Raglan - Surf City Here We Come

We took the road less travelled when we left Waitomo and headed to the coast. We ended up in a tiny little fishing town called Kawhia. We wanted somewhere to spend Easter long weekend with a little surf and sun and thought a small town would have a quiet spot for us. We underestimated the lure of a long weekend. Kawhia boasts a beach with hotsprings, some surf spots and endless possibilities for fishing and tramping. We spent one night in a tiny cramped holiday park near the hotsprings beach and moved on the next morning. As we drove out of town we watched car load after car load of people driving past us.

We drove a dusty, washboard riddled road to the surfing paradise of Raglan. Imagine Tofino with a tropical climate and slightly more space and you've got the town of Raglan. It was beautiful. Unfortunately everyone and their kids and extended family agreed with us. We drove to the surfing beaches to check out the waves, drove past the various holiday parks and finally admitted defeat. There was no way we were going to find an affordable place to stay in Raglan over the Easter weekend and they do not permit freedom camping anywhere within the community. So, we agreed to do the opposite of what everyone else in the country was doing and we drove to the city of Hamilton to find a hotel for 3 days.

We stayed in downtown Hamilton in a cute little hotel with a ton of space, hot shower, internet and cable TV. For three days we hibernated, only leaving the room to forage for fresh food. It was a disgusting waste of a beautiful weekend but we enjoyed every minute of it! On Monday morning we checked out and re-entered the world headed back to Raglan.

Our first stop in Raglan was to the point break to watch the waves and the 'good' surfers for a while. It was an awesome sight as they ripped along the waves, the boards simply extensions of their bodies. There were tiny children skimming along the crests right next to seasoned adults, all of them fearless and gracefull. Finally we felt ready to hit the waves ourselves and we headed for the beach break to try our luck. Raglan beach is a long expanse of white sand with a few grassy dunes in front of a tall bluff. The beach is perfect for every activity under the sun and in the summer months is staffed by lifeguards to protect the swimmers from the rips.

In the skill of surfing Iain was far better than me, he was standing up and duck diving like a pro right from the start, I struggled to get on the board and catch a wave, but I did get up a few times and I had as much fun falling down as I did riding the waves in. After 2 hours our lazy bodies were exhausted and we dragged ourselves up the hill to the van and on to the Soulscape campground.

Our first night in Raglan was a bust. We were put in a gravel parking lot labled a camp ground. It had dirty cooking facilities and overcharged for it's amenities. It was a pretentious money grab posing as an 'eco retreat'. It also boasted a farmyard full of roosters next door. Who keeps 40 roosters? Sadists do. I swear those birds were competing to see who could start crowing the earliest. Both Iain and I were ready to kill a whole lotta poultry by 9am the next day.

We packed up our gear in the drizzle and headed back into town to see if the holiday park was any better. We were given a quiet parking spot along the back fence of the camp ground. We were right next to the tidal river and there was not a single rooster in sight. We had a few trees beside us for shade and privacy and we were feet away from beautiful facilities. We parked our van and there we stayed for the next week.

Our week in Raglan was pretty simple, we would get up and have a liesurely coffee. We would read for most of the morning or we would walk into town to check our email at the library. In the afternoons we would head to the beach to do some surfing. We would often watch the sunset from the lookout point above the beach and somedays we would head down to the point break to watch the pro's in action. It was laid back but active and a lot of fun.

Some of the weeks highlights included a trip to the recycling center where we found the BEST blanket for $5.00. A drive up a dusty washboard road to see another surf beach known only to the locals and a few lucky outsiders. Daily walks around the town and the evening glass of wine at one of the funky restaurants that line the main street.

Our days were idylic; white sand beaches, warm tropical climate, friendly people, good wine, great food and surfing. Unfortunately, the surf died out as it frequently does along the Kiwi coast so by the 12th when we left town there were barely any waves to ride. It did make it easier for us to leave, knowing that we weren't missing any killer surf in the immediate future.