PIHA

Lion Rock, the remnants of a very old volcano.

Not a bad last day at the beach in New Zealand. We spent a few nights on the West Coast at the Piha campground with near perfect weather. Piha has amazing iron black sand.

Waro Lake Reserve and Hikurangi Skatepark

Last Surf at Raglan

A few last shots from Raglan

Here's a couple Full moon shots, and Erwin's hippy fire dancing at the teepee campsite.

Creating at Solscape

We had plenty of days without surf while staying at solscape. And you can only check the surf report so many times before you start to feel like you're going crazy. Serena knitted these hot water bottle covers with her friend Madelijne. We also baked some nice bread in the earth oven, the vegan apple cinnamon rolls were a hit.

Extreme Recycling, Raglan

Classic cheeky New Zealand advertising.

Raglan shots

The morning view from out of our front door.

The morning fog coming out of the inlet.
Work partners from Uruguay(Rodrigo, Mathias, Gonzalo, y Jaime). We've spent the last few days moving dirt from one spot to another. Not all of the Wwoofing jobs we're assigned are so glamorous.  

Bridal Veil Falls

This epic waterfall is just a short 15 minute drive from Raglan. I pieced together this Panoramic of Serena at the lookout.

Mt. Maunganui

This is pretty typical of an average sleeping arrangement for us. We joined the caravan Posse at the Mount and shared a couple days with some really funny travelers. Unfortunately the surf on the East Coast was absolutely flat. One of our friends that we made at Solscape arranged for us to stay for two weeks and wwoof. So after a short stay on the east coast with no surf, we headed right back to where we just were in Raglan. Luckily in most cases it's only about a three hour drive across country. 

Mt. Maunganui

Raglan

Raglan is about as picture perfect as a point break gets. It's the kind of place you conjure up in a day dream and doodle on paper. The break peels around multiple points producing ridiculously long rides. We sat and watched the break on a number of days with our jaws dropped. On our last day in Raglan the wind completely died and a solid double overhead ground swell hit.

Manu Bay
Whale Bay

Solscape Eco-Stay, Raglan

We stumbled across Solscape EcoStay on our way to the breaks in Raglan. This epic location is just a few minutes from Manu Bay. There's something special about staying in Raglan. The world class surf break attracts surfers from all over the world, and the town is buzzing with people who just got some of the best waves of their lives. At Solscape they have converted sections of old train cars to lodging. There is also a full car for Movie Nights. Serena and I had been wondering for some time when we would be traveling by train together next. This isn't quite what we had expected, but needless to say it was an epic experience.

We were instantly greeted with warmth by the dozen or so wwoofers staying there. Not surprisingly, they were almost all surfers. There were some from California, Hawaii, Holland, Germany and Argentina. It was great to spend warm evenings in The Station House(the lounge), telling surf and travel stories, listening to guitar jam sessions, and sharing awesome meals. Of the many places we have stayed, this was by far one of the most difficult to leave.

Checkin the surf from the Solscape lookout. Notice my stylish new beanie from Serena's Winter Knit Collection.

Taranaki 2

We're Back in The Naki

South Swell hits Welly

There's one good thing about the freezing cold southerly weather systems that hit New Zealand. Usually right after they clear, you can expect nice weather and some fresh swell. We had about 5 beautiful days of sunshine and lots of juicy waves around Lyall Bay. Our sessions were capped at about 30 minutes since we're still being babies about the cold water. 

Classic Billboard

I couldn't resist snapping a shot of this one on the streets of Wellington.

Te Papa Museum, Wellington

Kaikoura 1