NZ Travel Log 0308 - Big Waves and a Happy Birthday!
Posted by Maria "Spunk" Brophyon Mar 8th, 2009 | Comments (12)
The Waves Came – and they were BIG. Just in time for Drew’s 38th birthday. His first surf at Indicators was super – the waves were triple overhead and FAST. He was having the best surf of the trip, until….. (more…)
NZ Travel Log 0305 – Shipwreck Bay and Wallyworld
Posted by Maria "Spunk" Brophyon Mar 5th, 2009 | Comments (6)
Remember the movie “National Lampoon’s Vacation” with Chevy Chase? They drove days and days to get to the famed Wallyworld for their big yearly vacation. They traveled through bad weather, survived car trouble and even Aunt Edna’s death, only to find that Wallyworld was closed – and a big disappointment.
Here is our NZ equivalent of Wallyworld: Wiggs was so excited to go to the well advertised Hot Spring Pools and Waterslides. The brochure pictures kids having fun on water bumper cars and big slides.
We drove hours in pitch blackness through country roads, all night long. Drew wanted Wiggs to wake up to this wonderland of fun, so we free-camped in a turnout across the road with a plan that when the gates opened, we’d be ready. And when the sun came up – well, we found (more…)
NZ Travel Log 0302 - The Dummy Run and Darwin’s Hell Hole
Posted by Maria "Spunk" Brophyon Mar 3rd, 2009 | Comments (2)
We are up in the Northland now - in the Bay of Islands.
We’ve been on a relentless search for waves, and each time we think we are going to find waves just at the next surf spot, well, think again!
We arrived Sandy Bay on a beautiful afternoon, and we were stoked to find nice waves, not big, not perfect, but hey, they were waves.
We met a local there and told him about our wave woes - how we’ve been chasing something we aren’t finding. He said “that’s what we call a (more…)
NZ Travel Log 0228 - Coramandel Peninsula, Hot Water Beach and Praying for Surf!
Posted by Maria "Spunk" Brophyon Feb 28th, 2009 | Comments (3)
Getting an internet connection here is nearly impossible at times. It doesn’t help that my laptop screen has become cracked (I guess Sony Vaio’s don’t travel well). This lap top was top of the line about a year and a half ago. I’ve had nothing but trouble with it from day one. I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER PC – It’s Macs from here on out! Drew has never had a problem with his macs… (more…)
NZTL 2022 Mount Awesome, Smelly Rotorua and THE CURSE
Posted by Maria "Spunk" Brophyon Feb 25th, 2009 | Comments (3)
Drew’s curse continues – the waves have been either flat or extremely small. I keep reminding him, when he gets depressed over it, that this a family vacation and that surf is only a bonus. But nothing I say makes it any easier for him…
We’ve renamed Mount Manganui as MOUNT AWESOME, because it’s the most awesome town we’ve been to. It’s a friendly little surf town nestled around the small mount. Completely picturesque, and with loads of (more…)
NZ Travel Log 0221 - Mount Surf Shop and Artists Abound!
Posted by Maria "Spunk" Brophyon Feb 22nd, 2009 | Comments (1)
We e-mailed Josh at Mount Surf Shop , located in the cool little town of Mount Manganui, NZ, offering to do a paint demo in the shop. We were stoked that he was so amped to do it.
There were a lot of artists present, including Jake the musician, an artist who works there, a couple groms Annaleise and Mitchell, and the world famous (more…)
NZ Travel Log 0220 - Caves, Cows and Curves
Posted by Maria "Spunk" Brophyon Feb 19th, 2009 | Comments (3)
We haven’t posted in many days because it’s been hard getting internet access. We were warned by Hamish about the long, winding drive around Taranaki. It’s crazy, really, this drive! So many days have gone by, and here’s the short version (click more). (more…)
Raglan Surf Co. Painting Demo and the Beauty of Raglan
Posted by Maria "Spunk" Brophyon Feb 19th, 2009 | Comments (2)
We had a busy afternoon at Raglan Surf Co. - a great surf shop in the heart of town. When we set the date for this event, no-one was aware that it was the same day as a car show and festival in town! But, it all worked out.
One thing we noticed in Raglan - the surfers who live here are PASSIONATELY devoted to their surf break. “You don’t need to go anywhere else, mate. The best waves in New Zealand are right here” we kept hearing again and again.
You can see why - Raglan Point is (more…)
NZ Travel Log 0214 - Raglan and Valentines Day
Posted by Maria "Spunk" Brophyon Feb 14th, 2009 | Comments (1)
It’s Valentine’s Day, but we forgot about it. That kind of thing usually happens when we travel - a few years back we were in Australia and forgot that it was Easter. Luckily, Becca, the cool chick we were staying with in Sydney, (more…)
NZ Travel Log Number 0212 - Day 1
Posted by Maria "Spunk" Brophyon Feb 12th, 2009 | Comments (10)
We have been in New Zealand for about a day and a half now and we haven’t quite aclimated to the wind and torrential rain.
The trip started out good - Check-in at LAX was surprisingly easy - even though we had loads of stuff with us (3 surfboard bags containing 2 large paddleboards and 5 surfboards PLUS 4 bags of luggage) Air New Zealand is so cool, they didn’t charge us Anything extra! (If we had been flying Hawaiian Air, they would have charged us $80 PER BOARD).
The TROUBLE started, though, about 14 hours later when we arrived in Auckland, NZ. (more…)