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Raglan So on we went down the coast towards a little surfing town called Raglan which is on the North Island on the west coast. The main reason we headed here is that Jenny who worked with me in Dublin lives there and we thought it’d be cool to meet up. To be honest, she did push me a lot towards taking the plunge to go travelling when she came for the few months telling of her numerous adventures and her new life in New Zealand. We arrived in the early afternoon and John wanted to quickly check out the surf. He has been dying to go surfing or kite surfing somewhere along the way and this is the place we were sure we could get it in! As we drove out the coast it was clear that the waves were small enough (grand for oul long time beginner me!) and it was also apparent that the scenery around here was to be rivalled. We checked out hire prices on the beach and met Jenny for lunch in a funky café in the town and it was delish!
That evening we went to watch the sunset with beers on
the beach with Jenny, her boyfriend Mark and some of their friends. It was soon obvious to John and I that the quality of life and work life balance here is just about perfect with weekends being focussed on being as active as possible and the weekdays being used as the way to fund these outings/activities such as surfing, kite surfing, paddle boarding and the like. I have to say I was envious of all the chat about plans to do things, learn new skills, sharing of various boards etc. because in Ireland although John and I are fairly active at the weekends, most people do things in isolation or the focus is on beering and dying the next day rather than “doing”. So as the sunset, the beers went down nicely and the chat was flowing about plans for paddle boarding in the morning. Somehow we decided we would give it a go!
After the sun settled and the sky got dark we headed to meet an Irish couple who are also friends with Jenny and Mark and we had a fun night! We even found out what the Mysterons are from. Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons…. Anyone
remember it? John remembers it well. Do a You Tube if you are interested!
We were up at the crack of dawn to get our paddleboard adventure together. We needed to arrange hire of equipment which proved difficult for 6 people but in the end it was sorted and the oul Mysteron came in handy. We now know that three stand up paddleboards can fit in the back, handy!
I knew that I would be pretty crap at paddle boarding and sure as anything I was only standing on the thing and I was in the water, soaked! So I decided to high kneel paddle board, it’s a new sport you know. We paddled out into the harbour for a good few kilometres (I think) to meet the larger group. John was pretty good but kept mentioning that he felt like he was going to fall any minute (he did have just a few funny falls). Turns out that there is a lot of agility needed. I eventually gave the standing a go and managed for a good length until a speedboat passed and I was a drowned rat again. We finally reached a little bay where everyone
was. Most people are good paddle boarders, there were also some kayaks and when we arrived there was an offer of a cooked breakfast. Here I am sitting on this bay drenched thinking if I was at home, this time on a Sunday, we would be either dying, going surfing or in bed and our friends definitely wouldn’t be in a big group cooking breakfast after an active morning! John and I decided to use the paddleboards as canoes on the way back and sat paddling taking in the beautiful views. This also proved to be much quicker :D
In the evening we went to Jenny’s brother’s house to celebrate his girlfriend’s birthday and had yummy homemade chocolate cake. Again a big group gathered. The unity of them all as friends was really refreshing and reminded me more of Killybegs in that the town was small enough for them all to keep in touch easily or call around to each other’s houses. A really nice way of life.
That evening Jenny and Mark made a big roast for us and we sat chatting before bed. We were all up early in the morning – John and I to
head towards Rotorua, Jenny and Mark to head off to work in a nearby town, Hamilton. We had a really cool few days in Raglan and it made us think of how life at home could be if we tried a bit harder!
Waitomo Caves We were up and on the road headed towards the Waitomo Caves. These are not too far from Raglan but we wanted to get there early because we had decided to do a tour and needed to be booked in. We arrived in time and got booked into 10.30am Black Labyrinth Tour. There were 6 of us in the group and we quickly realised that there were three distinct teams, Ireland, England and Chile! The two instructors we had were good humoured and really made the tour fun and informative, with gentle competition! We had to get geared up in wet suits, booties, hats, and boots to be transformed into proper cavers. I think this look could definitely take off this season, ha-ha. I’m glad John knows me as long as he does, it was NOT attractive!
After this we headed off towards the caves. We had to pick up our inner
tubes first and practice jumping backwards off a small platform because we would be doing some of this over waterfalls in the cave. Cue Ciara having a minor attack before jumping and realising that it was gonna be fun! So off we went tubes in hand, down into a tiny hole in the ground. Some things make you wonder why?
As soon as we are in the two guides ask who wants to go first and of course John volunteers so Team Ireland have to put on their brave faces into the dark unknown cave. This turned out to be the best option though because we really had a lot of fun trying to figure out some things but also it was always a bit mystery rather than following the others. So the tour went along with us climbing along the cave, into tunnels, squeezes, floating down rivers and jumping backwards off waterfalls. It was one of the funnest things I have done since we left Ireland.
The other draw of the caves was the glow worms! This meant that some parts of the tour were in complete darkness either just to have a close look at them
or to use them to navigate to the end of the cave in the pitch black (while whacking your head off rocks). They were so bright up on the ceiling of the cave, like stars and it was cool. The tour was brilliant overall and it ended with lovely hot showers (cos it was damn cold down there) and soup with bagels. A must do on the North Island I think!
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