First Week in New Zealand

Well I made it safe and sound to New Zealand, although when I arrived in Auckland my board had been lost in transit, it turned up a day later. I had a day in Auckland sorting out phones and banks and stuff and then jumped on a bus to Gisborne to catch up with Ash, Liz and Frank. Went for a surf with Ash the following morning, solid three foot off shore, barreling waves, great fun, that is until I snapped my board! I think a witch doctor must have cursed that board. I dinged it at Jefferies and had a nightmare getting it fixed, then the nose was damaged when it was loaded onto a bus, then I dinged the tail again at long beach, next it was lost in transit and finally snapped in Wainui, it was only 5 weeks old, dou! Oh well, I've bought another now (not new this time), I'm just not thinking about the cost, arghhh. Also went twos up on a styling 1984 Toyota Corona, $NZ850 (works out at less than 150 quid each). The cars and absolute beauty, you'll have to wait for the photos. Now I'm over my jet lag (thats not much fun) the next adventure is a four day hike around lake Waikaremoana with Frank. Perhaps I'll have forgotten about my surfboard after that?

Return to Cape Town

From Stellanbosch I returned to Cape Town for the last few weeks. I had two nights 5* luxury accommodation staying with Barry and Mina, very nice. I hired a car for a week and did all the things I'd not done in my first visit - the whole of the cape peninsular, Kirstenbosch Botanical gardens and climbing table mountain. (I raced up in under an hour, mostly in bare feet and with no jumper incase the conditions changed at the top - a well planned mission). Mostly I drove around surfing, I surfed some of the biggest, heaviest waves yet at Outer Kom and saw the biggest waves I have ever seen - awesome. Driving around was good but it can be tricky navigating 4 lanes of traffic while trying to read a map. And thats it for South Africa, I'll definitely be back in winter to surf. Best leave for the plane, next stop New Zealand. (Wish I'd got some New Zealand dollars!)