Day #17, Raglan

I had one more place to explore before heading home, and it was positioned a couple hours south of the Auckland airport, making my travels tomorrow less frantic. Raglan, home to world-class surfing competitions, sounded like a nice little place to check out some ocean views while winding down and packing.

I headed north past the Waitomo cave region--something I'd like to do when I return to NZ, but not on this trip. As with many of the great spots around this country, the road leading up to it wound its way through steep mountain pastures, completely lacking the advertisements and other clutter lining the popular roadways in the U.S. I love how unassuming even the most popular places are here.

I found my way into town and checked into the nearby campground. The afternoon sun was hot and I made my way towards the bridge over an embayment. Hundreds of families were cooling off in the water, jumping from the bridge and tall tree branches into the deep aqua blue below.

I was surprised to see almost every family seemed to be of Maori descent, do large populations of their people live near Raglan? I've heard some of the world's best surfers are Maori (cannot back up that statement as I am a beginner surfer--but I think I heard that someplace...), and I suppose if you grow up surfing in world-class waves, you'd get good at it really quickly.

Anyway! The downtown of Raglan is what I would call slightly upscale touristy, peppered with a couple of casual haunts. Palm trees lined the grassy median, surf shops, yummy kebab and ice cream takeaways...a back alley hoppin' bar scene with triangular flags running crisscross above diners drinking beer in their flip flops, loud techno surfer music, a heavy beat filling the air. I found a really funky little sitting area with repurposed metals. Wendy would have loved this!! Check out all the cool seating arrangements!

After some tasty food in my belly, I went for a looooonnnngggg walk on the beach. Such a pretty evening!

This whole area near the town is technically Raglan Harbor, or Whaingaroa, and the actual surfing occurs in Manu Bay, Whale Bay, and other nearby areas. Today there were some folks windsurfing which was pretty cool!




I forced myself to go back to the campervan and clean out the trash and pack everything so I was ready to go for my lengthy travels ahead. Blah! I came here with two very full backpacks so I didn't have to check any luggage, but I had bought souvenirs (ahem, bulky yarn...) and I had to manage a way to stuff it all in and make it fit. I wrestled with my bags for an hour and I came out the victor! Now time to chill out with some knitting and journaling before falling asleep on my last night in NZ...