Advertisement
Published: August 1st 2006
Edit Blog Post
mini-Kiteboarder @ Manu Bay
Kiteboarder @ Manu Bay on Fri 07/07 Mike and I have a beautiful drive back to Raglan through the National Reserves. Mike's not much for taking pictures so no pics. The reserves are huge and it takes hours to drive through them. A third of the drive back to Raglan was through the reserves. Good on ya New Zealand for protecting their native land and vegetation and not selling out to developing every inch of it. The reserves have thick forests of ferns, palm trees and other native trees on mountains with steep slopes that lead into beautiful, wide rivers. It weird because it totally reminds me of something you might see in Hawaii or some tropical island but the weather isn't tropical at all. I've heard the weather on the North Island in the summer is very tropical. Seeing that river made me want to grab an innertube on a warm summer day and float down it for a couple hours with a bunch of friends and a couple extra innertubes to hold the beer (Geoff think Guadalupe River, TX but more exotic).
We haul ass back to Raglan to try to get an evening session in. We get to Manu Bay, the wind is howling
mini-Kiteboarder @ Manu Bay 2
Kiteboarder @ Manu Bay on Fri 07/07 onshore and it was raining. No surfing today. We headed back to the campground so I could pick up my van. The lady at the campground said it was supposed to be windy and raining the next few days which was not good news.
Friday, Manu Bay was completely blown out. Totally "Victory at Sea" conditions. Mike and I part ways. He's going to Auckland to visit a friend and I decided to stay in Raglan to wait it out. Since I wasn't surfing, I decided to do something non-surfing related. I had seen a sign on my way back and forth to Hamilton for Bridal Veil Falls. I had been meaning to check it out since I saw the sign but had not yet made it there. I decided that this was a great time to go check it out. I was expecting to have to do a bit of hiking but I arrived at the falls within 15 minutes of the trailhead. From the parking lot, it was less than a mile to the waterfall. When I started walking towards the waterfall, I had to walk over this small wooden brigde with what looked to be just
a small stream running beneath it. When I got to the waterfall, I was shocked to see the amount of water running off the ledge and down the waterfall from the little stream I had walked over less than a mile before. The area is beautiful. Past the waterfall are rolling green pastures with barely any houses in sight. Standing from the top of the waterfall, it looked like a really long way down into a small pool of water. The waterfall is 55 meters high which is 180.5 feet. After standing at the top, I decided to take a look from the bottom. Another short 10-15 minutes hike down the trail and I was at the bottom. From the bottom, you get a true sense of how big the waterfall actually is. I was glad to have taken the time to see it.
Saturday, Manu Bay wasn't very good but good enough for a surf after not surfing in 2 days. After getting out of the water, I didn't have anything to do so I just hung out in the parking lot and watched people surf the rest of the day. While in the parking lot, I met
Mike from SD, CA (not Mike from earlier) and Rob from NYC. Its funny how quickly you met other travelers out here. Mike asked if either of us were going to watch the rugby game tonight. Neither Rob nor I had even heard of this huge rugby game that the whole country was looking forward to. New Zealand's national team The All Blacks were playing Australia's national team The Wallabies. It was the first game of the Tri Nations Rugby Tournament which is a very big deal here because it is basically decides who is the best rugby team in the world. The other team in the tournament is the South Africa Springboks. Since Rob, Mike and I are all staying at the same campground, we agreed to meet up and go to the sports bar together to watch the game. We get to the bar and it's packed. I didn't know there were that many people in the whole town. When the Wallabies scored the first tri of the match, I thought the 2 or 3 Wallabie fans in the front were going to get beat down by the fanatical All Black fans. But the All Blacks perservered and
crushed the Wallabies. Everyone was stoked.
Sunday, Manu Bay was overhead, shifty and the current on the inside was running like a river (think BM but worse). I sat in the parking lot all day with Mike and Rob watching everyone that attempted to paddle out get denied. We must have watched 10 people get denied. By the end of the day, I figured I might as well try it just to see if I could get out. I ended up jumping off the rock too early. I started paddling as hard as I could for the outside and took about 5 or 6 overhead waves on the head. Within minutes which seemed like seconds I had been swept well over 200 yards down the beach and in no man's land. After paddling for another 15 minutes or so and going nowhere, I put my tail inbetween my legs and started the long paddle back to shore. It probably took me 20-30 minutes just to get back. That was the first time I've been denied in a long time. I can't remember the last time I was denied but I'm sure if you ask DK, Kaare or Ed they
could tell you the exact day and location.
Monday, Manu Bay was pumping and definitely more manangeable. It was head high to a couple feet overhead on the sets and less than 10 guys out. I kooked it before I even got out there. I was standing on the jump rock trying to time my jump, out of nowhere a wave jacked up and swept me off my feet. I got to my feet, jumped into the water and paddled hard for the line up. Once at the line up, I assessed the damage to my board. One ding on the rail, one on the bottom and I'm missing my center fin. I couldn't believe it. I caught a wave to the beach, got another center fin and paddled back out. I decided this time I would go the long way through the channel. Ended up having a decent session considering how it started. On my way out of town I made sure to hit up the surf shop to get a ding repair kit and was able to buy a single fin. Now I'm rocking 2 TC Redline side fins and a Sunny Garcia back fin. Super ghetto
mini-Manu Bay Swirling
Manu Bay on Sun 07/09 - the day I got denied. It's narlier than it looks. but you know how I do! (that's my shout out for Jim Green) Now off to Taranaki to surf Stent Road and Kumera Patch.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.101s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 58; dbt: 0.0348s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Dawn
non-member comment
Good On Ya Mate!
BillyBabe! Your're SO damn good with your BLOG! I'm SO SUPER impressed! I think its been over 3 months since we last updated ours! Keep up the great work and have a BLAST! Safe travels love! D.