Raglan

Raglan's Famous Long Left-Handers

At the Waingaro Hot Springs

...and the Big Splash!

Some YouTube Videos of the waterslide:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM3-Y0zxP8c&feature=user
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HssNL185fCg

09.17.08: After several hours of driving, we finally arrived in Raglan in the dark. Right as we entered town, it started raining for the first time in probably about a week. We drove around looking for Solscape, where they had cabins and these cute little cabooses to stay in, as well as a supposed seven campervan sights. Sean had trouble finding the reception area, and ended up knocking on the door of a guest staying in the front house. It turns out that John is from Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz. I think this is the second American we’ve run into in the past month of being here. The reception area ended up being closed, so we started looking for a campsite on our own. We couldn’t find anything. Apparently, they were going through some construction (building some spacious new cabins with a beautiful view) and there were now only four campervan sights and all were occupied. It was dark and late, so we ended up parking in their lot and crashing for the night.

In the morning, we woke to find we were up on a hill with a view overlooking one of Raglan’s best surf breaks in Manu Bay. Luckily, management was able to “bump” one of the cars from a campervan sight to another spot, as it was really only a construction worker’s car parked there. Unfortunately, we were also charged for spending the night in the car park, but it was a small fee and well worth it. It turns out that Phil, who owns the place, actually grew up in Cupertino until Junior High. We also met some more Americans, three gals from Oregon who had just arrived to New Zealand the night before. From NZ, they were going to Australia and then Bali, basically a backwards route from what we took. Again, small world!

We went about 8 km back into town to have breakfast. This sleepy little beach town, considerably large for New Zealand standards, has a really creative and artistic flair to it that you can see from many of the houses and in the cute shops in town. We ended up at the Tongue and Groove café for breakfast where I ordered the Nasi Goreng. I guess I was feeling reminiscent after talking about Bali with the Oregonian girls. It ended up being one of the best I’ve ever tasted, perhaps even better than anything I had in Bali.

The rain continued throughout the day, either pouring like buckets or clearing-up for a while. We drove around, checking out all the different surf breaks, but it was pretty much blown out and victory-at-sea. We heard from a couple locals how the swell had just hit a couple days ago. (The “should have been here yesterday” line) We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around at the campground hoping that the next swell that’s supposed to hit in the next couple days will bring good waves.

On day two at Raglan, the weather and waves didn’t really change. We had breakfast at Tongue and Groove again, and explored the boutiques around town. After that, we had to find something else to do. We ended up a few kilometers up north to the Waingaro Hot Springs. It wasn’t nearly as nice as the one’s in Lake Rotorua or Lake Taupo. In fact, the water might have been chlorinated. But, my back was in desperate need of a chiropractic adjustment and Sean’s has been bugging him too. I’m sure it’s all the driving we’ve been doing. At least they had some fun little slides for Kailani. And JUST as we were ready to leave, they turn on their two warm water hydro-slides, The Big Splash, 450 ft and New Zealand’s longest water slide, and the Kamikaze. We had a blast going down and made friends with another surfer/snowboarder Kiwi guy named Karin who invited us to go back to his place to hang out and have a proper shower. Unfortunately, out of the one day that we actually had plans, it happened to be that day.

We headed back to Solscape and met up with John and his girlfriend Lisa, both from Santa Cruz, for a sunset glass of wine on their cabin’s deck with a view. We had a great time chatting with them as they seem to me like a good representation of the Santa Cruz population. It really made me homesick to move back there and be a part of that community after all these years.

On Saturday/day three at Raglan, we originally planned to be heading out, but the weather and waves finally cleared up. So, of course we had to stay longer. After going to another café for breakfast for Eggs Benedict (so rare of me to eat!), we went to Wainui beach, a beach break. I let Sean go out first while Kailani and I collected all these cool little “swirl” shells that neither Sean nor I have ever seen before. After watching him struggle (and loose his Eggs Benedict) paddling out, I decided to pass. We ran into Kelly from Oregon again, who was also looking exhausted. After chatting for while, we took off. We were heading back to Solscape for another night, but ended up deciding to drive by Manu Bay to check it out. It turns out that the waves there were looking better. Manu Bay is known for it’s long left hand breaks and reminds me of the Hook in Santa Cruz, except it’s a left and there are some sketchy rocks to get out past instead of reef. Sean went out (to redeem himself) until it started dropping.

When we went back to Solscape, all the campervan spots were taken. We were also liking John and Lisa’s cabin, and they left that day. But unfortunately, someone else beat us to that too. Luckily, there was another cabin available, The Ivy House. It was actually the first house built on the property, what I nicknamed “The Hobbit House”, covered with ivy and ended up having just a nice of a view. Since the bedroom was in a loft on the second floor, you also had a view from there. It was pretty rustic, but we ended up loving it’s charm. It was also pretty nice to stretch out, be in a “real” bed and under a “real’ roof for the night.

On Sunday, we checked out and headed back to Manu Bay for one more session. The swell had dropped, but still there were some waves. We took turns paddling out and then hit the road back up north to Auckland.