From Poverty Bay to the Bay of Plenty

This post is for Sunday August 8, 2011

Emari and I awoke before the sun at Sponge Bay, such a cool set up, too bad I did not get to surf it. We headed back to Wainui Beach, the swell had dropped but it looked to be chest to head high, fairly stiff off-shore winds and colder. The plan was to surf 2 hours, dump and fill the camper van and head up the East Cape and through The Bay of Plenty....what I know now was a pretty tall order, but then again me and Sherex and a three legged cat had already done 17 hour blizzard drives.

The surf was fun, waist to chest high and I was the only one out for the first thirty minutes, when I completed my hour in a half session I left two others in the water. The surf got fat with the incoming tide and my hands had gotten cold to the point where they lost any ability to function. I could barely get my boots off when I got back to the camper van.

Ate some cereal, drank some hot coffee...good thing this rig comes with a French press, and headed to a mobile station that allowed dumping and filling. Emari had already found a site that listed all the free places to dump and fill through out both Islands.....this gal kicks some serious ass when it comes to planning, navigating and efficiency. Did I mention she weathers all of my Dave Spencer like freak outs unbelievably well. It is like she has shield that prevents her from personalizing all my shit. At the mobile station we also gassed up Route 35 up the East Cape.

It was great drive, the sun was shining and for much of the way we seemed to be the only vehicle on the road. Along the way we checked out the following surf spots, Tolaga Bay, Tokomaru Bay where we also parked up for an hour and ate lunch, and Waipiro Bay Area. We did not find surf, the swell had dropped and most likely all these bays needed swell and direction to work. All were amazing set ups, mostly beach and point set ups. The drive down to Waipiro Bay was our first sign of sketchy roads, areas of the road were washed out and narrow, too slide off the road certainly meant death, but we made it down to the bay. However the driving adventure was not over as the road out steadily climbed up hill on a gravel road that went on for miles through farm land. Actually 90% of this trip has been driven through ranch and farm land. If you were in to fucking sheep, this is your place mate......probably millions, all with cute fluffy asses. Anyway, we finally hit asphalt, back on 35 and headed for Hicks Bay.

Let's get back to this driving. We went from 2/3Berth automatic camper van that climbed mountains like a snail, the little train that could, to a fucking mini-bus, 5 speed manual transmission which as long as I am not going backwards or turning around has been great, this monster climbs at a steady pace and having control over which gear to put it in has been essential. Back to climbing mountain passes, we must have ascended and descended hundreds, possibly thousands....white knuckled turns in a vehicle 2.5 sizes bigger than my Element. Windy, steep, narrow, falling rocks, washed out sections, to name a few, but what Emari and I seemed to enjoy the most was the wooden guardrails around the crazy turns which always seemed to end way too short.....bedside those fucking devices wouldn't stop a three year old on a tricycle!!! By the time we hit Hicks Bay the sky's clouded up and of course rain and wind awaited us for this next leg.....now all those "slippery when wet" signs made perfect sense.

We pass Hicks Bay and begin our entry into The Bay of Plenty. At this point it feels as if we are behind schedule and making it to Tauranga by sunsets a pipe dream at best. The wind and rain, seemingly endless mountain passes slowed our progress. I'm guessing now, looking at a map that we were in the Waikawa Pt region on 35 when we came to a detour, the road in front of us was completely washed out and impassable. The detour veered left up a gravel and dirt single lane road that took us up the backside of this mountain pass. Along the way were turn outs to allow oncoming traffic pass. Keep in mind, it was raining, dirt and gravel turned to mud, it was slick, going off the road would be a disaster. It was at this moment I silently questioned to myself, "should I be doing this?" at this point even if the answer was no, I'm not sure we could've turned around. We proceeded up the mountain, their was an on-coming car who had the right away and I pulled over to the and let it pass. There was a white sedan, like a Honda Accord or Nissan behind me as well as a truck towing a boat (and I thought I had problems) and I motioned both to pass me. I'm not sure this was a blessing or a mistake. I watch the White Sedan start to get stuck and slide around the next left hand to righ hand turn 100 yards in front of us, recover and make it. The same thing happened to the truck towing the boat. I looked over to Emari and exclaimed, "I don't fucking like this and I do not know what to do?" Her response was an affirmative, "just gun it!" With no oncoming traffic, I threw this mini-bus into first gear and gained as much speed as possible to get through the muddy slick section and slide and powered our way through it, much like we did through 2' of snow this past December. I never even dropped it into a higher gear, first gear rmp'd out. We may forget a lot of things about this trip, but that moment of uncertainty will never be forgotten, if fact it is these moments that truly make life worth living. A side note, I don't think our little 2/3 Berth camper van would've made it. I should mention that coast is beautiful, endless stretches of beaches lines with sharp volcanic rock, but the surf was wind blown and choppy, angry in a way.

We gassed up in a town called Opotiki around 5:30-6pm. Emari prepared us a snack, a slice of bread with a spread of Nutella and we also downed some sea-salt chips. It was unclear if we would make Tauranga on this day, but we pressed ahead. I was feeling shot out and my right hip from all the driving felt like somebody drove a spike right through the socket of the joint. Emari asked if I wanted to stay along the coast or take an inland route on a main road. Since it was getting dark we opted for the inland route, route 2 to Tauranga.

Things moved much quicker less mountains and hill to climb and drop and longer straight a-ways(not many of these in this country) and we were making better time when we came upon a first, a long single laned bridge with a red traffic light. We had crossed countless single lane bridges but none before with this light configuration. I waited but not long. The parcticle one, Emari suggested we wait, maybe the light will change. Of course I was thinking that their has not been much traffic and possibly the light does not change. I went for it! I was about half way across when their appeared to be lights of oncoming traffic though not on the bridge. Emari suggested I blow the horn, I chose to flick the high-beams and step on the gas. We were about 3/4 a crosse the bridge when we heard this loud thumping sound and Emari presumed I hit the guardrail. I cursed every word in the book and thought to myself,"we just lost our $5000.00 insurance bond with the camper company....this trip just got extra expensive! If Dan Ginsburg should be reading through this, I instantly though about the time we were on tour in NYC in our van and I clipped the bus with our passenger side mirror. I thought, "not the first, obviously not the last."It is amazing that at times learning does not take place despite the same mistakes made over and over again. It was approximately 15km down the road that we could safely pull over and inspect. everything looked fine, I'm guessing we drove over a metal grate that made that loud sound. I'm thinking we were 66km away from Tauranga and thought to myself, "fuck it, we're going for it!" it has become more obvious to me at this point that Emari is the brain of our relationship, I must be shear will and id with some super ego in the mix. Although I'm doing the driving, she has been an amazing co-pilot, ipad fired up, maps open, the book "A Guide to Surfing in New Zealand" opened to the appropriate region, our coarse well mapped out, free camp site and free dump and fill sites...why pay for something when it's free!....amazing that is what she is.

We rolled into Tauranga around 8pm, I was shot out. We camped up right along the beach probably just North of the surf spot called Tay Street. Not sure we are camping in a legal space, we pulled all the curtains tight, turned on the gas to cook and heat and Emari cooked up some excellent bean burritos. We awoke between 6:30 & 7, I boiled water for coffee and starting typing this blog. Emari whipped up some scrambled eggs with spinach and cheese. It is now 9:07am on Monday August 8. The surf is flat, probably a good thing, to rest re group and be tourist. Probably go check out Mt Maunganui and find a hot spring to soak in. I have not done any yoga since July 29 and I'm feeling it. New swell should hit Wednesday/Thursday. Plan is to make our way into the Coromandel Peninsula.

(AJ)

Surf report update, a male perspective!!!

Yesterday morning, approximately 67km south of Gisborne Emari asked me, How we looking for gas as we passed through some town with gas stations. I responded, "looks good" but wouldn't you know two more mountain climbs and passes put the gauge at an 1/8 of a tank and I began my silent freak out, like somebody with OCD and control issues does.....oh the torture! About 20km south of Gisborne I was delighted to spot a small station and gas up.

The first opportunity to turn right and head for the beach I took, no idea where I was at but the surf report indicated good offshore winds until 11am ish before turning on-shore. I ended up surfing a beach break south of the "Pipeline" at Waikanae Beach, the surf was chest high, offshore and fun, though got soft with the high tide....Frank Sarno would've been stoked! the wind did come on-shore and Emari and I searched the coast of Gisborne and North and with a fair sense of accuracy located nearly every spot in our surf book, just site-seeing and killing time since the decision was made by our camper van company to have someone drives a new camper van from Auckland, a six hour drive, and what I fucking upgrade we got. I went from a van driver to a bus driver, 5 speed manual transmission shifting to my left. Just when I thought I was getting this driving thing figured out, the new learning curve arrived. So we camped in our new rig at Sponge Bay, a really cool set up but unfortunately the swell was really not getting in there.

So that was yesterday and it is now August 6th and with Sponge Bay looking small we headed North and eventually picked a stretch of beach called Stock Route and Wainui Beach. When we first pulled up no one was in the water, off shore long lines and easily overhead with a good paddle. I was silently wishing I had someone to share this with and actually watched for a while and eventually a few paddled out and once the line up had a good 7 people in it I suited up and surfed about an hour in a half, catching about 8-10 waves, 3 good ones. The surf was on average 6-8 foot on the faces, some bigger drops and when you picked the right one you ended up with an open faced wave. The swell looks like it is dropping all day so I will try to get another session after lunch before we head north up the East Cape, then into the Bay of Plenty. Should be able to find some small surf along the way, might go flat Tuesday/Wednesday but next swell looks like it will be arriving this Thursday......some ample time to practice driving our new bus!

Would an Upgrade Work for You, Mate?

Last night we waited in the Pizza Hut carpark for almost two hours before our replacement camper van, The Behemoth, arrived. Because our heater was irreparable and there was no replacement part in the country, Danny, our chipper sales associate from Adventure Camper Vans, offered us an upgrade. A behemoth upgrade. We went from a 2/3 berth economy van to a six berth luxury van. Click here to compare the 2/3 Toyota to the 6 berth Fiat.

We are no longer confined to a 2 x 2 standing area, and we're not stepping over my surfboard nose each time we enter/exit the van or the bed. We can even open all of the cabinets, even the silverware drawer, which had been impossible because of the length and width of my board. This camper is so swanky it has a built-in retractable awning, a barbie, an outer storage locker for our snowboards and both of AJ's surf boards, and a double bed over the cab. We just wanted the heat fixed and we ended up with the Cadillac of camper vans. It even has a drop-down tv and a DVD player. Swanky!

AJ surfed at Midway Beach yesterday, just south of Waikanae Beach. Surf was smaller but relatively clean. We spent midday on reconnaissance missions, checking out all of the spots along the Bay of Poverty and north of Gisborne. We parked overnight at Sponge Bay and spent an hour or so combing the coast before settling here at Wainui Beach. AJ's paddled out. There's a lot of water moving, a ground swell (so I'm told), and the waves are at least shoulder to head high; some of them even bigger. I'm watching from our mobile abode, sipping hot tea, and worrying that another van parked behind us will make our exit from this tiny carpark particularly stressful for AJ, who is steering this small bus.

I've spotted the first female to brave this paddle out, and I'm hoping she kicks ass. I'm always excited to see a woman in the water, especially when she rips as well as or better than the men. Right now she's wrestling the white water, but I'm rooting for her.

I'm not ready for this beach break now, but someday. Until then, I have my tea, this view, and poems to write.

Another Night in Our Knit Caps

Despite the ample tree coverage at our cosy camper van campsite, we woke to a bit of ice on the inside of the windows. We crawled out from our double comforter and into the cab, where the heat was fully operational, and made our way to Mt. Whakapapa before 7:30am. At the mountain, we had our breakfast and coffee and suited up to ride a half day so that we could stop at Parts and Services (a real business name!) to have our heat looked at. Mt. Whakapapa was ridiculous. There were so many dips and valleys, cliff drops, ridges, and natural features, AJ was salivating at the ticket office. And the conditions were amazing. Another blue bird day around 30 degrees Fahrenheit at a mountain that rarely has good visibility days. The terrain was a different kind of wide open from Turoa, more gorges and rocks. Tim Parker if you're reading this blog, you would have had a boner all day.

Part of the mountain was only accessible via a t-bar since one lift was not running. For those of you unfamiliar with what a t-bar is, allow me to explain my disdain for this shitty contraption that I failed to ride all the way to the top. A t-shaped rubber bar is suspended by a pulley system and in an ideal world, you stick this bar between your legs (if you're a snowboarder, screw you skiers who simply sit on it like a swing) and you hold onto the rope as it pulls you up the mountain. Unfortunately, it is very easy to catch an edge (aka wipe out), especially when the rope slackens at the top of a hill. So I attempted this rope tow four times with varying degrees of success. The first attempt I made it maybe 1/4 of the way up, caught an edge, and proceeded to hang on, like the female superhero I am, attempting to stand first, and when this wasn't possible, permitting myself to be drug up the mountain in side boat (thank goodness for my yoga practice and ab ripper x) so that only my hip was touching the ground (shoulder and board out of harms way). But I was only halfway up the incline and there were no alligators below or a terrible cliff drop, so I dropped the rope and buckled inti my board at the side of the rope tow line. I attempted the tow four more times before AJ made me quit. If I had had my way, I would not have quit until each knee was throughly bruised and I mastered that bugger. But it was possible to ride the rest of the mountain, and I had breezed down the icy chute. I will have an opportunity to rematch the villainous t-bar in the south island.

We rode until a little after 12 and went back to the ticket window to receive our half day refund (the way half day riding works here). To our good fortune, the young man working the window, cheerily refunded our tickets entirely...so my initial t-bar lesson and half day of riding was free.

After lunch in the camper van we made our way to Taupo to have a look at the heat and to check out a hot springs. The heat was not repairable! Despite Philip's best efforts, we were fated to spend another heatless night in the north island. But we plan to have the heater swapped out in Gisborne, our next spot. It was too late in the day to hit the hot springs, so we hoped back on the road and rolled into a free camping site under a bridge halfway between Napier and Gisborne. The campsite had the classic feel of a horror movie setting, and each time a logging truck blasted over the bridge, our camper van shuttered.

AJ took a shower while I started dinner, the start of a relaxing evening. But the lights faltered and the auxiliary battery was quite low. When I showered, I had just enough time to run conditioner through my hair and soap up (about 5 minutes when I'm really hustling, and I was) before the water went glacier cold and promptly stopped. I would rinse the soap off my body with water in AJ's thermos. But I was clean and fed, and it was warmer here than it had been at the base of the mountains, so it was a good night.

And in true horror movie style, we had no service whatsoever.

This morning, we're on the road to Gisborne, chasing surf and a functioning heater. And a hose to fill up our water.

Camping Under Mt. Doom

We woke to seeing our breath this morning...inside the camper van in New Zealand's carrot capital, Ohakune. Though we had tried both settings, we decided to give it another try at lunch after snowboarding at Mt. Doom, aka Mt. Turoa.

The wind was howling when we pulled up to the mountain, and it was as if the wraiths were after Frodo and his ring. But the sun was shining, and we had plenty of layers, including AJ's top gear pick of 2011: the Mammut 750 Down Sweater (which he really didn't need because it was 30 degrees and sunny). The mountain was gorgeous, wide open with varied terrain, steep drops and long cruisers.

We took a few intermediate runs to warm up and then headed for the top on a six-person high-speed lift. The higher we climbed, the strong the wind ripped. At the top of the lift we faced the most treacherous part of the mountain: a 30 foot long ice platform where the chair unloaded. If you were a tiny bit cavalier or careless, your ass or knee kissed the crystal concrete.

But the riding was amazing. The trails were hard packed but groomed, and as the day wore on, the sun softened everything.

We broke for lunch, and AJ chose to frustrate himself with the GoPro for a second time (he'd already failed to get it working before we left in the morning), and unfortunately, the heat still wasn't working. He had a brief, self-contained bitch-fit, until he remembered he was in New Zealand snowboarding on a snow-covered volcano with perfect conditions with the woman he loves. The GoPro can wait, and the heat, we'll schedule an appointment at the motor car place in Taupo when we leave Whakapapa (after a second day of snowboarding).

So we don't have any heat. But the range works and we have double comforters, and we're camping in the Shire for $4 NZ. We're just a few kilometers from Mt. Doom, and tomorrow, we're going to shred it. If we have to sleep in all of our snowboard gear, we'll be ready to go at first light and have plenty of time until first chair.

Driving Through the Shire

Started the day with another surf. The waves were clean and water was clear and glassy. AJ and I were the only ones out for the first hour. Today's paddle out was child's play, compared to the thrashing I received yesterday, though I did get caught on the inside after failing to catch a wave I'd paddled for and ended up taking a whole set on my head. Our friend Ste'en caught this on camera and I promise to post photos later.

Like the past two days, AJ had a fantastic day in the water, shredding the Tasmian Sea at the Wainui Beach break, with his Rusty Redline. I stayed out in the green water all morning and paddled into the biggest waves I've ever paddled for. My heart thumped a little less persistently, but it was nearly impossible to quell my excitement and fear. This is only the fourth spot I've ever surfed: 1. Ventnor Pier, 2. Avalon, 3. Brigantine, and 4. Wainui Beach, Raglan, NZ.

Today's informal surf lessons included keeping my feet together on the board while paddling, paddling beneath my board while taking off for a wave, and keeping the board pointed at the beach during my take off. I had caught or was in a few waves today and was rolled because my board was on an angle. Have to tune in to that when we surf again, which isn't for a few days.

We're off to Ohakune to snowboard tomorrow at Mt. Rapahue. And tonight will be the first night we spend in our honeymoon suite camper van!!!

Almost a Tit In the Wind

Slept well and up at NZ time 6:30am but took our time getting gear together, fins in Emari's board etc. Ste'en, Emari and I loaded the car and headed down to Raglan but the swell on the point had dropped off. Wainui Beach looked fun so we all suited up and ended up catching really fun Shoulder to head high clean surf. So proud of Emari in her 4/3, booties and cap, I wasn't sure she was going to make it out since it was a fairly long paddle out through a beach break, but my baby brought it!!! The surf was super fun. (AJ)

AJ and Ste'en caught lots of great waves, and AJ even rode through a barrel. The waves were definitely the tallest I've ever paddled into, and my heart was thumping. The waves were clean and kept rolling through in long sets. It was beautiful to watch from the lookout point, and startling to watch in the water.

Post-surf Ste'en gave us a tour of the town and we had a late breakfast at home. Then we put the camper together and worked on our trip itinerary for the next few days. AJ and Ste'en looked at the surf reports and I read through our travel guide. (Emari)

***

The countryside is absolutey stunning. I'm thrilled to spend the next month driving through its hills and valleys, along its coasts, up its mountains.

On our walk into town tonight, we could smell outdoor fires, not bbqs like in the states. We walked arm in arm in the dark. Tomorrow, we surf and head to Mt. Ruepehu.

Ps. Almost a Tit in the Wind = Emari changing out of her 4/3 wetsuit.