Salt of the Middle-Earth
Bali to Melbourne, Melbourne to Auckland, and bam, I’m in New Zealand. Flying is funny, you basically just hang out in what amounts to an uncomfortable movie theatre for how ever many hours until they kick you out, then you’re there. It still blows my mind sometimes.
North Island
A solid swell was set to hit Raglan, New Zealand’s famous left-hander, so I made my way there.
Raglan
I got to Raglan the night before the swell was supposed to fill in. I expected to see some frontrunners, but it was pretty small. I paddled out to get a few waist highs and to get reacquainted with my wetsuit.
The swell filled in the next morning, and it was pumping. Lines stacked up to the horizon and wrapped along the fog-ridden point:
I got a couple long lumpy lefts. Actually, I earned a couple long lumpy lefts. There was a lot of water ripping down the point, and the lineup was a treadmill.
The treadmill flung this guy into the middle of the bay. This is through the telephoto, he was wayyy out there and clearly in trouble:
Someone launched their jet-ski and scooped him up:
More of the same for the evening session:
The swell stuck around for a couple days. I got some fun surfs in, but it never totally came together. The wave was pretty fat at high tide, and the wind kept coming up when the tide dropped out. Chuck in the arm-burning current plus a solid crowd, and I was over Raglan by the time the swell started to fade.
Minimalist Camping
It’s peak tourist season in New Zealand right now, meaning every hotel, motel, and Holiday Inn is either booked up or outrageously expensive. In some of the more remote coastal areas I’ve been, roofed accommodation doesn’t even exist. Thankfully, New Zealand’s camping infrastructure is top notch. I picked up an air mattress, a blanket, and a pillow and domesticated the back of the wagon:
Wish I had sprung for a ‘Beach This Way ->’ sign or similar decor.
Without cooking gear, I’ve restricted my diet to meals that don’t require heat. Former Whitwell residents will recognize this one:
The only thing left to figure out was the caffeine addiction, how to get my fix without access to boiling water? Cold brew baby.
There’s a crazy amount of daylight here right now, it’s light until 10pm in some spots. This is very conducive to the minimalist camping lifestyle because I can just wait until 9 or 10, roll up to a budget (~$10) campsite, perform a quick wagon conversion, and pass out. It’s also great because I can put off planning where I’m going to stay that night until the sun’s almost down. As a pants’ seat flyer who’s contending with ever-shifting surf forecasts, this works out great.
Coromandel Peninsula
I left Raglan after a lackluster morning session and made the drive across the North Island to the Coromandel Peninsula on the east coast. I greeted a different swell in a different ocean at a different lefthand river mouth:
This wave was a lot fun, I surfed it a couple times over the next few days, sprinkling in a few sessions at the beach break on the other end of the beach.
Rental cars got ridiculously expensive all of the sudden on the North Island. I wanted to extend my rental and stay a bit longer but it wasn’t possible, so I booked a flight to Christchurch where the cars were cheaper.
South Island
I got my new car and stayed the night in Christchurch. It seemed like a cool little city, I think I’ll try to spend some more time there before I fly out.
I also picked up a tent and a sleeping bag for the purported cold and rain of the South Island.
There’s not much info available on surfing the South Island. A lot of it either seems unchartered, or charted but unpublished. It was going to have to be an exploratory endeavor. I decided to make my way to the west coast where there was at least supposed to be some swell.
Greymouth via Arthur’s Pass
Arthur’s Pass is as scenic as a drive can be:
Greymouth is aptly named, it seems to be stuck in an eery overcast state. There also wasn’t much swell in the water.
This is by far the worst wave I’ve surfed all trip.
This little wedge had potential, just needed more size.
I stayed the night in a ‘campground’ directly behind a gas station, almost an extension of the gas station parking lot. It actually ended up being a fun spot to stay.
Uncovering a Series of Mushburgers
I drove north in search of waves. I checked tens of beaches and river mouths, unveiling gutless break after gutless break. I was beginning to lose hope.
At least it was getting steadily sunnier the further north I got.
Declining population in paradise.
Eventually I stumbled upon yet another river mouth left. Finally, a wave breaking with purpose:
It was small but fun. The setup is really cool, for whatever reason there’s a lump of rocks sitting in the mouth of the river. The lump gets barely covered at high tide, creating a ledgy running left. I’m sure this wave has it’s day.
Conveniently, there’s an amazing campground right in front of the wave, it even has a pizza oven. I posted up for a couple nights and got a few more sessions at the left.
My pizza seemed to burn the instant I went to take this picture. You can also probably see that I didn’t sweep out all the ash before I excitedly slapped my pie in the oven. A total botch job, but still a welcomed change from all the cold meals.
Greymouth Redemption
The wind was set to swing to the north, and the swell was supposed to bump up. That wedge back in Greymouth could handle the north wind, and I was eager to see what it’d be like with some more swell. I rolled the dice and made the two and a half hour drive back into the grayness to give it a look. I drove up to this:
Fuck, what a session. A pod of stark blue dolphins hung out in the lineup. The snowcapped mountains barely peeked out above the line of mist. Wedge after wedge rolled through. There was only one other surfer and two boogs on it, and they were all super welcoming. I got some insane ones. I surfed until dark then went back to the gas station campground to pass out. The next morning was even better:
These were two of the best sessions of my trip so far. Greymouth won my heart, cold mist, gas station campground, and all.
What’s Next
I’m going to keep exploring the South Island. The wind forecast looks pretty tough the next few days so I think I’ll check out some of the mountains and parks along the west coast. I’ve heard there are some good waves on the south coast so I’ll probably head that way.