Swamped In The Northland

After getting my van running again and possibly starting a job soon, I was itching to get back on the road again and go on a mini surf trip. I drove all day to get to Ahipara. By the time I was less than a hour out of Auckland, it was dark so I wasn't able to enjoy the scenery. I arrived in Ahipara late Thursday night. Since it was around 12, I didn't want to pay to stay somewhere so I just parked in this little piece of grass on the side of the road and set up camp. I couldn't really sleep because I was waiting for someone to come knocking on my van to tell me I couldn't park there or thought someone might try to hassle me.

Friday, I woke up early and pleasantly surprised I hadn't been rudely awaken by anyone. The weather was great. It was sunny and warm. Shipwrecks was knee high with no one out and not looking very exciting. Using my New Zealand Surfing Guide (thanks Mom) I saw that it's possible to drive around the point. By just looking at the point, most people would not expect it to be possible to drive around the point. You have to drive on the beach to the point and from there drive on very rough volcanic rock. The rock was so rough and sharp, I was worried about getting a flat tire. It's recommended that you don't try to drive around the point during high tide. I had my first opportunity to use the 4WD in the van. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much out of it but it ran really well and I was stoked on the van. I was able to blow through some really deep sand without getting stuck. Dennis, how rad are these 4WD vans! It was really stange to find a little fishing village out on the point. Most of the houses looked to be abandoned but there were a few houses that had vehicles in the driveway. It looked as if some people drove around the point, thought "this looks like a good place to put a house", nailed some boards together and called it home. I drove around for a while looking for surf and didn't really see anything that looked promising so I just enjoyed the drive. I saw a diver and talked to him about the fishing. He mentioned that he thought a break called Blue House looked good so I decided to go back and check it out. Luckily, Blue House was in my surfing guide but the map's scale made it hard to find the exact spot. I saw a wave breaking on a section of reef and paddled out. The surf wasn't very good, the current was really strong and there were a lot of rocks everywhere. For some reason, I had a sharky feeling the whole time I was out there. I'm almost positive I wasn't surfing Blue House. That night, I camped on the side of the road again but on a more secluded road so I didn't have to worry about anyone hassling me.

North of Ahipara is 90-Mile Beach. It's not actually 90 miles long but it's a long hard packed beach. If you have a 4WD vehicle, you can drive up it. It isn't totally necessary to have a 4WD but it is recommended and it's also recommended to only drive up the beach during low tide. There are many stories and pictures of mostly tourists but also some locals getting their vehicles swallowed up by the beach. On Saturday morning during the low tide, I drove up 90-Mile Beach to a place called The Bluff. It is probably the best break on 90-Mile Beach. The weather was miserable. It was cold, rainy and the wind was howling sideshore. The surf was slightly blown out but surfable and no one out. Considering the conditions, I had a good surf. When I got back to Ahipara it was early in the afternoon and still raining, so I decided to splurge and stay in a backpackers. The backpackers was really clean and there were some nice people staying there. I met a nice girl from Germany Annick. She was asking me about 90-Mile Beach and if it was worth spending the money on the tour. I knew the surf wasn't going to be any good so I thought it would be fun to go up 90-Mile Beach, go sandboarding on the dunes and then to Cape Reinga which is the northern most tip.

Sunday, it was windy and rainy again. Annick wasn't sure if she wanted to go but I suggested it would be better to go than to sit around all day. We drove up 90-Mile Beach. I checked The Bluff but it was blown out so we kept driving up the beach. Just past The Bluff, we saw the tour bus and followed it the rest of the way up the beach. From the beach, we followed the tour bus up the Te Paki Stream. We pulled off to the side and parked next to the tour bus to go sandboarding. The owners of the backpackers gave Annick and I sleds to use on the dunes. The people on the tour had boogie boards which seemed to work better than the sleds. The sleds wouldn't go straight, they kept pulling to one side or the other. It was still a lot of fun. After a few runs, we got back in the van and followed the tour bus the rest of the way up the stream. We were less than 1/4 mile from the end of the stream when my van took a nose dive and the engine stalled. I tried to start it back up but it wouldn't start. Water had gone up my tailpipe and seized the engine. I jumped out of the van and the water was about up to my waist which was almost to the headlights on the van. I tried to push it out but of course I couldn't do that. I thought maybe I would have one of those moments like the urban myth (I assume it's an urban myth) about the mom that lifts up the car to save her child. The water in the stream would be flowing normally and then a big surge of water would come. Each time a surge of water came, it would dig out the sand under the front tires and the van would sink deeper. Water started to flood into the van and was over a foot deep. Both of our shoes were floating and Annick started taking out some of my valuables like my computer and digital camera. At this point, I was silently freaking out and was coming to terms that I wasn't getting my van out of this stream. Not 2 minutes later, a Maori fisherman and his wife were driving down the stream toward the beach. I started frantically waving my arms to get their attention. As if they might miss my van in the middle of the stream. They pulled up and he says "Mate, it looks like you swamped your van". I'm thinking yeah, no shit. Luckily, he had chains and hooked them up to the back bumper. He was able pull me out but only my left side tires were on dry ground. While he was unhooking the chains to put them on the front, the sand under the front right tire was getting dug out. Annick was in the driver seat when the van started to tip over. She jumped out through the passenger side door and I was on the driver's side trying to hold the van up. I was too close to getting my van back to lose it again. The Maori fisherman was able to get the chains on the front and pull the rest of the van onto the bank. We couldn't get it started, so the Maori couple were nice enough to tow me into the closest town of Waitiki. Once we arrived in Waitiki, they dropped us off at a motel. The people that worked at the motel were simpathetic and offered to help us out. They called the closest mechanic and he said that the van was probably totalled, but we could try taking out the glow plugs and blow the water out of the engine. We were able to blow out the water and get the van started. It definitely wasn't running good but I was just happy to get it running. I couldn't believe I could get this lucky twice in 1 day (obviously not counting getting stuck in the first place). About a hour after we got to the motel, a couple guys drove up and said that another guy had gotten stuck in the stream which made me feel like less of an asshole.

Monday, Annick and I limped the van into Kaitaia on 3 cylinders to get fixed. Kaitaia is the biggest town around and also the closest to Ahipara. I figured I would get a better price on the repair in Kaitaia than if I took it to some small town mechanic. We dropped off the van and were able to hitchhike back to Ahipara to pick up Annick's van. When we got back to her van, we decided to drive up to Cape Reinga since we didn't get to see it yet. The wind at the point was howling. I was literally sitting into the wind and not falling over. The point is beautiful. There are huge sanddunes, little secluded coves, bright green vegetation and the ocean was brilliant bright blue. There's a lighthouse that is still in use and at the very tip is the 800-year-old pohutukawa tree. The Maori believe that the roots to this tree hide the entrance to the mythical Maori underworld. The point where the tree is located is known in Maori legend as Te Rerenga Wairua, where the spirits of the dead leave the earth. From Cape Reinga, we hauled ass to get to the Gumdigger's Park before it closed. When we got there it was closed and looked like no one had been there in a while. We decided to sneak in and Annick would be our tour guide. The park was uneventful and I was glad that I didn't spend $10 to see it.

Tuesday was the 1st sunny day since Friday. The owners of the backpackers told us about an overlook that was supposed to be a good place to take pictures of Shipwreck Bay. Annick and I went up there and took some good pictures. On her way out of town she dropped my off at the only backpackers in Kaitaia called The Hike & Bike. The Hike & Bike should be renamed the Kaitaia halfway house. I was the only backpacker there. Everyone else was at least 35, jobless and living off the dole (NZ welfare). There was one guy there that was totally creeping me out. He was obviously a meth head. In NZ they call it P and appearantly Kaitaia and the surrounding towns are known for having the highest concentration of meth labs on the North Island. It's like the Pacific Northwest in the US. I was really happy to have a bunk room to myself and I was the only one with the key.

Wednesday afternoon I was able to pick up my van. The mechanic initially told me it would be less than $1000 NZD. When I went to pick it up, he informs me that it was more than expected but tried to justify it by saying he kept his part (labor cost) under $1000 NZD. By that point I didn't care how much it cost, I just wanted to get out of there. It ended up costing me $1600 NZD ($1000 USD) and I got out of Kaitaia as fast as I could. I drove back to Ahipara to check the surf. I was surprised to actually see people surfing Shipwrecks. I decided to drive around the point to check some other breaks that are harder to get to. I surfed a left point called Peaks. On the right swell, you can catch a wave from Peaks all the way through to Shipwrecks Bay. That would be a really, really long wave. The waves were chest to head high, consistent with only 4 guys out. I was happy to get a good session in before I left and felt like I had earned it after the week I had.

Before I left on Thursday I was going to try to get another surf in but the swell had dropped overnight. I wasted no time getting on the road, leaving the Northland behind me and going home to Taranaki. Although, I'm not totally bitter because I will definitely be back when I know there is a good swell.

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