Scribbles Abroad

Raglan was amazing and we scored some of the best waves in our lives but the swell was fading and it was time to move on to our next adventure.  Our buddy Sam was heading to a beach clean-up on the Great Barrier Island located right off the eastern coast of the north island and he invited us to tag along.  This was the perfect opportunity to do something good for the environment and to explore yet another part of the county.  The ferry ride was subsidized by the group running the event, Sustainable Coastlines, which made the trip rather affordable.  We weren’t sure what the set up was going to be once we got to the island so we left our tent behind to lighten our load just in case we had to walk a bit.

Great Barrier Island or Aotea

We caught the ferry over early in the morning and after arriving on the island it was non-stop action.  We piled onto buses and were taken to the campgrounds to drop off our bags.  Then buses and boats dropped us off at different clean up spots throughout the island.  Some were taken by boat to remote parts of the island to clean, others got on kayaks to clean up hard to reach areas.  Working in small groups we cleaned the coastline pulling out old tires, cans, plastic bags and all sorts of other stuff.  After hours of work we bagged up the trash and ended up with a pile of garbage.  The islands were beautiful with lush greenery surrounding crystal clear water, it seemed almost tropical, if only it weren’t so cold.

Cleaning up the Aina, check Sam, working hard da buggah.

After a hard days work it was time to relax and have a little fun.  The buses took us back to the camping grounds and we noticed they had begun setting up for the after party they were throwing at the bar up on the hill.   Our original plan was to find some type of cheap accommodation but it was starting to get late and the campgrounds were right next to the bar so we decided we’d sleep right there on the nice big wooden porch surrounding the building with the bathrooms.  Sounds gross, I know, but it was actually a pretty nice set up and a good distance from the bathrooms.   Well that night these Sustainable Coastline people threw an all out rager, complete with NZ$3 (so like $1.5) beers and a DJ.  By the end of the night the place was packed and people were beginning to really cut loose.

Sam and Louise dual shake-face with the bar on the hill in the background.

Kahi invented a new shake-face, the reverse shake-face.  You shake your head up and down instead of side to side.  Pretty amazing!

The party was winding down and people began stumbling to their tents to pass out.  We made our way to our sleeping zone on the porch and pulled our surfboards out of our boardbag.  Yep that’s right we slept in our boardbag.  It was cold but other than that it was surprisingly comfortable.  This drunk dude passed out right next to us in the middle of the night, he didn’t wake me up (thank god for ear plugs!) but woke Kahi up.  He told me the guy was right by our heads and he had to whack him with our surfboard leash to wake him up to get him to move.  The next morning we found him passed out around the corner face down on the ground nose smashed into the wood planks.  It couldn’t have been very comfortable.

Our boardbag nest

The next morning was a little rough but nothing cures a hangover better than taking a lovely stroll through the forest and soaking in a natural hot spring.  We hopped in a van and they dropped us off at the entrance to the hot springs.  It was only a 20 minute walk to the hot spring, but it felt like forever.  The hot spring was more like a hot stream which wound through the forest, there were a couple of different pools to relax in and the water temperature was nice and hot.

The path leading to the springs

A view of the main pool for soaking.

It was time to head back to Auckland but it was a hard to leave the island.  There was still a lot to see and the locals spoke of some good surf too.  We’ll be back some time again (hopefully in their summer) to check it all out.

Back at the camp we invented a game while waiting for a ride back to the ferry.  You walk on a log and try to knock the other person off first.  Highly entertaining!

Back in Auckland we said good bye to Sam as he was headed to Fiji and then on to Tavarua (check him out at www.gosambo.com).  We wished him the best and thanked him for meeting up with us.  Its always a pleasure to see a familiar face and cruise with a good friend.  Plus we wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to go to the beach clean up with out him, thank Sam!

Our next stop was the adventure capital of New Zealand, Rotorua.  If you want to bungee jump, mountain bike, zorb, sky dive, or do one of the many other attractions, Rotorua is where you want to be.   Rotorua is also known for its geothermal activity, with numerous geysers, bubbling mud pools, and many hot mineral springs.  Most of the activities were rather expensive so we decided to choose one and save the rest for another time.  It was an easy choice, we were going Zorbing!

Zorbing is where they put you in the middle of a big bouncy ball and roll you down a big hill.  There were two different ways you could Zorb either the original dry Zorb or the new hydro Zorb.  I chose to go with the dry Zorb because it was cold and I didn’t really feel like freezing my butt off.  In the dry Zorb you’re strapped in by a chest and ankle harnesses.  Its a little strange.  Then they roll you down a straight hill.  I went upside down a ton of times and got really dizzy.  You definitely don’t want to do this if you’re hung over, you’ll puke for sure.  Kahi was next, at first he was going to do the same but everyone else was hydro Zorbing so he changed at the last minute.  In the hydro Zorb you’re not strapped in and they throw in a bucket of hot water so you slosh around every where.

Here’s the dry Zorb.  I’m in there flipping around and getting dizzier by the second.

Here comes Kahi in the hydro Zorb going down the zig-zag path.  In the hydro Zorb you’re not strapped in and can freely move around but you don’t really get flipped upside down.

It was really cold in Rotorua and we wanted to take advantage of the geothermal activity by soaking it up in the hot springs for the rest of the day.  We scored and found this place where if you camped there you could use their thermal pools for free.  This place was amazing!  There were about 6 different pools ranging in temperature and size.  The area was beautifully landscaped and made for a truly relaxing retreat.

Our camp site at the Waikite Thermal Wonderland

The thermal pools

Right down the street were a few mud pools.  They were extremely hot and you couldn’t go in them but they were pretty cool to watch.

We fell in love with the thermal pools and found it hard to leave.  There’s nothing like waking up in the freezing cold and jumping in a nice hot spring.  I think we could have spent more time there but our surfing bug was starting to itch.  So we met up with Ricky and Marcia to go on a little road trip down to Taranaki or as they call it “Taradise” to get a few waves.

Mt. Taranaki, yup it was cold!

The conditions weren’t really working with us and Taradise wasn’t really doing her thing.  We did get some fun surf but man was it cold.  I kept looking back at Mt. Taranaki, seeing its snowy cap and thinking “this is just wrong”

We spent the evenings cooking yummy meals

Uno!  We played that the winner got to make up something for the losers to do.  Either get the next round of drinks or something like that.  Kahi won a round and had us do this silly pump thing with the 6 minute ab machine.  It was hilarious!

The weekend flew by and Marcia and Ricky needed to head back to Auckland.  Originally we were going to head towards Gisborne in search of surf but the drive would have taken too long and we didn’t have much time left.  Instead we headed back north stopping in the small town of Kawhia.  Earlier in our Trip we met some travelers who told us about the hot springs of Kawhia and said we had to check it out if got the chance.  These hot springs were right on the beach and around low tide you could dig a hole in the sand and create your own private hot spring pool.  We borrowed a shovel from the local mechanic and made our way to the beach.  The spring was a little harder to find than we thought.  I figured it’d be a large area of hot water but instead they were smaller hot springs in a few areas.  In order to find them you had to dig your foot into the sand and feel around for the hot spots.  At first we couldn’t find them and it was a little discouraging.  We finally found them and began digging.  The water was really hot!  Just about the same temperature as the thermal pools back in Rotorua.  The nice thing about this town and the hot springs is that not too many tourist know about them.  We had the place to our self besides a couple of local families.

Hot springs of Kawhia.  Digging the hole was the hardest part but its well worth it.

Kiwi fruit trees or vines or whatever you want to call them.

The drive back to Auckland was only another couple hours and we were back in the comfort of Nat and Kyle’s nice cozy home.  It was really nice to sleep in a bed and to be warm.  I love being warm!  A couple weeks back when we were freezing our booties off we decided to cut our New Zealand trip a little short and spend some time in Samoa.  One of Kyle’s friends had just gone and scored some sick waves and told us all about it.  The tickets were cheap and just like that we were going to Samoa.  We had a couple days before we were leaving and we spent most of the time packing and getting ready but we did go for a couple last surf sessions right out side of Auckland.  We scored!  As we got closer to the beach we saw a reeling left and the best part about it there were only three guys out.  By the time we paddled out there the waves went to crap and the three guys paddled in.  It was just us.  Then she turned back on and the waves were better than ever.

Beach right out of Auckland

Sick left!

And another

This guy and his friends were kite fishing.  They use a kite to pull the line out past the shore break.  They had just reeled in a bunch of big snappers.

New Zealand was treating us really well and giving us lots of sick waves but getting motivated to surf is more difficult when the water is cold and you need to put on a freezing wet wetsuit.  We were very much so looking forward to Samoa especially because Ricky and Kyle got time off and were coming with us.  It would be their first surf trip out of the country and their first time surfing in warm tropical water wearing nothing but boardies.  Yoohooo!  No more wetsuits!