Jan. 29 - Northbound to East Cape

This crew was chilling on top of a bridge over the river, occasionally getting hyphy.

The run of waves looks over for today -- on-shore wind.

Gizzy is rad, but I need to keep moving if I want to see the Northland and Taranaki...If those place suck, I can always beeline back.

I'm thinking of breeding Kiwis with Costa Ricans and creating a master race for the global tourism industry. The kiwis are so damn nice! I came here for the natural beauty, but oddly, it's been the culture and people that have really touched me.


PS -- the East Cape is the most remote part of NZ, so I may be off-line for a week or more.

Jan. 29 -- Gizzy delivers

Boo0-YAH!

Jan. 27 -- Gizzy Goes Off!

It's working!!!

Jan. 26 -- Gizzy II

Jan. 26, 2009
Makarora Beach

I woke up in the middle of the night to a starry sky, and could tell by the volume of the surf that the swell had picked up. Sure enough, when I peeked out of my tent in the morning, the surf had gone from 1 to 6 feet overnight -- and the local crew was on it. Surf towns are funny, b/c you don't really see that many surfers when it's flat. But when the swell picks up, they come out of the woodwork and are on the waves likes flies on shit.

There are some ripper local kids -- saw one land a 360 aerial this morning, to a barrage of hoots and horns from those of us on shore. After, the kid just stood there on the sandbar inside, looking stunned at his own success. That is an extremely difficult move. I had never actually seen it done before.

The demographics of surfing here are so different than SF, where I am right in the middle of a skewed bell curve -- the average surfer in SF is a 30ish transplant. There are almost no kid surfers in SF. Here, the average surfer is closer to 20. When I see any one else over 30, I get the "hey, you're an old man, too". But I also get respect from the yoots (for my wrinkles, not my surfing!) and that's cool.

I have a new subtitle for my book, "New Zealand: It Ain't Mexico (or Yosemite): Come for the tramping, stay for the waves.”

Jan. 24 - Gisborne, baby!

Jan. 25, 2009
Gisborne

This place is dangerous........dangerously perfect, that is. Up to this point, I've been saying that I would live in NZ if the weather was better.

Enter Gisborne, a remote, 30,000 town on the East Cape that has a Mediterranean climate that feels like San Diego. (When they talk about climate in NZ, they always show data for Auckland, Welly, Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown...but those cities all have the same rain issues.) This place is sufficiently "out there" -- at least 3 hours from any community of consequence -- that it's off the main tourist track. And it shows: its funkier here, a little more edgy.

"Gizzy" is like a Santa Cruz with San Diego's climate, and Cabo San Lucas' isolation. There are palm trees everywhere, and all the stores have open-air fronts. It's a tropical vibe, but with low humidity and clear skies. It's also the only place in NZ that has seen a growth in tourism (3+% over the past year) and the current campaign is "Gisborne: The Endless Summer." The water is a perfet 68 degrees....Adios, wetsuit.

There's a lot of Maori here, which adds some much-needed flavor. I must say that the Maori are very good-looking people. The men are well-built and handsome, and the women are suprisingly fit. (in fact, they are often more attractive than the English-descended kiwi ladies, which I'm sure has been the source of more than one kiwi's problems...) They have really nice skin (tattoo'd extensively) and almost noble features.

Oh yeah, did I mention there are several word-class surf breaks here, ranging from long, easy right-hand points to sucking beachbreak barrels to a legendary, firring left/right around a sacred Maori island that can be walked out to at low tide?

And if that wasn't enough, there areb heaps of girls running around in bikinis. I guess this is the place you move to if you are a kiwi looking for the beach life.

Hold my calls, please.

Jan. 23 - Mahia Peninsula

Jan. 23, 2009
Mahia Peninsula

Hands down the finest campsite I've had on this trip, and one for the life Top 10 list.

I'm situated on a grassy bluff above short limestome cliffs, surrounded 180 degrees by Mahia Bay. In the distance, I can see the mountain ranges of Gisborne. Just below the bluff are beautiful limestone cliffs and rock shelves extending into the water. There is a perfect keyhole beach in a joint in the rock with just enough sand for a tent. Best of all, the water is clear and WARM...maybe 72 degrees. Not a cloud in the sky: this area is famous for having the best weather in New Zealand, and feels more like Greece than New Zealand.

If that wasn't enough, there are several reef/point setups within a short paddle. All we need now is a northeast swell....

Jan. 22 - Little Ning-Nong

Little Ning-Nong
Jan. 22, 2009

The first thing I did on return to the North Island is hit Wellington's premiere break, a left called "Little Ning-Nong". (The swell wasn't big enough for "Big Ning-Nong" to do its thing.) Classy wave in a remote, Baja-esque area called Cape Pallister. Very dry and almost deserty; a whole different ball of wax than the rainforests on the west side.

Leaving the area, I stopped at the Pinoa Area Market, founded in 1882 in the middle of fucking nowhere. I was impressed that they had an extra surf leash behind the counter; however, when I saw that they offered "mussel pies", I almost barfed.

Passed through Napier today -- it's like a Mediterannean port, complete with palm trees, torquise water and a hot dry climate. However, I feel like I spent enough time in cities at the beginning of the trip and I prefer the countryside, so I pressed on toward the East Cape of the So. Island.

Jan. 21 -- Goodbye, South Island

Jan. 21, 2009
Wellington Ferry

Lately it occurs to me what a long, wonderful trip it's been.

This afternoon I completed my tour of the So. Island by returning to the ferry at Picton. I feel like a different person than the guy who stepped off the ferry in late November. I recall that I had yet to fully enjoy the country b/c I had spent most of the time cooped up in the rain.

Wow, have things changed! Experiencing such wondrous places, meeting people from all over the world, and enjoying the warmth of the kiwis has really touched me. Throw in the healthy, active living, and I feel stoked and renewed.

Looking back at the last year in SF, I can barely remember what I was in doing in, say, February. But the last six weeks are vividly etched into my memory, one life experience after another. I feel like this trip has really put the joy into day-to-day living....... And that's a beautiful thing.

Jan. 20 -- Kaikoura

I was awakened one morning by "Fred", who was 10 feet from my tent. This barker put on a great show for me. I wish I could have one as a pet.

I finally met someone with one degree of separation this couple from the Virgin Islands that knows Bill Stoehr -- former head of NG Maps and Big City Mountaineers. I've been surfing and having fun hanging with them. They went to USD, so lots of shared Cally references.

The surf has been cracking. When you have waves like that in such a beautiful place, it's manna for the soul. The swell backs off tomorrow and I will resume heading north by taking the ferry up to Wellington (sigh). Kaikoura is another truly special spot.

Jan. 18 -- Kaikoura

Jan. 17, 2009
Mangamauna

Came upon the long right-hand cobble point at Manga on a crystal clear day and thought I'd died and gone to heaven. What a great wave. While there's been East swell in the water, its been too jumbled to work on any of the sandbars from Christchurch north. However, Manga, like any good point, makes all that combo ground/wind swell rideable. And at Manga, there are snow-capped mountains dropping into the bay!

There were probably 25-50 people on it throughout the day, but with a good point with constant windswell, there's lots to go around. And the beauty of a point is that when you do get a wave, it's often worth the wait. This is one of those points where there's a line of surfers walking back up to the point in their wetsuits to paddle out after riding a wave all the way into the bay.

Manga is just north of Kaikoura, which until the 90s was only a crayfishishing village. Now, all the tourist amenities are showing up, but it's still small enough to have a frontier feeling. And like any surf town, you recognize the people in town at the bakery, surf shop, etc. from surfing.

I'm striking distance from the ferry to the North Island. I think I will stay here and reap the goods until the swell dies.

I picked up a guitar in Christchurch.

Jan. 16 - Christchurch

Christchurch. This is a real city...big and sprawling, but also with density in the center. I went up to Mt. Pleasant at sunset yesterday and it looked almost EXACTLY like looking out on LA from the Santa Monica hills. I mean, you could show the picture to an Angeleno and they might not know it was somewhere else. I will post the photos later.

I'm getting the alternator in my chariot replaced, then I am heading up to Kaikoura. I'm sure the art galleries, restaurants, parks, etc. in "ChCh" are wonderful, but that's not what I'm here for. I've gotten accustomed to the easy pace of the countryside, and will be moving on asap.

Jan. 14 -- Timaru

Had a shocking experience -- I accidentally touched an electric fence! (ba-dump...tish)

No, seriously that shit was unpleasant. Once bitten, twice shy.

Am now getting close to Christchurch (the town with the severe name) as I move north up the East Coast. The weather is phenomenal, brilliant. Loving it. May head to the interior for a day to catch a glimpse of Mt. Cook and Hooker Glacier.

Kiwi:
text="tixt"
herb= "herb" (prounounce the h)
tennis=tinnis
supermarket=soopah-MAH-kit

and the real killer:
debut="de-boo"(!)

Jan. 10 - Milford Sound

After 20 days of waiting for a clear forecast for Milford Sound, on Jan. 10 I made a surgical strike and lucked out on a perfect day. The folks in Milford said they hadn't even seen the sun at all in 14 days!

Big NE swell comes in tomorrow. I'm hoping to catch it at Murdering Bay, a perfect but fickle right-hand point on the north side of the Otago Peninsula. If the waves are good, I may be offline for several days.

Jan. 9 -- Bring it ON! (Milford Sound or bust)

The last clear day on the west side was the day I hiked out from my Rees Valley tramp....that was like, before Xmas! Since then, 3 people have been killed by weather in my old haunts of Rees Valley and Fox Glacier. I have been waiting for a shift in the weather pattern and clearing is forecast for sat. thru mon. So it is officially go time, and I'm off to Te Anau today.

Goodbye Dunedin. Goodbye to Brighton meat pies, double-scoop cookies n cream at the Rialto cinema, the waves at Blackhead, the salt-water pool in St. Clair, bodysurfing in St. Kilda, the unruly waves at Allan's Beach, my perfect little cove campsite on the Brighton Rd, the Octagon, and the taqueria. Thanks for the good times -- I'll definitely be back someday.

Jan. 7 -- Brighton

BIG NEWS!: my application for Irish citizenship was approved, so I am now officially a dual-citizen of the EU!!!

Jan. 7, '09
Brighton

I found the money camping spot west of Brighton...the sand is like ashtray sand, and doesn't stick to your feet. It's amazing. Had a nice little protected cove; very pleasant.

You know, it's not Dunedin that I like all that much, it's the nearby beachtown Brighton that I am smitten with. The whole community orients around the beach, where there is a pointbreak and you can drive onto the beach. There are miles of beautiful beach in either direction. It has the vibe of an old school 60s surf town, with the balding, super fit dads pushing all their little water kids into the waves. Nice houses on the hill and along the dunes -- probably considered ritzy by Dunedin standards, but not at all showy. There's one little store there with leathery-tan 70 year-old beach bums, skate rats, and surf-moms. I love it here.

Still waiting on my Queenstown package, and for the swell to pick up. Today I swam in the St. Clair heated salt water pool, which is located right on the main pointbreak that town orients around. Salt water pools rule! I hate chlorine, and you float better in saltwater anyway.

Was glad today when I was terrorized by a group of 3 kids with those pump waterguns on the side of the road...Because I always have multiple plastic Diet Coke bottles full of water in my car! I flipped a bitch, and came up on them like the angry adult, reprimanding them for squirting stuff at my car. And then I NAILED them. it was most satisfying.

Jan. 5 -- Dunedin, part deux

Dunedin
Jan. 5, 2009


CRISIS! last night. I was getting out of my car to go to a movie, and I dropped my keys outside my car -- and with a clink-clink and a sickening splashing sound, they slid through a drainage cover and into the sewer.

Well, this was one time I was thankful for all the rain that comes through here, b/c the water in the storm drain was not too nasty. I used my tent poles to scour the bottom, which was about 4 feet down through water, with a layer of soft muck. By putting my ear against the tent pole, I could actually hear the clink of metal when the rod touched the keys.

The keys were attached to a swiss army knife with a sizeable carabiner, so I figured my odds of fishing it out were fair. I constructed a "hook" of sorts by attaching vise grips to my tent poles. not a great system.

After about 10 min. of trying this, the theater nearby emptied out and three super-nice kiwis saw my plight and, without any hesitation, jumped into the challenge. Such nice people. Anyway, they found a bungee cord in the back of their car, and we improved the hook system to be a multi-pronged keychain nabber.

The kiwis were also calling the police department, city council and the fire department, and a crowd was gathering. I'm telling you: this was a CRISIS~!

At some point, one of the kiwis was talking to the guys in the Chinese restaurant there, and within a few minutes, the Chinese guys came out with the crux piece of equipment: a straight metal rod with a tiny nubby at 90 degrees at the bottom.

One of the kiwis -- this stolid, sunburnt fisherman -- had basically taken over the process from me, carefully sweeping the hook and lifting it to see what prizes from the deep he would come up with. The guy was determined and, once armed with the new hook, he made one connection where he pulled up a plastic bag and the Chinese guy said he saw the keys and knife ! -- but they dropped off the hook! at that point, tho, knowing roughly where they were, it was only 3 or 4 attempts before the keys came up -- to wild applause from the big crowd that had gathered to watch the whole operation.

Anyway, it was a near-miss for sure. A near miss with a happy ending.

Add sewer grates to my NZ shit-list (keas, sandflies, rain and sometimes food).


Been surfing in Dunedin and exploring the Otago Peninsula. It's a truly beautiful, Pt. Reyes-esque setting (more fields than forests, drier, no sandflies) and the only "problem" is that Dunedin central is pretty dreary visually. It does, however, have some interesting pockets, some punk rockers, and a great taqueria with Cholula hot sauce. (That makes FIVE different Mexican restaurants I've been to here that were all good. Amazing.)

Had a 5-foot swell yesterday, and the sun was out: the perfect storm, as it were. Surfed great waves at Blackhead, aka Quarries. The water was 58 degrees and so beautifully clear that you could see the sandy bottom, and the kelp-covered rocks that I got a little too up close and personal with on one wave that pitched me into the rock garden.

Can't believe it's already Jan. 5...time is now officially out of control.

Jan. 3 -- Colac Bay

!Bonne Anne!, as the frogs were saying down here a couple days ago.

Thanks to those who've been reading. As for the rain, Xander said to butch it up and build a shelter, and I realized I haven't been emphatic about how *severe* the weather has been. It has been wild, unpredictable, and sometimes hostile.

From today's news:

Gales Wreak Havoc as Front Sweeps up Country (http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/5242292/gales-wreak-havoc-sweeps-country/)

120 mph gusts, combined with a deluge . I've never seen anything like this except maybe big electrical storms in the tropics. In one day, it can go from 45 degrees and raining sideways, to 85, still and sunny. Every day here the weather is adventure in and of itself. Truly.

Note that this not typical weather for here, and there's a great deal of speculation amongst the kiwis that systems are out of balance.

____

Despite my intent to have a "dry" New Year's Eve, Mother Nature had other plans.

In Invercargill, "the beach is a road" (the sign says this) and everyone drives all-around. It's really cool, actually: the city centre is 8 km inland, so the beach itself is completely undeveloped.

Anyway, I was lounging in the back of the Subaru with the hatchback open, enjoying a fantastic sunset and reading, and I dozed off. I was awakened at 4:30 by the most-uncool sound of water sloshing all around my vehicle -- sneaker wave!

I jumped out into the water and gunned my car to higher ground. I call it a "sneaker wave" because I was considerably higher than the high tide line; I've camped on enough beaches that I'm not *that* stupid.

This wave was one "push" of water -- it came way up the beach, and then receded 100 yards -- and that was it. It may have been a small tsunami of sorts.

In the morning and followed my tracks back to retrieve my camp chair and flip flops. The camp chair had all manner of sea detritus and sand in it...but it was still there. Flip flops, too.

Have been in Colac Bay, just about the last town in SW NZ, for the last couple of days, where there were nice, small waves. I am still holding out for a couple clear days when I can make a run for Milford Sound...but it is not forthcoming.