Sunday, September 30,
2012
Raglan- West Coast North Island-
Driving into a town never felt so instantly right, at 10
a.m. on Saturday it did. The town
is called Raglan and my car passed some kind of invisible barrier as I entered
that will not let me leave.
A couple hours after arriving a person I’d emailed on Couch
Surfers website contacted me to meet for lunch. Alex is a Marine Scientist from France. He has been in Raglan for 6 years and
took some time off work to show me around town. The local spot for Coffee, Raglan Roast, is down a little
alley between shops where people meet for a chat or game of backgammon (I could
get used to this life). Last night was spent at Raglan Backpackers, the warmest
spot I’ve ever randomly walked into. Welcomed by Suze one of the owners she showed me my
shared room, the hot tub, kitchen, lounge, and all the free things they offer
to guests kayaks, paddle boards, fishing rods, sports equipment and of course
the rentals windsurfing, surfboards, and wetsuits. In one evening I’d met friends, I will always remember as
part of this trip. This morning, a
little sadly, I checked out to try my hand camping at Sol Scape. Before leaving though, I
rented a board and suit, taking the hostel car to Ngnaranui beach to surf. The surf wasn’t great, but it was worth
a try, the water was freezing, so
it was hard to feel my feet enough to find the board. Can’t wait to get back out.
Sol Scape is a
neat little eco retreat with cabooses and mud huts as rooms. Their goal is a youth hostel with
focuses on sustainable living, gardening, and an “eco” environment. My camp is a little space up on a hill
in front of the cow fields, one of the cows came about 6 inches while I was
setting up, apparently they are very curious animals. With another amazing New Zealand Sunset, the sky
turned black to open up to a million bright starts and a full moon.
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