Blogs from Raglan, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 3

To Raglan. Decided that I need to see more of New Zealand than just Auckland. And decided that if I was going anyway it'd need to be somewhere I could surf... Lonely planet stated that Raglan was the 'surf town of your dreams' or something like that so that was that decided. Got the bus to Raglan that went to Hamilton and then another bus to Raglan. On bus from Hamilton to Raglan met a woman from Raglan Daphne and another traveller Laura from Holland. Arrived in Raglan and walked to Raglan Backpackers with Laura. Cool hostel. Rooms all open out onto a little grassy courtyard. Jacuzzi and steam-room in courtyard. Friendly atmosphere. We decided that we really needed a surf straight away so Hired surfboard and wet-suit. Straight to surf with Laura. We got lift ... read more

We pulled up in the small town of Raglan, which is New Zealands surfer town. I was going to hire a board and just wing it, but it was raining and only wanted to surf in the sun, so I haven't surfed once on this trip, nevermind, gives me a reason to come back. Although it was raining some of us still went to the beach and we purchased a football to have a knock around with. After 2 kicks the leather came off, so we invaded the girls frisbee and turned it into ultimate frisbee trying to catch it on the move, which was cool. Headed into the sea and got continously knocked over by the huge waves, after being hit by 3 and the huge current I found it hard to get back to ... read more

One of the things that happen when youve been a 'castaway' in the Antarctic for a number of months is that you slowly forget the world to the North, the planet that is a warm blue, green and brown ball and not the stark white, black and grey you have come to see as your world. As spectacular a landscape as it is, and as interesting a place it can be, humans were never meant to be part of Antarcticas permanent history. It is a continent void of land animals, green plants, land birds and even insects. Cockroaches may be able to survive nuclear destruction and killer asteroids but they wont last 20 minutes here. We ice-people are sustained by technology, airplanes and ships- without supplies from the north we would have to leave or succumb ... read more

Wednesday 20th... We set off from Hahei just after 8am & drove over to the West coast passing through several places on the way including Paeroa (famous for its spring water from which they make Lemon & Paeroa!) & Hamilton where Rocky Horror Picture Show was first conceived! At the site of the Embassy theatre (where Richard O’Brien worked as a barber!) which showed the B-movie double features credited by O’Brien as the inspiration for RHS, there now stands a stature of Riff Raff! At Raglan we stopped for lunch & shopping before heading out of town to the hostel - a lovely place on the side of a mountain that supposidly looks like women lying down! A few people went off to surf school whilst the rest of us settled into our rooms & I ... read more

hello everyone,this is just a little check to see if this is actually going to work!! one week to go..exactly! hopefully we can get some sleep before we leave,very very excited ,very very anxious, but o so many lists!! ha ha ..cant wait to get on the plane..xh ... read more