Back in the D.C. area after the trip around the world. A little poorer and a lot wiser. It was a good trip. Now I just have to find a means of income, if anyone has some ideas, they would be appreciated.
I’ll start putting up some more pictures of the trip.
I just spent a number of days in California staying with my friend Seamus, who I hadn’t seen in a couple of years. We did a lot of surfing. The waves were good, but a bit chilly in comparison with the waves in Fiji. I’m spoiled.
We drove down to Baja California for a couple of days and surfed at La Fonda which is about 45 k south of the border. It was cool to down to Mexico, the waves were good and less crowded than other places.
Then we went to Trestles in San Clemente for a couple of days. Last time I surfed there was a bout 10 years ago, with Seamus. I forgot how good that waves is. If it weren’t for all the kooks trying to prove that they should be sponsored it would be a perfect spot. There was also the NSSA championships at the same time which made it super-crowded at Uppers, which is the only place we could surf, since the contest took over Lowers in a bloodless-coup.
Caught some great waves yesterday and today at Wilkes. A break a couple of island from Cloudbreak / Tavaru. It was really big yesterday, and I broke another board. I thought the curse had lifted, but maybe not. The surf was big enough to break boards anyway, though. A few more days here, then L.A.
Don’t think I will buy another board here, instead I will wait until I get to Cali.
Fijians are very friendly. I even went to an impromptu kava ceremony and drank kava with the chief of Malevu, a small village close to where I am staying. That was very cool. The chief informed me that they hadn’t eaten humans for at least 100 years.
Poked around New Zealand a bit more and had a great time. Went to a beach near Kawhia. I read in the guide book that you can dig a hole in the sand and it fills with hot water from an underwater river, so you sit on the beach in your own private spa watching the ocean. So trekked down there and looked around for a place to dig and couldn’t find one. There were only a couple of guys fishing on the beach and they had heard of people doing that but didn’t know where.
Then an old geezer pulled up on his All Terain Cycle and started digging in the beach. I walked up and asked him about whether he as digging a spa, how did he know where to dig, etc. He told me that all I had to do was take off my shoes and feel for hot sand. Sure enough, the sand was hot.
He finished his hole and then found me a perfect place to dig; leting me borrow his shovel to do the dirty work. We splashed around in our respective pools for a while and listened the radio that the geezer had brought with him (as well as a two litre of coke). The man also let me borrow his ATC to drive around on the beach… and he didn’t even ask for anything in return.
It was cool to sit on the beach in winter, with people walking by in sweaters and splash around in your own private hot tub.
Kiwis have been really nice. I’ll be back here for a longer period of time, I think.
Tomorrow, Fiji.
Surfed a couple of days ago at Raglan. It was a bit small and choppy but fun. Kiwi surfers are nice. They have a lot less attitude then most others. The waves were about head high sets and long left hand rides. It wasn’t epic, but it was fun.
I got a rental car and am now in Rotorua. There is steam coming out of the manhole covers. A lot of boiling mud and it seems like a geothermic powder-keg ready to blow. Today I went to another geothermic area where a very cold and a very hot river mix at Waitopo (sp?). Which was very cool.
So far there hasn’t been any snow in New Zealand, and the ski resorts are still closed. Not sure how the plan is going to change now.
Back in Auckland after the stop in Norfolk Island. I really liked it there it was a bit slow, but relaxing. The people are descendants of the mutineers of the Bounty. The surf was terrific, a number of reef and point breaks surrounded by big, open ocean. The scenery was very nice and although it rained most of the time. It was a lot of fun.
I would love to go back there someday.
Some interesting things:
Cows have right of way. (Although you would assume, though common sense that of course cows would have right-of-way, here it is a law. Cows do wander the streets, pooping, which is a lot of fun to run over.)
The local people speak Norfolk, which is a combination of Tahitian and Ye Olde English.
It was a penal colony settled around the same time as Australia.