The past 3 days have been a bit of a whirlwind.
I left Melbourne on the 31st March, after spending an amazing week with my top Aussie girl Cathy. We headed off to the south coast to surf (some albeit small waves) down at Bells beach, Apollo Bay and Torquay, travelling along the Great Ocean Road through South Victoria. We swam in secret waterfalls, visited her dad’s beautiful farm in the outback near Chepstowe and saw some of small-town Oz. Although the waves were lame, the views, experiences and places were so beautiful, and a real treat to have my own personal guide to show me around!
A big thank you to Cathy for putting up with my grumpy moods when the waves were shitty, I’m no sure my patience would have been so good if the shoe had been on the other foot! Anyway, it was crappy having to say good bye at the airport the other day, after having such a nice time together, but I am sure that we will meet up again in the future! So thanks again for being so kind and showing me the best bits of Victoria, gonna miss ya loads!
So on to NZ!
To sum up my first night in New Zealand, all I can say is pile of shit! Not beacause NZ is shite, but because I managed to leave one of my bags on the airbus on the way to the hostel. Might have been something to do with me being forgetful, but also maybe the 3 bottles of red I had on the plane. I arrived to my room to find myself one bag short! What made it worse was my bag had all the video footage of all the places I have been to so far, all my electronic cables for cameras, laptop etc, cd’s and some nice sarongs from Bali.
I had a really shitty night’s sleep and kept myself up all night worrying about whether someone would be honest enough to hand it in to the police. I had probably my first “oh fuck this I want to be home, or at least have someone to comfort me”, rather than alone in my hostel room feeling down and out! But I guess that was one of those testing moments that life throws at you, or something!
As it turned out I awoke the next day to a sunny Auckland cityscape and to the fact that my bag had been handed in! Feeling refeshed and relieved, I headed back to the airport to pick it up as well as my hire car! I then made the 250+ km journey up to the Northland to Keri Keri, in the Bay of Islands. The landscape is so diverse here, one minute you are driving through farmland, the next pine forest, the next it is all sub-tropical and funky shit! What a cool drive in my Daewoo 1.6L surf mobile, tunes pumping, chocolate milked to the eyeballs, all good!
Today I headed out with Nigel for a mini tour of the local area, stopping back off home for some lunch! This arvo I headed back to Matauri Bay for a late arvo surf! The conditions had the potential to be great, a strong offshore wind, clean waves, although the swell just wasn’t there, maybe 2 ft at the most!
So in the morning I am heading a little further up north to Taupo Bay, where the increased exposure should hopefully kick up some bigger waves!
Now that I am back to spending most days on my own, surfing and passing through new landscape, it gives you time to reflect on the people you have met, the things you have seen, what you are doing now, what comes next etc. I am thinking about maybe doing a working visa next year, maybe OZ or NZ, anything to escape the monotony of London life!
Anyway time to hit the hay, early start tomorrow, more pictures to be taken, more video to shoot, and more waves to search for and ride!
To all the special people in my life, I love you all!