Gisborne and Napier, NZ

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I spent the longest day of the year in Gisborne, an otherwise sleepy little surf town on the east coast. Not only was it daylight out until 9pm but it was beautiful sunny blue skies. I took another surf lesson, one-on-one from a place called Liquid Gold, which I would highly recommend. The coach, Paul "The Pom" Lungmuss, had me doing bottom turns and even got me up on a couple greens (which is the part of the wave before it breaks) whereas I had only been surfing whitewater (after the break) up to this point. I do think these waves with nice long breaks are a bit more forgiving, and I don't expect to have as much luck out on Long Island or the Jersey Shore. So it looks like I'm moving to Gisborne! Also wished I had a car, because the beaches outside of town, Wainui and Makarori, are just pure, unadulterated sand and sea. I stayed in town at the Waikanae Beach Holiday Park, which is a dumpy but clean and very friendly motel/camper park right next to the beach. Waikanae Beach is decent but not nearly as impressive as Makarori, where I had my surf lesson, though you can't really tell from the pictures. Continuing down the east coast the next morning, I arrived in the town of Napier, famous for its Art Deco architecture. I stayed at Criterion Art Deco Backpackers which is a Spanish Mission style building and actually a real comfy-cozy place to stay for the 24 hours I spent in this town. Napier also has a pretty oceanfront, but the gravel beach isn't really meant for laying out or swimming. There is a nice jogging path along the shoreline so I went for a run in the rain this morning. (It rains a lot more than I expected in NZ!) It was nice out yesterday though, so I walked around town and wandered into a wine store for an afternoon wine tasting. They make decent wines in this region of Hawke Bay but I didn't have time to go on a proper wine tour, as I am off to Wellington to meet up with another friend today. We'll be setting sail for the south island on a Christmas morning ferry, and pack a couple ham sandwiches and gingerbread cookies to celebrate! Looks like we were good boys and girls this year, as Santa has brought us to New Zealand! Happy holidays to everyone!

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Comments

[Kevin]

so...
how were the bottom turns?