Around The World In 80 Waves

It is my last night in town and I take a stroll into town from my campervan camp ground on the other side of the estuary.

This entails crossing this illuminated bridge, which is like something out of a Flash Gordon movie.

I think it is great but the fisherman trying to catch something out of the water below are less impressed by the racket I am making as I stride across.

My hearty “Good evenings” only merit more comments that I am scaring the fish off so I keep moving. 

We have decided to go for a few drinks with pizza, and I meet up with Anna and another surfer called Sam who we saw in the water earlier in the day.

It is a lovely evening and we have some great food but everybody is tired and I’m the only one for whom it isn’t a school night so we turn in early.

In the morning there is just enough time for Anna and I to enjoy a coffee together before big hugs all round and saying farewell once more.

Time to hit the road again. I’m heading south.

The first place I am heading to in New Zealand is a small town called Raglan, which has been famous in surfing circles since it’s waves appeared in Bruce Brown’s classic surf film ‘The Endless Summer’.

The weather is awful and I get completely lost leaving Auckland so it is well after dark and I am tired by the time I pull up at the supermarket there upon arrival because I need to buy supplies.

I walk through the door of the supermarket and immediately bump into Anna at the vegetable section, who was one of two gorgeous Canadian surfers I met all the way back in Oahu and joined me for the first surf of my travels as well as touring most of the North Shore with me back in December.

Neither of us knew the other would even be in this part of the world let alone in town or going shopping, and two minutes either way and we would have missed each other entirely. Nobody else in the supermarket has a clue what is going on and is probably wondering why two people are jumping around hugging one and other only having seen the price of potatoes, but we are super stoked. Such an excellent surprise.

We spend a few minutes catching up on the waves we have been scoring on our different journeys, and I’m disappointed to discover that I only missed also seeing Alexa again by a week because she has just gone home.

“Do you want to come and hang out with me and my friends in our hot tub?” is not a question I have been asked often enough by pretty young surfer girls, and is certainly not an offer I need to consider for long. We complete our shopping and I give Anna a lift back up the hill to her place to enjoy a few beers. Whilst there I am treated to some wholesome home cooked food too. What a welcome. I think I will be liking New Zealand.

However it was a good job I was in a great mood, because when it is time to turn in I discover that  the numpties at the campervan hire company haven’t equipped me with the center-board necessary to make up the king size bed in the van. Denied!!

I have travelled the length and bredth of the Americas since I started this trip back in December, but the time has come for me to move on.

It also means that I will no longer need to keep butchering the Spanish language that I have learned to some degree as I have moved south from the USA.

There have certainly been plenty of highs as well as a few lows to keep me grounded on the road, but as ever it is time to move on because the planet has so many more waves on offer for me to enjoy along the rest of this trip.

Rather fittingly I saw this road sign next to the pizza place on my last night in Chile.

It translates to The Waves, which is an odd name for a road if you ask me, but the sign was pointing westward towards the east and that is exactly where I am going.

It would appear that great minds think alike. I have been contacted by a Canadian surfer called Gavin whose home break is near Vancouver and who is up to similar adventures to my own.

He stumbled upon the details of my trip whilst trying to shortcut to the details of his own journey.

For those of you on Facebook, you can check out what he has been up to using the following link:

www.facebook.com/aroundDaWorldIn80Waves

There is a chance our paths may cross later in the year when will both be in Asia.