Between Swells: January 2011

Road Trip #1:

Laura and I ventured off to Bayleys Beach for a surf with the boys from Sandy Bay. From there we drove up the west coast to the famed Shipwrecks Bay in Ahipara to take a look at the area. We had a little taste of driving up 90 Mile then camped in town for the night. The next day the waves were still flat on the bay so we headed off to the east coast to do a little exploring. The bays are very beautiful up there and the roads are windy as. We made are way to Elliot Bay and found a nice wave for the afternoon. From there we drove down to Sandy Bay where we set up camp for the night. To our surprise, as the sun set and the moon rose, we were treated to a lunar eclipse on the beach with just the two of us out and glass of wine in hand. Pretty special and another one for the books.

Christmas:

Fun filled day of family, gifts, champagne and food. We had a salt brine turkey and a large crayfish amongst other things for dinner. Laura and I managed to have a mid day surf. Small but special being Christmas day.

Road Trip #2

Pauline, Laura and myself jumped in our car for a quick road trip down the east coast towards Auckland. I had a couple surf spots to check out in the Magawhai/Te Arai area and Pauline gave us a tour of some of the places. Pauline made a call to some friends in Sandspit where we showed up on their farm and spent the night. Great people and they had tons of different things growing. We also slept in a WWOFF hut. Google that one. The next morning we packed up and headed back to Ngunguru after stopping at Goat Island and some other beaches.

New Years:

A nice dinner was had before we headed over to Simon's for a bevy, then to Shnappa Rocks in Tutakaka which was pumping. Loud music and tons of people. Laura and I had fun and managed to know a few people at the bar. We left around 2am and somehow got in a cab back to our place.

Road Trip #3:

With the festivities over, Pauline, Laura and I headed off on a road trip. We drove up to Cape Reigna which is the most northern part of NZ . The Pacific collides with the Tasman Sea and we got to witness it from high above. The tip of NZ is also at the upper part of 90 Mile Beach (which is actually approx. 64 miles). We found the entrance down a river and got the AWD of the Subi rocking. Ripping along the sand at 100km/hr was way too much fun. We had the music blasting (dance party for sure) and the windows all the way down. We stopped at the bluff and watched a guy pull in a 1.25 meter shark out of the water. We then drove south about 1/2 a km, I saw a nice bank and had a surf while the girls had a picnic lunch with only a few cars rolling by and nothing but ocean and sand. The drive was honestly a blast - something to put on the bucket list. We drove the 90 from top to bottom on an open sandy road. I would relate it to driving a boat where a general direction is all you have to worry about. Some donuts may have been made but who would know?! We arrived in Ahipara for our third time now and still no waves. Although, there was signs of it. We stayed in Ahipara Hotel which had great views over the bay and great owners that Pauline knows. Next day we drove to the east coast up to the Keri Keri Peninsula and then drove into Maungonui and had some killer fish and chips. We picked up Claudia from here where she was sailing the past week and had a little cruise around the harbour in a yacht. From there we did a short drive through Keri Keri and made our way back to Ngunguru.

Road Trip #4

After spending over a month in Ngunguru, Laura and I decided to do our last major road trip. Our first stop was Auckland to meet up with Jess who worked with Laura at VANOC who we also met in Costa. We went a Longboard competition at Piha and I snuck in a surf session on the north side of the rock. We went out one night in Auckland and then headed off to the Coromandel. We got hooked up with an amazing spot on the hill in Whungapoa where we camped for ten days. A big swell hit and we did some exploring around the peninsula.

The main highlight of our trip to the Coromandel and even a highlight of our entire travel happened at Hot Water Beach. We showed up for a little surf at Hot Water, nothing special but worth getting wet. It ended up just being Laura and I in the water waiting for some waves when off in the distance, I saw a fin rushing towards the beach. I crapped my suit a little, warned Laura but soon calmed down as I realized the fin was too massive to be a shark. Instead, the fin was from a giant killer whale/orca. Without notice, one was about 3 meters from me in the water doing circles and taking a breath of air. Laura and I both stayed very calm and observed as this massive creature glided through the water. A set wave rolled in and the orca caught the wave right behind us and we could see it clearly in the wave, in its entirety, as it raced down the line. At that point we paddled out of the water in fear of disturbing the great beast. On the beach lots of people came over to talk about our experience and that's when it all started to set in to what had just happened. It was truly amazing.

Another amazing find was the coffee in Kuaotunu. We managed to go there almost every day for a cup of the black stuff and check a few emails. We had a great time in the Coromandel and are now back up in Ngunguru where I think we will be spending the rest of our days before we take off.

SURF:

Sandy Bay

We have been surfing a lot and most of it has been at Sandy Bay. Laura has doubled in performance if not more and has been impressing me and the boys on the beach. There has been a wave everyday and like all spots it has its moments. We have both scored some fun waves.

Bayleys Beach
One of my best sessions to date was here. Bayleys is one of those beaches that mostly has a violent beach break with rips and strong currents. We showed up with a bunch of guys from Sandy Bay and it was three to four foot waves with gorgeous offshore winds. Laura, not so comfortable, stayed on the beach happy with her book. It was firing A frame waves and I just had a blast. Big turns, fast speed, and a couple cover-ups made it all amazing.

Forestry/Te Arai Point

Surfed this spot twice. First time was on our first Pauline road trip and it was pumping. It was a solid four foot and firing. The left was sometimes lining up and I had a blast. Laura and Pauline hung out for an hour under cover, having wine and laughs while I ripped it up. The second time Laura and I showed up before going to Auckland. It was a smaller swell in the two foot range. We had a lot of fun with some cheeky ones coming through.

Elliot Bay

On a heavy onshore day we pulled up to find the hills and valleys wrapped the wind and made it offshore here. Beautiful bay with one to three foot waves. We both had a lot of fun. The funny part was this is the first time there was localism. The locals were these two kids in the water and they were trying to block me off the waves. Didn't affect me - more amusing than anything else.

Piha
With the longboard comp on the best waves i capitalized on the north end of the rock which was heavy but fun. Slabs would rip down the line.

Muriwai
Smaller swell on the west coast is good for beach breaks. There was a nice offshore blowing but a lot of current. Laura and I drifted around and caught a few fun waves here.

Whungapoua
A very finicky beach break that changes by the hour. We were there every day and every day it was different. When the big swell finally showed up we got some decent waves and Laura once again stepped up her game and dropped into some bigger waves.

Kuaotunu Reef
A gem in the Coromandel and one of those waves that only works a few times a year. It was well overhead and just an amazing right. The only issue was the rocks. On one of the bigger set waves, as I was running down the line, rocks would pop out of the face of the wave. It made it a whole other kind of surf experience. A favorite wave I've surfed so far and the added bonus was the coffee spot down the road when I got out of the water. Great wave and great coffee.

Hot Water Beach
We did not score good waves but we surfed with orcas which made it an amazing experience.

SHIPWRECK BAY!!!!!!

I went to this spot 4 times and was unlucky 3 out of the 4 times. However, on the way home from the Coromandel I got a text saying it was going to be firing. I woke up 5 AM and got there around 7:30 AM which turned into the most epic back hand session. It was going to high tide when I arrived and we were unable to drive around the point so we surfed the bay at first. It was firing two to four foot lefts and we all killed it for two hours. Still frothing we ate some food and allowed the tide to drop so we could drive around. When we got to peaks it was starting to shape up. We checked out some of the other points but ended up choosing peaks. My first wave was two to three hundred meters long. It was head high and just amazing. Wave after wave it just kept going. I surfed my brains out and so did all the boys I went with. It is, to this day, the best lefts I have ever surfed. We all left with crazy stoke. I am drooling just thinking about it.

Sandy Bay