come to 'own' such a mass of land and water anyway?

Another day of trying and failing to surf we decide to cut 2 days off our stay as there is so little to see and do other than half drown ourselves in the waves.

We did however take a kayak out to see some pancake rocks which was awesome.

On our last day and I tried surfing one more time and with a surfboard so big that it had it's own gravitational field, I did manage to stand up briefly a couple of times. I can see why people love it so much, but I just don't think it's my sport.

On to Hamilton

Even though it's only been 4 or 5 days, we are surprisingly relieved to be back in civilization again. Mari wants to go shopping and points to a huge shopping centre just a little North of the city. It looked like nothing on the map, so I practically insisted that we walk. It turned out to be over 10km and with a few stops here and there it took us over 3 hours to get there. Whoops. Still at least Mari was nice and tired, so the shopping part should be relatively short. More of the same on the second day. We had an epic Thai meal and got chatting to a local couple (Barbara & Jim) who were celebrating a 47 year anniversary. After talking to them for about a minute they were giving us their contact information and offering us a hot meal and a bed for the night if ever we needed it. Kiwi hospitality at its very best. A strange concept for a Brit. I can't imagine me ever offering my home out to people I just met, but it's the norm in this country.

Heading south we stop at Waitomo caves to see some rock formations and glow worms. Our tour guide also gave us his telephone number and offered for us to stay on his farm and have a second look around the caves on our own if we so wished.

Just one night in New Plymouth which was fortunate as it was the worst hostel yet. We were banished outside in a kind of garden shed. Spiders and other bugs were lurking around the building and an overgrown tree scrapped creepily against the windows when the wind blew.

Onwards and down to Wellington. A 353 km drive today. Won't get much else done.
We have 3 nights in Wellington before we catch the ferry over to Picton. We're really excited about having a whole new island to explore. Apparently the South is even more beautiful and friendly. We're in for a treat if that's even half true.