Back to Raglan

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On the drive to Raglan from Whangamatta the tyre that we had had repaired a few weeks ago gave way. We had to unload the whole car on the side of the road to get the spare. Luckily it wasn't raining and i was able to sit on the side of the road with Julia in glorious sunshine as Pete changed his first car wheel. When we returned to Raglan, the first job was to take the car back to the garage that repaired the tyre the first time round. My second job was to try and find a shaper that could fix my board. It was Monday and the waves were due to get good on Wednesday and Thursday. I spoke to the guys in the surf shop in town and they said if i left it there it would be ready by friday morning. I wasn't too keen to surf overhead Raglan on my twin fin so i asked them if there was any way it could be quicker. They told me the name of the local shaper and how to get to his factory. If i turned up with a few 'Steinies' (beers) he might be able to do it for me in a couple of days.

The drive to the factory was slightly sketchy. I had to drive for 2km down a dirt road out into the Wop Wops, over a rock road to cross the lagoon that was only passable at low tide. I was praying that the tyre we had just had patched up for the second time wouldn't give way on me as i crawled across the rocks hoping not to crash into the sea on either side. When i turned up at the factory i showed the shaper (Dave) my board and he said he would fix it for Friday.
"Is there no way i can get it back quicker? I have come all the way back to Raglan to surf the new swell and i only have my fish to go out on?"
I produced a 6 pack of beers and handed them to Dave.
"Oh Yeah. No worries bro. I will have it done for you this time tomorrow!!!"
"Nice One!!!"
I went back to Solscape to get Pete and we went for a surf at Whale bay. It was fairly windy making the waves really bumpy, but it was head high and only about 5 people out. Although it was slightly sketchy surfing the waves on my twin fin, i was stoked that i was back at Raglan and surfing the points.

On Tuesday morning the waves had dropped off so i didn't bother to surf at any of the points. I would wait to get my board back and hit the new swell early on Wednesday morning. Instead i spent the morning giving Julia a surfing lesson at the beach break in Raglan. It was good fun to be teaching again and Julia was pretty good. She stood up a fair few times after an hour, so i left her to it to go and catch a couple of waves of my own. After the lesson I waited all afternoon for the tide to drop enough for me to be able to cross the lagoon to get my board.

On the Tuesday night i was really good. We went to the pub for a few beers and some food and i went home to get in bed at 10pm. I had set my alarm for 5:30am and was anticipating a classic dawnie session on the new swell. Pete and julia stayed to have a few more beers as they were not keen to get up so early. When my alarm went off it was a bit of a struggle to crawl out of bed. I put my jumper and beanie on and got straight in the car to drive to Manu bay. I was there ready and eager just before sunrise, but it appeared the waves were not. The swell hadn't yet arrived and it was almost flat. This time the early bird didn't get the worm, so i went straight back to bed for a few more hours. Scotty arrived late morning and we killed time jumping off the bridge in Raglan town into the Lagoon. By 4pm me and Scotty couldn't wait any longer and went to check to see what the waves were doing. Manu looked like it was building, but just as we were thinking about maybe going out, the bus from the school surfing academy turned up and about 20 groms piled into the lineup. We quickly changed our minds and drove round to whale bay.

Whale Bay looked pretty sweet. It seemed more sheltered from the wind, there were a few guys out and the sets were rolling through every now and then at a decent size. We suited up and paddled out. We stayed out for a couple of hours and had a really good session. It was so good to have my board back. Throughout the session the sets were getting more consistent and bigger. When we got out we were really looking forward to the next day. If the swell did what all the charts were indicating, it should be classic Raglan for our dawnie surf.

That night i set my alarm again for 5:30am confident that this time i wouldn't be disappointed. When we arrived at the beach it looked awesome. However about 30 other guys had obviously set their alarms for 5am, as it was already super crowded. We all suited up and jumped in. Scotty and myself paddled over to Indicators and pete went out at Whale Bay. I got a couple of waves at Outsides and then a couple of waves at Indicators, but that took me probably over an hour as it was so busy. It was more than worth it as the waves were probably double overhead on the sets and it is a much faster wave than Whale. However, i new there were far less people at Whale Bay, so paddled over there to join Pete. There were less people but it was still crowded. I stayed out until hunger forced me to get out and get some breakfast. As i was clambering over the rocks on my exit, i notice i had put yet another ding in the bottom of my board. I had had a few close calls with a rather large rock on the inside of Whale bay, but didn't remember hitting it. Although the waves had been better, i had actually had a better surf the previous evening. There were less people, i hadn't dinged my board and i got about 3 times as many waves. Although i was stoked at my surf, i couldn't be bothered to fix my board and go out for an afternoon session. Scotty couldn't be arsed with the crowds either and returned to Auckland with Julia.

On Good friday the swell had dropped off. There were still small ride able waves at the points, but due to it being a public holiday, the number of people in the lineup was a joke. The waves were due to stay the same all weekend only more people would be showing up. I was over it. I was happy that i had scored Raglan and suggested to Pete that we try and bring our flight to Australia forward a few days. Apart from the one problem we had in South America, our ticket has been really sweet. It hasn't been a problem changing any dates. It is so cool to just be able to decide to go to Australia. Pete agreed so we changed our flights, packed our bags and got in the car for Auckland. If all goes according to plan we should arrive in Sydney at 7am the saturday morning. The only thing we had to do was return the car and hope we could avoid a massive charge.

Although we were returning the car three days early, i had phoned the depot and they said they needed 2 days notice for us to get a refund. There was a standard charge of $85 us losing the key and we got charged $172 dollars for the damage to the bumper. We filled out a claim form and we should definitely get the $172 back when the insurance claim goes through. However, i found out that i had also been caught by a speed camera and got a $30 fine. I vaguely remember a camera flashing at me on our first journey from Auckland to Raglan but hadn't thought anything of it. We paid our fines and were about to walk out when the girl at the depot asked us when we had called to let them know we were returning the car early. I was just about to say,
"I called you two hours ago"
Luckily, as always, Pete was a couple of seconds ahead of me and as quick as a flash said
"2 days ago"
"In that case we owe you a refund"
THe refund basically covered what we had paid in fines, so it all turned out pretty rosy. However after feeling rather chuffed that we had got our money back in a round about kind of way, we were hit with another devastating blow. With over 12 hours to kill in Auckland before our flight, we were informed that nowhere in NEw Zealand is allowed to serve alcohol on Good Friday.
"But its a bank holiday?"
"yes?"
"In England it's the law to get drunk on a bank holiday"
"Sorry, you will have to think of something else to do."
Bring on Australia and some cold beer asap!!!

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Photos

Julia Pete & Me Enjoying the Local Brew
Picture of Old School Raglan in the background

Comments

[Julie]

Hi!
It looks like you are having a great time - I've very envious. The only good thing in the UK is that this weekend looks like being dry and the sun has been out:)