2017-10 New Zealand watersports

Raglan is a small beach town with nothing much to offer beside water activities. Perhaps October spring is not the best time to visit. Even the kayaking guides wore stocking caps while they led us around the bay. Finally, though, I had had enough of missing out of activities because I was freezing cold. I joined everyone in slipping into a swimsuit under my layers, donning a lifejacket and braving the ramp on a kayak into the cold water. As these were seafaring kayaks, our butts were almost immediately wet in our seats. I also had water running down my arms from not doing a good job of following the instructions on how to row properly.

Bay of Raglan

We crossed the choppy waves acros the bay and then congregated at a beach on the other side. Then, we maneuavered our kayaks along the edge of and in between pancake rock limestone formats on the edge of the bay. By that time, I was actually feeling warm! Yet, the easy part was over. We turned our kayaks back around toward the ramp and started crossing the now even choppier waves. At one point, with the waves striking my kayak parallely, I feared my kayak would tip over. Fortunately, I was able to get my kayaking pointing perpendicularly into the waves and managed to get to the ramp without capsizing. Then, after getting out of my kayak, I face-planted on the ramp trying to drag my kayak up.

Sunset form Inspiration Point

At least there was Namaste Kitchen (NK) Indian food to make me feel better. The chicken jalfrezi was delicious!

From Inspiration Point

That evening, we stayed in a giant house called the Lava Lounge. Giant house + caravan (where three of us girls stayed) and hut (where two guys stayed). Just up the hill, was a platform and benches called “Inspiration Point”. We walked up after dark in order to see all the stars above us in the night sky. Still no Southern Cross. Afterward, we walked a little further up the driveway to get our first glimps at glowworms. More about these in a later post on Waitomo.

Wetsuited and ready to surf!

In the morning, we woke up to rain. Rain that had drenched all the clothes that we had hung overnight on the line and the shoes that we had forgotten outside. But, when in Raglan, do as the surfers do. We were pretty cold, wet and miserable as we trudged up to a drafty barn for our 9 am surfing lesson at the Raglan Surf School. We practiced standing up on the boards on the floor. Repetiion makes permanent...unless you’re me and all the training flies out the window once the wave hit my feet. Then, we trudged back down the hill in the rain to the van to drive to the beach. At the beach, we were handed wetsuits that we put on in a drafty communal changing area. The wetsuits were wet. We were wet and cold. I figured that I’d jump in for one attempt and jump back out.

You can still seeing the surfers in the water

We carried our boards from the surf hut to the beach in pairs: one person at the front of the two boards; and, one at the back. Once we arrived on the beach, we laid out our boards and practiced getting up again. Then, the instructors gave us the go ahead to take our boards into the water. Just getting out over the intiial breakers into deeper water was work. We’d hold up the noses of our boards against the incoming waves to cross over them. Then, the current would suck us back toward shore. Finally, I made it out for an attempt: an attempt that ended in nothing more than a wipeout. But, with lots of help from the three instructors, I was able to stnd on the board a couple of times! It was great fun; and, the first time that I’d felt warm since kayaking the previous day. The 1.5 hours passed quickly in the water.

Namaste Kitchen samosa, momos and chai

Afterward, we dried off and changed in the same cold, drafty changing hut. By now, though, the adrenaline was pumping; and, I felt warm even in the outside rain. We handed back into to town; and, I went back to Namaste Kitchen (NK) for a hot chai, samosa and momos. After lunch, we headed over to The Space to do a beginner yoga lesson and attempt to ward off soreness from our kayaking and surfing adventures.